Platforms

The industry wants and needs change

There are new pressures on the industry to maintain quality at lower cost, with less environmental impact. The UK government has set some key targets* for 2025 of 33% lower cost, 50% lower emissions, 50% faster delivery and 50% improvement in exports.

To help achieve these targets, the government will “use its purchasing power to drive adoption of modern methods of construction” (the 2017 Autumn statement). By channelling its investment into selected platform systems, state spending will help to give them critical mass. This will give construction the level of benefits that manufacturing enjoys - with procurement across sector boundaries, not just by project, or programme. The role of government is crucial because market forces alone would not achieve this transition, as no single programme of works is big enough to support it. 

* Construction 2025 - Industrial Strategy: Government and Industry in partnership

What are Platforms?

Platforms are a giant "kit of parts" - sets of pre-engineered components that go together in well-defined ways to produce products or structures very efficiently. Flexibility is designed in, so that a single platform can produce an almost infinite range of different structures in a manufacturing technique called mass customisation. Indeed, the term "platform" is taken from manufacturing. A car chassis, for example acts as a platform and may form the basis of every model in a manufacturer's range. The transport container and the iPhone app store are other examples.