I quickly transitioned to a forerunner of the Infrastructure and Projects Authority where I spent nine years in central government before taking on my current role as Programme Director for the Construction Innovation Hub, with the aim of delivering the Construction Sector Deal.

Ikea is another excellent example of a Platform that most people are familiar with.As well as the physical components, Ikea have also created their own ecosystem..

So, while there is a ‘kit of parts’ that includes components common to lots of different pieces of furniture (fittings, hinges, drawer bases and sides, dimensional grids etc.), the process has also been highly standardised: the format of the instruction book is always the same, and you only ever need a limited selection of common tools.. Ikea also have their own configurator for kitchens, ‘3D Kitchen Planner’, which allows users to create a 3D model which generates a list of components and a price.Or you can book an appointment with an Ikea specialist who will help you decide on the right kitchen and layout and create the model for you..

There are now a number of companies such as., who will provide a bespoke kitchen using Ikea base units.

These take the output from the Ikea kitchen configurator as a starting point, to which they add doors in a range of material finishes, handles and worktops.

So new businesses can be built on top of Platform approaches; in this case, addressing a gap in the market for customers who don’t want the expense of a fully bespoke kitchen, but do want some individuality.. What can we learn?.This is exacerbated if there are fume cupboards, as the discharges go to the roof and discharge vertically.

The discharge stacks for these fans can be quite high, so we may have to design roof supports for flues.. One unusual issue we encountered was a vibration requirement for an X-ray machine.This is further evidence of the importance of understanding the purpose of the laboratory equipment being installed early in the lab design process..

Finally, we must be aware of how the laboratory equipment is to be delivered to the site.Some lab equipment can be extremely heavy, and the beam layout may dictate where the equipment can sit within the space.