But this approach is designed to be rolled out world-wide and to attract customers and supply chain partners to realise coal plant refurbishments in other critical locations.
In this article I will look at the reasons for a digital marketplace for construction, the benefits of one and the infrastructure that would facilitate one.. What is a 'digital marketplace' and why would we want one for construction?.In the simplest terms, I’m talking about e-commerce: buying and selling online.
I’ll develop this much further below, but a digital marketplace for construction would allow clients to publish their requirements for standard components or repeatable designs, for example, and allow a wide range of suppliers to bid to supply them..This is obviously predicated on consistency of demand; when every construction project is bespoke, it’s impossible for manufacturers (other than material suppliers who make highly standardised, commoditised products like rebar) to develop products that are likely to be used repeatedly.But consistency of demand will come with other forms of progress, like widespread adoption of construction Platforms.
We will come back to this as well..When achieved, this will benefit construction in a range of ways.. Firstly: it would provide greater market transparency and diversify the supply chain, meaning that companies of all sizes could engage with large-scale programmes, in the private and public sectors.. Secondly: late payment (particularly between contractors and their supply chains) has been a well-recognised problem in construction for a few decades.
It means smaller suppliers, to whom cashflow is critical, operate in a state of uncertainty and ‘financial distress’.
Late payment is, unsurprisingly, one of the key triggers of insolvency..The impact of existing buildings, however, has been left unattended.
New initiatives, however, are highlighting the importance of adaptive reuse, which focuses on the refurbishment.of existing buildings (retrofitting) in order to help the UK meet its carbon targets.. To give a sense of the scale of the importance of adaptive reuse: according to LETI’s analysis, 80% of residential buildings that will exist in 2050 have already been built; and most of the buildings currently under construction will need to be partially or totally retrofitted before 2050.. A substantial proportion of the carbon emissions from existing buildings can be reduced by adopting simple retrofit measures, which could potentially be subsidised by the government.
These would include: adding thermal insulation, upgrading windows or exchanging gas boilers for electric heaters and air source heat pumps..There are multiple benefits to promoting a national-scale retrofit of existing buildings.