Autumn 2011 Issue - University of Central Lancashire

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26 Conference Reviews Professors in Profile: Learning to Build or Building to Learn? An Interview With Jack Goulding School of Built and Natural Environment Jack Goulding is Professor of Construction Project Management in the School of Built and Natural Environment and Director of the Centre for Sustainable Development at UCLan. He is a Charted Construction Manager and sits on several industry panels. Jack has worked on numerous national and international projects in the areas of ICT, Virtual Reality, Strategic Planning, Organisational Learning, and Open Manufacturing. He has also developed several undergraduate and postgraduate ICT/construction-related programmes, and helped many construction organisations with their research and development and training initiatives. Following Jack’s Inaugural Professorial Lecture, which provided an insight into the myriad of challenges facing construction professionals and explored issues from a multi-dimensional learning stakeholder perspective, Mike Holmes and Emma Hesketh joined Jack in his office in Harris Building to find out more. > Could you just give us an outline of your research area? My research area covers a wide range of construction-related issues. Chronologically, my focus has always been to look at developing a strategic focus for construction organisations, particularly with respect to business trajectories and core business operations. That led me to be involved in training and development; and more recently through some of my research projects, I have been involved in virtual reality simulation and immersive environments. Having just finished a major EU research project that involved 23 partners; part of my deliverable was to develop a construction site training simulator for off-site manufacturing. This opened up a lot of avenues with both industry and academia, and is now starting to include such issues as learning styles, through to logistics management etc. This will help high level managers to appreciate the different concepts and techniques associated with offsite manufacturing, in contrast to traditional methods of working in construction. Offsite manufacturing has been quite prevalent in places such as Japan, Sweden and the USA, but is a relatively new concept elsewhere. So, my research focus is still predominantly helping construction companies move their corporate strategies forward; and skill development [using a construction site simulator] is an important part of this. We are currently developing a Construction Site VR Simulator, in order to train construction professionals in this new way of working and thinking. You have mentioned off-site manufacturing. Is that where a complete unit, e.g. a bathroom, is manufactured off site, shipped in, and placed in the building? Absolutely, but things have moved on a little. Part of supply chain management is that we now have the capability of being able to use what are called “smart objects” or “intelligent components”. These form part of product catalogues, which are basically databases of objects. These are able to store knowledge and intelligence; for example, behavioural aspects, design characteristics, life cycle requirements etc. They can also be integrated into Building Information Modelling (BIM) systems. From this, you can select an appropriate ‘object’ to see how it will perform in a particular environment. You are also able to see which manufacturers are available, the time taken to make, deliver etc. This could be for example a simple bathroom unit, through to a complete bathroom, or a full house for that matter. The only constraint really is on size. Logistics are important here. If it can fit within a container, then we can generally have this manufactured off-site and bring it directly to site for assembly. This approach has many benefits, not least improvements in quality, faster erection times, less wet trades, reduced waste, improvements in Health and Safety etc. So, put simply, almost a “plug and fit” approach. This method takes away many of the traditional on-site activities, and replicates these in a controlled environment (the factory), which also has the additional benefit of not being affected by weather conditions etc. However, there is a cultural mind set change that is needed within the industry. People are still a little bit wary of this new approach as opposed to the traditional brick-block, concrete or steel frame construction that we are traditionally used to. This is predominantly a culture issue, which is slightly different in other countries. So, this is one of the things that we need to deal with, as it has a knock-on effect on all parts of the business, including
Conference Reviews 27 company business models (as they will have to re-visit things in a different way e.g. logistics, dealing with supply chain partners; what happens if a supplier goes out of business? etc). These issues are important, as you need to have a critical mass in the supply chain. For example, if you design something that has certain constraints and technical requirements (to fit in with your design), and that manufacturer goes out of business, it may not always be that easy to then procure another alternative from a different manufacturer. You were also talking about the use of virtual reality, so is that about allowing companies to see how this would fit together to create a virtual building? Correct. One of the issues now, is that we have an industry that is steeped in tradition. It is somewhat parochial, with deep-rooted values that are embedded in contracts, relationships, trust, ethics etc. For people to step out of that mindset and into new ways of looking at manufacturing (for example), new methodologies, new technologies, new processes etc, then the commercial drivers and benefits need to be more overt. Some companies are already doing this with great success. They are also very good at doing this, and are now creating competitive advantage in the marketplace. However, you need to have commercial tacit knowledge to take advantage of this; and at this present moment in time within the industry, there are only a few companies in the UK that have this. This is one of the reasons we are currently developing a Construction Site VR Simulator, in order to train construction professionals in this new way of working and thinking. Saying that, the inertia and momentum is now gathering pace. For example, I am a Coordinator of CIB TG74 looking at “New Production and Business Models in Construction”. CIB is the International Council for Research and Innovation in Building and Construction (www.cibworld.nl). I am also a member of CIB W119 – “Customised Industrial Construction”. Work undertaken to date has identified some significant breakthroughs. One of the things we are hoping to do next is to determine a five-year vision for the industry, which will include key priority areas. This will also include an international research strategy that addresses both theory and practice - highlighting barriers and opportunities (cognisant of stakeholder needs, market demand, cultural and societal influences etc). Do you consider the new methods of construction to have appealing environmental factors that will incentivise the use of them? One of the benefits of adopting new methodologies and techniques such as this includes its impact on the environment. This includes a variety of issues, such as a lower carbon footprint, improved waste control, fewer defects, more efficient processes, creating and engendering Corporate Social Responsibility etc. This means that companies are now increasingly aware of their responsibilities and are actively aligning these into cogent sustainable building practices. Therefore, using an approach such as offsite construction can have a positive impact on this. For example, the ability to procure materials, products and services at a much earlier stage in the process allows everyone to think about issues at a very early stage, including: the pre-vetting of suppliers, manufacturers, contractors etc (regarding their sustainability credentials), through to looking at aspects of design, functionality, maintenance etc (over the lifecycle of the product). So this is about making the building industry more environmentally friendly, more energy efficient and more sustainable? Yes, but again, it is much more than this. All these benefits are overt and well documented. Controlled environments such as factories can help companies achieve defendable sustainability solutions. However, what tends to happen now is that the design often evolves in parallel with construction to save time. Using modern methods of construction requires people to make different decisions, and much earlier well in advance of construction. Making those decisions early means that you can make parts of the product in the factory very quickly. You therefore know the costs in advance, know what you are getting, and everything is very well defined. The downside is that once you have made these decisions, you do not have the flexibility to change your mind as a client that easily, as the products may be being assembled in multiple factories for the deliverable dates you have agreed with them. Changing your mind would therefore tend to incur additional costs with cancelled contracts, materials no longer being needed etc. In this respect, clients within the industry often change their minds during the construction stage for a variety of reasons. So these new methods are as applicable for small housing projects as for large construction sites? Yes, you are right. I have worked with people on simple commercial dwellings, through to large-scale projects. The principles are the same, only the scale and complexity changes. For example, it is now possible to create such things as “pods”, which could be a complete bathroom, kitchen etc which can be slotted into a building, through to panelised walls that look exactly like external brickwork – but much better. The finishes are exemplary; you would not know for example (even looking up close) whether panelised walls were brick or not - you would not know the difference. Looking at recent show homes, there was an en-suite bathroom that seemed poorly designed in terms of space utility. Are we getting to the stage where a whole bathroom will be designed and fitted as a unit? You have highlighted a problem that has existed for a long time. Traditional house builders have existing “house types” and models that they work with. The problem is construction, and the workmanship used to create the rooms and spaces needed. If there is a problem with the construction of the space or quality of workmanship, then problems inevitably arise. This does not tend to happen with offsite manufacturing, as these two issues are taken out of the equation. You asked if the whole bathroom could be designed and fitted as one unit; the simple answer is “yes”. We have been doing this for some time now. The clients (you and I) are king here. If you come to me and tell me what you want, all I need to know is the specifications you want (quality and product-wise), along with the dimensions or constraints that I have to comply with. This is obviously more expensive for a one off, but if you are working for one of the traditional house builders, then they will have all the design styles available for you to choose. In some cases, you will be able to go online and see your design changes being made live. Changes that cannot be made will be for example, ‘greyed out’ as they may already be in the production process. Virtual imagery of the end products is also available online. One particular advantage we have here is the increased use of BIM I mentioned earlier. BIM can provide real-time, on-demand building information over the Internet. This not only helps support the design and construction process, but can also help generate more environmentally sustainable and energy efficient buildings.
Page 1 and 2: Excellence in Research and Knowledg
Page 3 and 4: 3 Contents Breaking News 4 Feature
Page 5 and 6: 5 National enterprise tour hosted b
Page 7 and 8: Feature Articles 7 conversations be
Page 9 and 10: Feature Articles 9 Nursing Children
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Page 19 and 20: Feature Articles 19 ...and the winn
Page 21 and 22: Funding, Awards and Recognition 21
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Page 25: Conference Reviews 25 History of fo
Page 29 and 30: Conference Reviews 29 Graduate Rese
Page 31 and 32: Book Launches 31 Creating Memorials
Page 33 and 34: Book Launches 33 Deconstructing Dig
Page 35 and 36: 35 Editorial team Professor Mike Ho

Autumn 2011 Issue - University of Central Lancashire

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