I believe it is hugely important for architects to stay involved in architectural education, not only in order to help tutor the next generation of architects, but also to take inspiration, ideas and thought processes from student work back into real world practice.

is also linked to ‘Digital Tools’ though a digital marketplace which is very much the missing piece of the puzzle.However, with the likes of the Hub’s Defining the Need workstream and with a number of digital configurators in use, we are starting to put the enablers in place to facilitate this.. Can we look to digital marketplaces that already exist?.

There are plenty of examples from which we can learn; the combination of standard components, digital tools and e-commerce has numerous precedents.While none of them is a perfect fit for construction procurement, they all have certain synergies with a potential marketplace for Platforms and it is worth exploring them.. Amazon.Amazon is of course the most famous digital marketplace, and the one most people are familiar with (except Alibaba perhaps, depending on where you are reading this).

But it is not necessarily the best example to learn from.For one thing, the product range is far bigger and more diverse than construction would need.

More importantly, Amazon is not a neutral broker, a place where the price is set by the market.

Amazon is itself a participant in the market and therefore sets or influences pricing.With so many industry stakeholders, it’s inevitable that we’ll face a certain amount of confusion and miscommunication as we await consensus on exact definitions.

In fact, academics might spend an entire career trying to define a term, as these definitions facilitate clarification and understanding, enabling work to be positioned accordingly.However, it’s important that we agree to draw a line under the process at some point, asserting that a consensus on meaning has been reached..

Equally, we must recognise just how crucial construction standards are, particularly as the industry modernises and transforms.UK construction companies have been slow to enable staff to be part of committees where standards are created.