好色先生TV

Make worked with Seele Austria to develop this unique hexagonal cladding system

It is an often-repeated criticism of architects that they lack a certain grasp on reality when conceiving designs. The industry abounds with tales of ambitious projects abandoned for impractical costs and impossible features: just think of Zaha Hadid鈥檚 opera house in Cardiff Bay, rejected out of hand by a terrified Welsh government.

For many, there is an obvious solution to this architectural delusion: to force architects into closer and earlier liaison with a project鈥檚 contractors and specialists contractors. One body driving this forward is the Health and Safety Executive, which is pushing for closer integration between architects and contractors on safety in design in the forthcoming alterations to the CDM regulations. Yet there is evidence architects are coming around to the idea of such partnership, before the force of law gives them a helping hand. And those that pioneer this method are already reaping the benefits.

Research conducted on behalf of 好色先生TV by independent consultant Taylor Nelson reveals that, surprisingly, design professionals rely far more on the advice of specialist contractors than their counterparts further along a project鈥檚 road (see tables below). Seventy four per cent of architects say they involve specialist contractors in decisions on which products and materials to use on a scheme, asking them to suggest and shortlist appropriate solutions on particular areas such as flooring and roofing. The figure among architects is greater than groups more traditionally associated with direct involvement with subcontractors. Sixty five per cent of main contractors liaise with specialists on product choices, along with 59% of housebuilders.

It is an often-repeated criticism of architects that they lack a certain grasp on reality when conceiving designs. The industry abounds with tales of ambitious projects abandoned for impractical costs and impossible features: just think of Zaha Hadid鈥檚 opera house in Cardiff Bay, rejected out of hand by a terrified Welsh government.

For many, there is an obvious solution to this architectural delusion: to force architects into closer and earlier liaison with a project鈥檚 contractors and specialists contractors. One body driving this forward is the Health and Safety Executive, which is pushing for closer integration between architects and contractors on safety in design in the forthcoming alterations to the CDM regulations. Yet there is evidence architects are coming around to the idea of such partnership, before the force of law gives them a helping hand. And those that pioneer this method are already reaping the benefits.

Research conducted on behalf of 好色先生TV by independent consultant Taylor Nelson reveals that, surprisingly, design professionals rely far more on the advice of specialist contractors than their counterparts further along a project鈥檚 road (see tables below). Seventy four per cent of architects say they involve specialist contractors in decisions on which products and materials to use on a scheme, asking them to suggest and shortlist appropriate solutions on particular areas such as flooring and roofing. The figure among architects is greater than groups more traditionally associated with direct involvement with subcontractors. Sixty five per cent of main contractors liaise with specialists on product choices, along with 59% of housebuilders.

In a complex world

One reason why architects are involving specialist contractors so closely is the increase in complexity of landmark projects. Architect RMJM is one practice that has found the involvement of specialists invaluable on a complex work: the recent Stirling Prize winning Scottish parliament. RMJM attributes a large part of the success of the interior of the building to its relationship with fit-out contractor Mivan.

鈥淲orking with Mivan, the team would work tirelessly to achieve the design intent with unconventional construction methods being adopted,鈥� says senior project architect Ross Milne. 鈥淒uring the relationship we constantly pushed the limited range of materials to maximum effect, utilising Mivan鈥檚 technical knowledge and joinery skills.鈥�

Close partnership with the specialist was key to RMJM meeting what Milne describes as a 鈥渕omentous challenge鈥�: delivering complex geometries in high-specification spaces including the debating chamber, the public foyer and the committee rooms. Thousands of details were produced and each one had to reach an approval status before construction could commence. Details were worked out through the use of mock-ups live on site and in the Mivan factory in Northern Ireland, a process RMJM says was boosted by Mivan鈥檚 expertise in pre-fabrication.

prefabrication also helped, although belatedly, to ease the pressure on what had become an extremely tight project programme owing to much-publicised cost overruns and delays. Mivan鈥檚 expertise helped to ease the growing strain on the project team: 鈥淚n the boiling pot of media interest and political debate, the two teams merged with one common goal,鈥� says Milne. 鈥淭he final result of the parliament interior is testament to great teamwork pulling together to produce a timeless piece of architecture.鈥�

A similarly problematic parliamentary project 鈥� the Welsh assembly building 鈥� helped to convince leading architectural practice the Richard Rogers Partnership of the contribution specialist contractors could make to design. The firm involved building envelope specialist Lakesmere early on in the design phase: a wise decision when you consider that the building is topped by a series of six striking domes. Lakesmere employs more than 40 CAD designers to work with the project architect on such schemes: a strong hint that the firm鈥檚 input will come in useful, and also that an increasing number of practices are prepared to take the firm up on its offer.

Ken Shuttleworth鈥檚 Make is another member of the architectural league that has seen the benefits of involving specialists early on, so much so that the practice has made it standard form to involve specialist contractors in the design phase. 鈥淲e find collaboration with specialist contractors vital at an early stage of a project,鈥� says architect Sean Affleck. 鈥淭hey are invaluable in ascertaining viabilities from design and performance to delivery and risk.鈥�

One particularly specialised project that helped show Make of the need for contractors鈥� involvement is an urban wind turbine design the firm has developed with Cranfield University and renewable energy specialist Altechnica. The project is a far cry from conventional schemes, but working with material specialists at Cranfield University Make developed a unique solution. The end result, a structure based on 鈥渟pun鈥� carbon fibre, is the largest land-based carbon fibre construction in existence. Carbon fibre technology is well used in other sectors, including oil-drilling systems, but its use on this project by specialists could signal a take-up in the building industry to achieve lightweight, yet structurally efficient solutions.

The pioneering instinct

Another pioneering development Make has driven forward by harnessing specialists鈥� advice is in the cladding sector. The practice has worked with cladding firm Seele Austria to produce a stylised cladding system that can respond to specific site requirements. Make partnered with Seele to create repetitive panels that can be configured in different ways to form spandrel panels, vision panels and self-shading. The particular building that prompted the development uses a hexagonal structural system with triangular infill glazed and solid insulated panel.

Seele believes the collaboration has hugely benefited the project, and would like to see such closer relationships adopted in future. Managing director Hannes Marterbauer said: 鈥淚f a collaboration between architects and specialist contractors is started at the early stages of a project it provides the chance to identify realistic budgets and an efficient way to achieve them, avoiding doubling up of resources. We believe by doing this we can gain several months on a tight programme as well as save costs and minimise risks for all involved parties and achieve a ideal solution at the end.鈥�

In some instances, architects have found specialists鈥� advice not only useful, but essential. 好色先生TV Design Partnership, when working on the Perth Concert Hall, relied on the advice of subcontractor Charles Henshaw and Sons to develop suitable curtain walling when its project engineer could not produce a solution (see opposite, bottom right).

BDP architect Bruce Kennedy said: 鈥淗enshaws used their specialist knowledge to deliver the architect鈥檚 vision. A key part of BDP鈥檚 design for the 8 m high glazed wall enclosing the foyer, was the desire to make the back-up steel as light as possible. The project engineers were not able to consider any structural contribution from the specified aluminium curtain walling system in sizing the steel, so the design of the support system was passed to Henshaws. They introduced a steel curtain walling system and worked with the design team to develop details of a unique composite, where the steel curtain walling system and fabricated steel back-up structure act in unison to achieve BDP鈥檚 design intent.鈥�

A more integrated approach

Despite statistical evidence on the involvement of specialists in the design phase and the glowing praise from the likes of Make, the fact is that the architectural sector as a whole is still only beginning to recognise the value specialists鈥� skills can bring to the early stages of a project. The Taylor Nelson research shows that although the vast majority of architects involve contractors in product decisions made at the design phase, only 21% of the sector considers specialists to be part of an integrated supply chain. This figure is far lower than among sectors working at the later stages of a project. Thirty seven per cent of housebuilders see specialists as part of an integrated team, a view shared by 38% of housebuilding associations and 42% of contractors.

The discrepancy shows that the vast majority of architects still determine specialists鈥� involvement on an ad hoc, project-by-project basis rather than taking the need for their advice as read. But the positive testament of some of the UK鈥檚 leading architectural practices suggests that this is about to change. On the Scottish parliament building, as the project neared completion, it wasn鈥檛 the architect鈥檚 drawings that trade contractors were using 鈥� it was Mivan鈥檚 set of general arrangement drawings, which they referred to as a guide to their own installations. This could be a sign of things to come.

One reason why architects are involving specialist contractors so closely is the increase in complexity of landmark projects. Architect RMJM is one practice that has found the involvement of specialists invaluable on a complex work: the recent Stirling Prize winning Scottish parliament. RMJM attributes a large part of the success of the interior of the building to its relationship with fit-out contractor Mivan.

鈥淲orking with Mivan, the team would work tirelessly to achieve the design intent with unconventional construction methods being adopted,鈥� says senior project architect Ross Milne. 鈥淒uring the relationship we constantly pushed the limited range of materials to maximum effect, utilising Mivan鈥檚 technical knowledge and joinery skills.鈥�

Close partnership with the specialist was key to RMJM meeting what Milne describes as a 鈥渕omentous challenge鈥�: delivering complex geometries in high-specification spaces including the debating chamber, the public foyer and the committee rooms. Thousands of details were produced and each one had to reach an approval status before construction could commence. Details were worked out through the use of mock-ups live on site and in the Mivan factory in Northern Ireland, a process RMJM says was boosted by Mivan鈥檚 expertise in pre-fabrication.

Prefabrication also helped, although belatedly, to ease the pressure on what had become an extremely tight project programme owing to much-publicised cost overruns and delays. Mivan鈥檚 expertise helped to ease the growing strain on the project team: 鈥淚n the boiling pot of media interest and political debate, the two teams merged with one common goal,鈥� says Milne. 鈥淭he final result of the parliament interior is testament to great teamwork pulling together to produce a timeless piece of architecture.鈥�

A similarly problematic parliamentary project 鈥� the Welsh assembly building 鈥� helped to convince leading architectural practice the Richard Rogers Partnership of the contribution specialist contractors could make to design. The firm involved building envelope specialist Lakesmere early on in the design phase: a wise decision when you consider that the building is topped by a series of six striking domes. Lakesmere employs more than 40 CAD designers to work with the project architect on such schemes: a strong hint that the firm鈥檚 input will come in useful, and also that an increasing number of practices are prepared to take the firm up on its offer.

Ken Shuttleworth鈥檚 Make is another member of the architectural league that has seen the benefits of involving specialists early on, so much so that the practice has made it standard form to involve specialist contractors in the design phase. 鈥淲e find collaboration with specialist contractors vital at an early stage of a project,鈥� says architect Sean Affleck. 鈥淭hey are invaluable in ascertaining viabilities from design and performance to delivery and risk.鈥�

One particularly specialised project that helped show Make of the need for contractors鈥� involvement is an urban wind turbine design the firm has developed with Cranfield University and renewable energy specialist Altechnica. The project is a far cry from conventional schemes, but working with material specialists at Cranfield University Make developed a unique solution. The end result, a structure based on 鈥渟pun鈥� carbon fibre, is the largest land-based carbon fibre construction in existence. Carbon fibre technology is well used in other sectors, including oil-drilling systems, but its use on this project by specialists could signal a take-up in the building industry to achieve lightweight, yet structurally efficient solutions.

The pioneering instinct

Another pioneering development Make has driven forward by harnessing specialists鈥� advice is in the cladding sector. The practice has worked with cladding firm Seele Austria to produce a stylised cladding system that can respond to specific site requirements. Make partnered with Seele to create repetitive panels that can be configured in different ways to form spandrel panels, vision panels and self-shading. The particular building that prompted the development uses a hexagonal structural system with triangular infill glazed and solid insulated panels.

Seele believes the collaboration has hugely benefited the project, and would like to see such closer relationships adopted in future. Managing director Hannes Marterbauer said: 鈥淚f a collaboration between architects and specialist contractors is started at the early stages of a project it provides the chance to identify realistic budgets and an efficient way to achieve them, avoiding doubling up of resources. We believe by doing this we can gain several months on a tight programme as well as save costs and minimise risks for all involved parties and achieve a ideal solution at the end.鈥�

In some instances, architects have found specialists鈥� advice not only useful, but essential. 好色先生TV Design Partnership, when working on the Perth Concert Hall, relied on the advice of subcontractor Charles Henshaw and Sons to develop suitable curtain walling when its project engineer could not produce a solution (see opposite, bottom right).

BDP architect Bruce Kennedy said: 鈥淗enshaws used their specialist knowledge to deliver the architect鈥檚 vision. A key part of BDP鈥檚 design for the 8 m high glazed wall enclosing the foyer, was the desire to make the back-up steel as light as possible. The project engineers were not able to consider any structural contribution from the specified aluminium curtain walling system in sizing the steel, so the design of the support system was passed to Henshaws. They introduced a steel curtain walling system and worked with the design team to develop details of a unique composite, where the steel curtain walling system and fabricated steel back-up structure act in unison to achieve BDP鈥檚 design intent.鈥�

A more integrated approach

Despite statistical evidence on the involvement of specialists in the design phase and the glowing praise from the likes of Make, the fact is that the architectural sector as a whole is still only beginning to recognise the value specialists鈥� skills can bring to the early stages of a project. The Taylor Nelson research shows that although the vast majority of architects involve contractors in product decisions made at the design phase, only 21% of the sector considers specialists to be part of an integrated supply chain. This figure is far lower than among sectors working at the later stages of a project. Thirty seven per cent of housebuilders see specialists as part of an integrated team, a view shared by 38% of housebuilding associations and 42% of contractors

The discrepancy shows that the vast majority of architects still determine specialists鈥� involvement on an ad hoc, project-by-project basis rather than taking the need for their advice as read. But the positive testament of some of the UK鈥檚 leading architectural practices suggests that this is about to change. On the Scottish parliament building, as the project neared completion, it wasn鈥檛 the architect鈥檚 drawings that trade contractors were using 鈥� it was Mivan鈥檚 set of general arrangement drawings, which they referred to as a guide to their own installations. This could be a sign of things to come.