This shortfall is acutely felt in construction because trained engineers are often lured away into the tech industry where their ability to think around a problem, and solve technical challenges is highly prized.. Engineering within Bryden Wood.
These adaptations will require innovative HVAC design which can address changes in local environments with suitable sensors and control systems..Newly adopted habits also affect residential design.
In many cases, domestic buildings used to be empty during the central hours of the day, but with the more frequent adoption of homeworking, daylight, thermal comfort and air quality will become more important.The standards for daylight in residential buildings, for instance, have always been lower than in workspaces, and overheating is a growing phenomenon in new homes in the UK.With the changes in working patterns, it is possible that post-pandemic size, layouts, daylight and thermal requirements of residential buildings evolve to accommodate spaces better suited to work..
Improving indoor air quality and hygiene.The impact of the pandemic and the interest in wellbeing, combined with higher pollution levels in urban areas, have increased the importance of improving indoor and outdoor air quality..
In order to improve outdoor pollution, local planning policies in some areas of the UK are requesting that buildings become air quality neutral and even air quality positive.
This can be achieved via the adoption of fully electric HVAC systems that do not pollute the local environment, the use of green infrastructure and vegetation, and facilitating the use of sustainable modes of transport..Challenging Space Frontiers in Hospitals.
by Dr Grant Mills from UCL, and involving Bryden Wood Director Steven Tilkin, incorporated Bryden Wood’s innovative work in platform design (P-DfMA).The project was quite far advanced when the pandemic hit, and the timing was particularly pertinent, occurring just as hospital construction began recognising the need to look at other processes, such as offsite construction, standardisation and moving to scale of production.
The project research focused on an interesting sectoral comparison between the clean room environment of operating theatres in hospitals, and the modules of a spacecraft.As spacecraft are created offsite and have similar ventilation issues to operating theatres, there were learnings to be made from the way material procurement is handled in the space industry.