Prefabrication in factories (off-site construction) is often thought of as a panacea, a sure-fire way for construction sites to achieve greater productivity.
However, this is not a simple path.It requires a change in the skill sets required in laboratories: scientists who develop skills in equipment engineering and coding or hardware and software engineers who develop skills in science.
The current education system does not produce cross-fertilised disciplines (although skills like coding are becoming more endemic in the cohorts entering the workforce today).. Perhaps a more pressing problem is the fact that the new workforce of the 2020s is not keen to travel into an office or laboratory to work, preferring working remotely.. For research work and smaller more specialised laboratories, the automation story is different.Without the scale, the investment in robotised systems against simple improvements in efficiency does not add up.The released value of scientists being freed up to spend more time analysing, discussing, collaborating and thinking is not well quantified.
Islands of automation may be seen as investable to allow new science.. Added to this there is not a joined-up ecosystem that looks at today’s smallscale testing as tomorrow’s large-scale roll-out, meaning that testing protocols are often developed in ways that inhibit or slow future automation.. Change, adaptation and flexibility.A combination of emerging factors drive change in the activities and operations in a laboratory function..
In research laboratories, the work and team can change rapidly as new discoveries are made, equipment and technologies change, and there is the need to reduce or cease some operations while others are expanded..
The people and skills change and there are changes in social and environmental demands.In an industry in which women are still substantially underrepresented, the WICE Awards offer an opportunity to champion the contributions from the most outstanding female workers in construction and engineering, as they compete against hundreds of high performing nominees from across Europe to win the top accolade within their categories.. With their focus on ‘breaking down barriers and building new heights,’ the WICE Awards report that just 9% of current UK engineering roles are occupied by women and only 11% of jobs within the construction industry.. Bryden Wood, who pride themselves on being driven by the core principles of maximising innovation, efficiency and creating pioneering and value-driven solutions to the industry, are proud that so many of their team members are women.. ‘50% of our Architects at Bryden Wood are amazing, talented, creative and inspirational women,’ says Board Director for Architecture Paul O’Neill..
Indeed, female team members play crucial roles all across the company, with three out of four directors of the innovative Creative Technologies team being WICE award finalists.. JAMI CRESSER-BROWN.Architecture Director Jami Cresser-Brown leads Bryden Wood’s ‘Central Logic’ approach and is a finalist for the ‘Best Woman Architect’ award.
According to Phil Langley, Board Director for Creative Technologies, ‘her industry-leading work sits at the intersection between architecture, design for manufacture (DfMA) and digital innovation.’.Having completed her Master’s Degree at the University of Westminster, Cresser-Brown led the construction phase of The South Terminal Pier 1 at Gatwick Airport, noting that Bryden Wood were using BIM innovatively in its early days.