This is a time when we need to learn from nature and think hard about scale..
Illumina is a high-tech company, based in the USA but with a very large UK presence.We first met Illumina because they were building their new UK HQ – a very large laboratory building – on Quanta Park, where we were already active.
We were called in to assist with the mechanical and electrical engineering aspect of the project where additional technical input was required, to sit with the client and tie the various elements together, assess why it was going wrong, and help secure its completion and commissioning.. Illumina specialise in DNA sequencing.DNA analysis is a complex and data-intensive business.Every sequence generates six terabytes of data, and Illumina’s HQ houses about 80 sequencers, running around the clock, generating significant amounts of heat.
So, a key issue is to ensure there are aqequate cooling systems.But we were tasked to review all equipment specifications, for the chillers, air handling units, pumps, or anything else, essentially to protect the client and make sure they got they were paying for.
And once installation was completed, we helped with witnessing commissioning, and then monitoring the functioning of the new building through its defects liability period..
Since that initial role, we have carried out a number of other MEP projects for Illumina, including extensive heat load testing, lab upgrades and the repurposing of existing offices and other facilities.She says the CEOs still fighting the change to industrialised construction need to recognise that others aren’t anymore - that in a long-game sense, they “probably aren’t doing the right thing.”.
“Companies should be seeing this as a massive opportunity in shaping themselves,” Johnston says, “positioning themselves to see it as a benefit and not saying: ‘I hope this passes me by and I can avoid making some of the big shifts.’”.Marks reiterates that the shift to industrialised construction is going to take everyone’s involvement.
All of the key players need to recognise their own dissatisfaction and start making changes.. “I don’t just feel the shift,” she says.“I’m holding on some days because I’m getting knocked over from the shift!”.