It’s tempting to look forward to a time beyond Covid-19 when the world gets back to normal. In reality, that will probably never happen. Eventually, Covid-19 will cease to be a crisis, either because we have effective vaccines or because we work out how to live with the virus. By then, the ways we live and work across all sectors will have been changed by the experience, probably permanently.
The same will be true of construction. Stalled projects and those that were in the pipeline need to be completed quickly. For example, the shortage of social and affordable housing is going to become more critical as the financial impact of the crisis on jobs and incomes starts to hit home. Meanwhile, healthcare and education settings need additional capacity. There is a lot of urgent construction work to be delivered.
Working With Covid-19
While the virus is in circulation, projects will have to be delivered by socially-distanced operatives and project teams who are partly working remotely. This will inevitably call for innovation and more technology. It will also lead to the greater use of offsite manufacturing to increase productivity and limit the number of people needed onsite.
Panelised offsite systems such as have several significant advantages in the current climate. A small onsite installation team erects the structure from large format panels. As these panels are up to 6m in length, social distancing is easy to manage, as you can see in this brief video about increased workforce safety.
The panels are fabricated in a modern manufacturing facility where movement of people and materials is easy to control. And because the process is already digitally-driven, project teams can collaborate more easily from any location.
In the process of getting the industry back up to speed, it is becoming clearer to even more people that offsite methods and materials such as SIPs deliver a better product, more quickly and with less reliance on scarce skilled labour. So why would anyone want to go back to ‘normal’ with the inefficiencies and uncertainties that entails?
If you have a project that you need to deliver quickly with less onsite labour, you have options. Contact the Innovaré team to explore your most reliable route forward.
