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A new way of building apartment blocks – decribed as a cross between Ikea and Lego, means flats will be built faster, cheaper and with fewer defects
[See the full post at: Podcast: Faster and cheaper flat pack flats]
The opinions offered in these Forum posts and replies are not intended to be taken as legal advice. Readers with serious issues should consult experienced strata lawyers.
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That was a very interesting discussion, thanks. Blink’s approach is very innovative.
I’m not a builder or designer. As a Strata owner, resident and committee member, I’m always interested in the importance of how maintenance is managed.
Future-proofing must be a design challenge. All buildings age. Does Blink have guidelines for the future operation and maintenance of the buildings? Some examples:
- The airconditioning needs to be replaced, or the property decides to install solar and batteries. Or it’s time to replace the roof. These are all things that potentially impact on the precision of the build geometry and integrity of the interface joints.
- Humans being what we are, many new owners buy in and then decide to renovate. Cut a wall, shift the plumbing, change the flooring and so on. Those activities are very capable of changing water and acoustic pathways etc. Is it possible for the initial design to build in capacity for future activity?
- Similarly, can a pre-fab bathroom (eg a moulded shower unit) be easily removed without demolishing a wall and doorway?
Great questions.
There are a few aspects to our technology that will provide apartment owners and strata managers with better information and detail.
Firstly, there will be a fully detailed and precise digital twin for the entire building and each of the manufactured assemblies. Throughout the Design, Manufacture and Integration process, we are aggregating a unique digital twin for each building component (full and detailed information about how the assembly was manufactured and its operational/service documentation). This will provide full visibility to the location of every pipe, stud and cable inside every wall as an example. One of the features that we are building is a mobile phone app that will utilise augmented reality to show the detail behind the walls.
For reconfigurability, the beauty of our Backbone, is that every internal wall is non load bearing – offering the ability to modify the floor plates and only need to consider services access, fire and accoustic separation. And having the digital twin of the Backbone and MEPF systems, buildings can be reconfigured in the future.
Again – services reconfiguration should be done in conjunction with the strata and accredited designers. Primarily to ensure that system capacity, fire and acoustic performance are maintained – and the digital twin is also maintained.
The bathroom pod question is interesting. The pods are essentially rooms within a room. The walls and ceilings are integrated with the pod itself, so in essence to remove the pod will require demolishing the adjoining walls. Again, waterproofing is inherent in the bathroom pods and like a conventionally built bathroom, care needs to be taken with any future renovations.
Hope this helps, but happy to have a discussion with you in more detail.
Another great benefit would be that cabling and services to and from the building and individual apartment would not be lost with changes of Strata Manager, Committe Member or caretakers.
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