Platform design and the future of construction, Built Environment Matters podcast with our Head of Global Systems, Jaimie Johnston MBE

We shall fight with growing confidence and growing strength in our abilities, we shall defend our world, whatever the cost may be,.

Although there are some individual examples of its real-life deployment, we are at the start of an exponential curve.. A thread of discussion around the idea that systems could be self-validating created significant energy in the room, as well as friction between those who understood how transformational such a realised idea could be with those who saw the potential disaster.Regulators are clearly going to be either a key partner/enabler or barrier to smart developments.

Or both.. What appears to be clear already is that the impacts of the growth of these technologies will be felt in all parts of laboratory operations: people, skills required, job satisfaction, locations, collaborations, buildings.This is certainly not a time to be wedded to the bench..Intimately linked, still early in its industrialisation but a few stages ahead of smart-technology, is automation and digitisation.

Certainly, for automation, there is more confidence and immediate view about the tangible benefits that it could bring.. ‘Automating out’ routine work can have a significant impact on cost where there is the scale to support the investment.Routine laboratory work takes scientists away from research thinking and potentially is a turn-off to those considering a career in laboratories.

However, this is not a simple path.

It requires a change in the skill sets required in laboratories: scientists who develop skills in equipment engineering and coding or hardware and software engineers who develop skills in science.Therefore, we actually simulated in three dimensions, in a virtual environment, how they were going to use their equipment...we were able to position the components within the operating theatre more accurately, so that the efficiency of the operations could be greater than within a typical, general purpose operating theatre.’.

The high ceilings in the theatres are mentioned by Maswiken, as being a particularly excellent feature of the building, with respect to the way they aid with the use and management of equipment.‘You can actually leave the key equipment in those theatres, rather than moving that equipment up and down all the time,’ he says, before reflecting that actually, because the theatres benefit from ‘integrated systems,’ everything is already mounted and can just be moved around, which he refers to as, ‘yet another advantage.’.

Johnston elaborates, commenting on the high level of integration between the structural, MEP, architectural finishes, electrical, data etc… All of this, he says, allowed Bryden Wood ‘to create a high level of prefabricated MEP (building in ease of maintenance and replacement) interfacing with a highly systemised superstructure.’.In addition to these advantages, Maswiken enthuses about how lucky they are at Circle Reading to have their core/prep rooms, as well as the benefit of a layout which enables patients to go out through recovery to the wards, rather than back through the theatres.. Goel also comments on layout efficiency saying, ‘The recovery, the day case ward...is very close by.. Further to this, he and Maswiken have many other positive elements to highlight about the Circle theatres.