DfMA Toolkit helps accelerate the design and construction of homes
Bridging the gap between design and manufacturing, the new DfMA digital toolkit from COLAB (a consortium led by L&Q, alongside Virtual Viewing, Hawkins\Brown and HTA Design) launched in December 2021
Awarded funding through an Innovate UK competition, COLAB was tasked with developing a digital solution that addressed the construction industry’s key issues. Looking to implement Modern Methods of Construction, the consortium delivered a Design for Manufacture and Assembly (DfMA) Toolkit.
The toolkit will bring efficiency to the design process, encouraging housing associations to think about the building process earlier in the project programme, rather than considering offsite only once the design has been drawn up. By this point, the benefits of offsite often can’t be realised, and it subsequently becomes more expensive than traditional construction.
We anticipate this project’s outcomes will provide an organisation like L&Q with 30% reduction in design and construction programmes and 25% increase in return on capital employed if applied across its development programme
Helping the project team understand the processes and create improvements, the DfMA Toolkit app uses 3D interactive graphics to allow the user to visualise aspects and impacts of the toolkit. The app pulls on significant improvements and advancements made by the COLAB consortium in the processing of BIM models and the data they contain. Below the line and powering much of the data visualisation is a centrally held data-lake, accessed by secure API, allowing the app to pull on the latest, verified data available.
To ensure resources are used responsibly, the DfMA Toolkit can also establish data on the carbon footprint of transporting MMC products to sites, while promoting design efficiency.
Find out more about the DfMA kit here.
Project Summary
Project name: DfMA Toolkit helps accelerate the design and construction of homes
Type: Research
Project Team
Lanre Gbolade L&Q, Production Innovation Lead
Rory Bergin HTA Design, Partner
Nigel Ostime Hawkins\Brown, Partner
Stewart Bailey Virtual Viewing, Managing Director
Katie Rudin L&Q, Production Innovation Manage
Mike Judd Hawkins\Brown, Associate
Irina Leigh L&Q, Production Innovation Architect
Geraldine Halifax Hawkins\Brown, Architect
Alex Hughes HTA Design, Director of DfMA
Nadine Edur Hawkins\Brown, Senior Architectural Technologist
Alan Saleh L&Q, Production Innovation Manager
Savio Ngai HTA Design, Architect
