S1 E01: Enabling Productivity with Prefabricated Timber Systems, Adam Strong Enabling Productivity with Prefabricated Timber Systems
Adam Strong is Managing Director at Strongbuild, a Sydney-based company specialising in streamlined building systems and sustainable resources with a focus on the design and delivery of multi-residential, aged-care and retirement living projects. One of the advantages of timber, is its ability to enable prefabrication for a building to simultaneously improve quality, price and program for a project.
In this interview with Adam we discuss:
- How stepping back in the supply chain has given Strongbuild the control to produce higher quality offsite, enable higher productivity onsite and push innovation
- Why early contractor involvement is key to unlocking all of the productivity benefits for timber construction
- Why design, detailing and logistics are fundamentals for a successful prefabricated project
Building professionals globally are turning to timber in mid-rise construction as it provides a healthier, environmentally friendly (carbon), sustainable, efficiently off-site prefabricated solution that dramatically reduces construction times and accordingly the overall cost of the project
If you want to find out more about Strongbuild, go to www.strongbuild.com.au
Architectural Opportunities for Biophilic Design
What can we say about Caroline Pidcock that her Wiki bio - see below - doesn't? Other than we are very privileged to have her as one of our first podcast interviewees.
We enjoyed it, and hope you do too.
Caroline Pidcock
(from Wiki - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caroline_Pidcock)
Pidcock is a campaigner for environmental and community issues. Her commitment led to her standing as an independent candidate for the Legislative Council in the 2007 New South Wales state election[2] and appointment as an ambassador for the Al Gore Climate Change[3] and 1 Million Women initiatives – a movement of women and girls fighting climate change by taking practical action.[4]
More recently, Pidcock has been an active voice in the Millers Point Residents Action Group, campaigning to retain public housing in Millers Point and Dawes Point. She is also currently a member of the Sacred Heart Education Ministry and the South Australian Forestry Industry Advisory Boards.[3]Previously she has also held presidential roles with the New South Wales and National Councils of the Royal Australian Institute of Architects, and the Australian Sustainable Built Environment Council; Chaired the Carriageworks and Living Future Institute of Australia Boards; has been a member of the New South Wales Architects Registration and Bicycle New South Wales Boards; representative for the industry on the Australian Building Codes Board and held adjunct roles at several New South Wales based universities.[3]
Pidcock's sustained leadership in built environment sector led to her appointment as a Life Fellow of the Royal Australian Institute of Architects in 2006.
In July 2011, Pidcock was awarded the prestigious Marion Mahony Griffin Award by the Australian Institute of Architects in recognition of her contribution to architecture in New South Wales.
As part of the centenary of Canberra celebrations, Pidcock delivered the ‘Magic of Australia – with regards to the Griffins‘ lecture for the Walter Burley Griffin Society's annual Marion Mahony Griffin Lecture.
Pushing the Boundaries with Timber Construction Part 1
Jonathan Evans is a partner at Tzannes, who was the lead architect on International House in Sydney, a 7 storey commercial office building designed for Lendlease, which won the Grand Prix Australian Timber Design Award 2017; and Karl-Heinz Weiss, an engineer and the general manager for DesignMake at Lendlease. He has extensive experience in Australia and internationally.
In Part 1 of this discussion, we cover:
- How timber stacks up, cost wise with traditional construction
- The response of tenants in constructed timber buildings, like International House in Sydney
- The psychological and health effects of exposed timber, and opportunities in educational and office buildings
Pushing the Boundaries with Timber Construction Part 2
Jonathan Evans is a partner at Tzannes, who was previously the lead architect on International House in Sydney, a 7 storey commercial office building designed for Lendlease, which previously won the Australian Timber Design Award 2017; and Karl-Heinz Weiss, an engineer and the general manager for DesignMake at Lendlease, who has extensive experience he is bringing to Australia, working on projects like K5, the world's largest engineered timber office building in Brisbane, and a proposed major redevelopment at Collins Wharf in Melbourne.
Jonathan and Karl-Heinz are teaming up together for their next project, C1 in Barangaroo which is being called 'The Big Sister' of International House, which is also 7 storeys, but have decided to continue to push the boundaries, by increasing the floor spans by a further 50%..
In Part 2 of this discussion, we cover:
- How to break new ground and innovate in both engineering and architecture
- The lessons learned from previous projects, to be taken into C1
- The flow from digital work flow, to physical prefabrication and then to construction of building elements
- The importance of sustainability and reducing embodied carbon in our buildings
Recent Advances in Timber Construction in the UK - Part 1
Nick Milestone is the Chairman of the Timber Research Development Association, and Philipp Zumbrunnen is a director at Eurban limited, both based out of London. This is a two part series where we listen to these two world renowned international experts discuss how the mid-rise timber building market is developing, from the perspective of the United Kingdom.
In part one of this two part series, we discuss:
- The construction targets for the UK for 2025, and how prefabricated timber systems, integrated design and early contractor involvement can be combined to meet these goals
- The advantages timber has with design for manufacture and assembly (DFMA) over traditional construction, and why we are on the cusp of a revolution in construction methods
- The opportunities to stimulate manufacturing sector, and the response of timber construction workers on site
Recent Advances in Timber Construction in the UK - Part 2
In part two of this two part series, we discuss:
- How a holistic view is the key to enabling construction gains in timber projects
- Why the approach to timber buildings need to be designed from a first principles paradigm and the opportunities for smaller companies to come on this timber journey
- Why Australia is in the unique position to develop a supply sustainably sourced supply chain to enable a growing market
Australia's Tallest Timber Commercial Office Building
Basil Richardson is a Studio Director at Bates Smart, where he leads technical design, documentation and construction for many of the firm's large scale timber projects. In this episode, we talk about 25 King Street, a 10 storey timber building which has just been completed and is currently Australia's tallest timber commercial office building.
Michael Marks on Katerra’s Vision for Construction
Michael Marks is the co-founder of Katerra, a vertically integrated company setting up a global supply chain, utilising factories and prefabrication to paving an entirely new construction process with a quantum leap in efficiency. Michael has been named the top 10 CEO's of all time within Silicon Valley, as he has previously grown Flextronics from $93 million revenue to $16 billion, and was previously an interim CEO of Tesla.
The multi-trillion dollar global construction industry is ready for change. Construction companies typically invest less than 1% of revenue into new technologies - lower than every other major industry. Katerra is on a mission to change this by optimising every aspect of building design, materials supply and construction. Early results indicate we can expect an improvement in quality, increase in productivity and a reduction in overall costs.