HLM have three projects shortlisted in four categories at the Offsite Awards 2022

Dinton Activity Centre has been shortlisted in both the Best Use of Volumetric Technology and Commercial Project of the Year category, HMP Five Wells has been shortlisted in the Infrastructure Project of the Year Category and finally, (PBBS) Demonstrator has been shortlisted for the Product Innovation award.

All four categories recognise HLM’s commitment to a more sustainable built environment, innovation, and our expertise in profound projects in the education, leisure and justice sectors.

Dinton Activity Centre is a Net Zero Carbon Operational (NZCOp) building delivered using volumetric technology. The new £2.4m outdoor activity centre provides a state-of-the-art educational and leisure facility for the local community and supports the client Wokingham Borough Council’s commitment to be carbon neutral by 2030. It is the first such project, and will serve as a case study for future development in the borough, with 85% of the project completed offsite.

The Demonstrator was part of PBBS, a £3m R&D project supported by Innovate UK and led by Laing O’Rourke. Underpinned by the intention to ‘standardise the invisible and customise the visible’, the team aimed to standardise the interfaces while allowing architectural expression to meet client requirements. The Platform Design for Manufacture and Assembly (P-DfMA) comprises a kit of parts made from standardized components. The system innovates the design process by allowing for the iterative use of limited components that have been optimised for multiple sector building design.

HMP Five Wells is a £253m new build prison which we worked in collaboration with Kier to deliver multiple assets drawing on our extensive custodial experience from previous schemes to make improvements to the operations function of the design, as well as efficiencies in construction methodology. Coordinating design and construction strategy across building types to maximise repeatability was fundamental to successfully delivering offsite production of building components and was vital to achieving both programme and cost savings.

Anne Daw, Associate & Head of MMC Delivery said of the announcement, “It is a great achievement for our team to have been shortlisted again for multiple Offsite Awards and demonstrates the success of our implementation of MMC and Offsite initiatives. We’re unusual for an architects practice in that we entirely embrace offsite manufacture, believing this to be a safer, faster, greener, leaner, and better-quality way to make buildings. The platform design of the PBBS Demonstrator project allows for increased construction productivity and reduced carbon targets while still giving architects the ability to create thoughtful designs for our clients. I look forward to celebrating with HLM colleagues and other industry specialists at the ceremony in the Autumn.”