London-based design firm Bryden Wood, with offices in Singapore, Barcelona, and Milan, will bolster its presence in the United States when it opens new headquarters in Boston this summer.
Founded in 1995, the firm now specializes in a value-oriented kit-of-parts “Platform” approach to design for manufacturing and assembly (DfMA). Bryden Wood’s North American expansion is being led by directors Jaimie Johnstone and Phil Langley, its head of global systems and creative technologies, respectively.
In an interview with BD+C last week, Johnston said that Bryden Wood’s plans to expand into the U.S. in 2020 were postponed because of the coronavirus pandemic. Prior to its moving into Boston, Bryden Wood had done some work in the U.S. for the pharmaceutical firm GlaxoSmithKline. Among the AEC and service-provider firms currently teaming with Bryden Wood on industrial projects in the U.S. are The Boldt Company, Amazon Web Services, and DPR Construction.
The timing of its expansion, said Johnston, was motivated by the slow-moving pace in the U.K. toward adopting offsite manufacturing as an element of commercial construction. “There have been pockets of excellence, but also more of a focus on volumetric modular for homebuilding.” The opposite is occurring in the U.S., he observed, where nonresidential developers and their AEC have been embracing prefabrication. Bryden Wood’s goal is to establish a North American supply network for industrial components.
![Bryden Wood's kit of parts](/sites/default/files/inline-images/Bryden%20Wood%20Kit%20of%20Parts.jpg)
Johnston noted that while “a lot of people” in the U.S. are prefabricating MEP components, that competitive advantage “can be diluted over time.” What Bryden Wood offers, he explained, is a merging of volumetric design with manufacturing for better and quicker results.
Bryden Wood’s Platform approach standardizes manufactured components that are made offsite and assembled onsite, thereby assuring greater certainty about schedules and budgets. Platforms also embed materials reuse and reductions in carbon into early stages of design.
The firm works with tech clients to develop design technologies such as “digital configurators” that rely on genetic algorithms to generate thousands of design and engineering solutions for sites around the world. By developing solutions that allow appropriate levels of repeatability in such building types as data centers, without sacrificing quality, “we’re helping [clients] transform their businesses,” said Johnston in a prepared statement.
THE FORGE SHOWCASES PLATFORM-DRIVEN SAVINGS
![Panels being installed onto The Forge](/sites/default/files/inline-images/THEFORGE_03.jpg)
The Forge has been much quicker and more accurate.
The first major commercial project being delivered using the Platform approach to DfMA is The Forge, which topped out last December, and is scheduled for completion in the fourth quarter of this year. The Forge is comprised of two sustainably focused nine-story commercial buildings—90,000 and 49,000 sf, respectively—in central London, built around an accessible courtyard. Its projected efficiencies include a nearly 20 percent reduction in embodied carbon per square meter, a 36.4 percent reduction in the substructure, and a 20.2 reduction in superstructure and façade materials. Johnston said that the buildings’ façade panels could be installed in just 7½ minutes each, and with greater accuracy.
The Forge’s developer, Landsea, anticipates a 9.5 percent reduction in capital costs from this platform kit-of-parts approach. The Forge is also the U.K’s first net-zero energy project. The building team includes a joint venture between the construction firms Sir Robert McAlpine and Mace, and NG Bailey as the MEP engineer.
Johnston expected Bryden Wood to focus its attention in North American on projects for healthcare, data centers, pharma, and industrial, “wherever there’s a high degree of complexity and repetition.” On its website, Bryden Wood said it has been designing data centers since 1999, and has been delivering 30-40 percent reductions in capital build costs per kilowatt, and an average 40 percent increase in IT yield per square meter.
Scalability via industrialized construction for these building types is where clients are most likely to benefit from improvements in design and delivery, the firm contended. Johnston also foresaw Bryden Wood doing a bit more multifamily design in the U.S. than it does within its home market.
A few years ago, the firm launched a free-to-use and open-source housing design application called PRiSM that, it claims, brings together central and regional government, investors, developers, and manufacturers, with the goal of driving improved productivity and quality. The updated version of PRiSM incorporates Bryden Wood’s Platforms approach to DfMA.
Related Stories
High-rise Construction | Dec 7, 2022
SOM reveals its design for Singapore’s tallest skyscraper
Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM) has revealed its design for 8 Shenton Way—a mixed-use tower that will stand 63 stories and 305 meters (1,000 feet) high, becoming Singapore’s tallest skyscraper. The design team also plans to make the building one of Asia’s most sustainable skyscrapers. The tower incorporates post-pandemic design features.
Office Buildings | Dec 7, 2022
Software giant SAP opens engineering academy for its global engineering workforce
Software giant SAP has opened its new SAP Academy for Engineering on the company’s San Ramon, Calif. campus. Designed by HGA, the Engineering Academy will provide professional development opportunities for SAP’s global engineering workforce. At the Engineering Academy, cohorts from SAP offices across the globe will come together for intensive, six-month training programs.
Multifamily Housing | Dec 7, 2022
Canada’s largest net-zero carbon residential community to include affordable units
The newly unveiled design for Canada’s largest net-zero carbon residential community includes two towers that will create a new destination within Ottawa and form a striking gateway into LeBreton Flats. The development will be transit-oriented, mixed-income, mixed-use, and include unprecedented sustainability targets. Dream LeBreton is a partnership between real estate companies Dream Asset Management, Dream Impact, and local non-profit MultiFaith Housing Initiative.
Student Housing | Dec 7, 2022
Cornell University builds massive student housing complex to accommodate planned enrollment growth
In Ithaca, N.Y., Cornell University has completed its North Campus Residential Expansion (NCRE) project. Designed by ikon.5 architects, the 776,000-sf project provides 1,200 beds for first-year students and 800 beds for sophomore students. The NCRE project aimed to accommodate the university’s planned growth in student enrollment while meeting its green infrastructure standards. Cornell University plans to achieve carbon neutrality by 2035.
Office Buildings | Dec 6, 2022
‘Chicago’s healthiest office tower’ achieves LEED Gold, WELL Platinum, and WiredScore Platinum
Goettsch Partners (GP) recently completed 320 South Canal, billed as “Chicago’s healthiest office tower,” according to the architecture firm. Located across the street from Chicago Union Station and close to major expressways, the 51-story tower totals 1,740,000 sf. It includes a conference center, fitness center, restaurant, to-go market, branch bank, and a cocktail lounge in an adjacent structure, as well as parking for 324 cars/electric vehicles and 114 bicycles.
Multifamily Housing | Dec 6, 2022
Austin's new 80-story multifamily tower will be the tallest building in Texas
Recently announced plans for Wilson Tower, a high-rise multifamily building in downtown Austin, Texas, indicate that it will be the state’s tallest building when completed. The 80-floor structure will rise 1,035 feet in height at 410 East 5th Street, close to the 6th Street Entertainment District, Austin Convention Center, and a new downtown light rail station.
Geothermal Technology | Dec 6, 2022
Google spinoff uses pay-as-you-go business model to spur growth in geothermal systems
Dandelion Energy is turning to a pay-as-you-go plan similar to rooftop solar panel leasing to help property owners afford geothermal heat pump systems.
Contractors | Dec 6, 2022
Slow payments cost the construction industry $208 billion in 2022
The cost of floating payments for wages and invoices represents $208 billion in excess cost to the construction industry, a 53% increase from 2021, according to a survey by Rabbet, a provider of construction finance software.
Mixed-Use | Dec 6, 2022
Houston developer plans to convert Kevin Roche-designed ConocoPhillips HQ to mixed-use destination
Houston-based Midway, a real estate investment, development, and management firm, plans to redevelop the former ConocoPhillips corporate headquarters site into a mixed-use destination called Watermark District at Woodcreek.
Office Buildings | Dec 5, 2022
How to foster collaboration and inspiration for a workplace culture that does not exist (yet)
A building might not be able to “hack” innovation, but it can create the right conditions to foster connection and innovation, write GBBN's Chad Burke and Zachary Zettler.