We analyse and understand the requirements of every project to investigate how the components of the building meet the correct criteria, be that its location, the process it needs to provide for, or the wellbeing of the users.

The pressure on development to design and construct at increasing speed must be balanced against the critical analysis of the design brief and problem statement, and engagement with stakeholders that is so essential to improving the quality of our surroundings.The increasing use of social and environmental metrics in client briefs and a construction industry starting to recognise the importance of this broader social value gives hope, as we strive to improve the quality and meaning of the built environment.. Sources:.

https://www.architecture.com/knowledge-and-resources/resources-landing-page/social-value-toolkit-for-architecture.https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/social-value-act-information-and-resources/social-value-act-information-and-resources.Samuel, Flora, Why Architects Matter: Evidencing and Communicating the Value of Architects, first edition (London: Routledge, 2018), pp.

115-116.. Serin, Bilge, Tom Kenny, James White, and Flora Samuel, Design Value at the Neighbourhood Scale, first edition (Glasgow: UK Collaborative Centre for Housing Evidence (CaCHE), 2018), p. 8 [Accessed 7 January 2022].Samuel, Flora, Social Value Toolkit for Architecture, first edition (London: Royal Institute of British Architects, 2020), p. 6 [Accessed 7 January 2022].

Carmona, Matthew, Claudio De Magalhães, and Michael Edwards, 'What Value Urban Design?

", URBAN DESIGN International, 7 (2002), 63-81.For example, prefabricated 3D modules (used in modular construction) involve many additional costs compared to conventional build.

These include transportation (a pre-fabricated room is mostly air, after all) and heavy plant for lifting modules into place.Unless modules are fabricated on a just-in time basis they also have to be stored which costs money, especially if that storage needs to be sheltered from the elements.

3D modules also occupy large amounts of factory floor space and therefore absorb a high proportion of factory overheads..If these additional modular construction costs can be offset by large improvements in construction site efficiency, for example by relocating wet trades or complex specialist trades away from the site, a 3D module might make sense.