Walk the Line: Jamie Parr from Better Delivery
We caught up with Jamie Parr, Director & Founder at Better Delivery, to talk about growing quickly, collaboration in construction and delivering complex projects 5 months early.
Jamie Parr
Director & Founder
Better Delivery
Listen to the interview here, or read on below….
Jamie, could you tell us a little bit about yourself and your career?
“I’m the Director and Founder of Better Delivery, a specialist consultancy focusing on what is termed as Modern Methods of Construction (MMC).
I've always been in construction but under different guises. My very first job was in a very traditional role at Hanson Brick specifying bricks to housebuilders and architects. After this, I spent a number of years in events management but focused on construction and infrastructure projects, particularly on how to finance those projects.
From there I stopped off to manage an architectural practice that only did offsite. Our practice delivered what I believe is the largest volumetric school in the UK, made up of around 300 modules. The learning I took away from that project, you can't buy.
Whilst at the practice I started to realise that there was a massive opportunity in the market here for a connector to sit between the client and MMC supply chain to translate what the client wants, or thinks they want, and to support them in aligning with the right supply chain and solutions. This was when Better Delivery came to fruition, and we have since evolved into a multidisciplinary business.
Could you tell us a little bit about the work you’re doing and how you fit into the manufacturing process?
Firstly, it’s important to say that we’re not a factory. We went down the agnostic route. The solution we provide is determined by the required outcomes of any project: the height, mass, shape, form, price point, performance criteria, location (direct and Indirect project metrics) etc.
We focus on four key areas:
Strategic advisory solutions
Technical and design solutions
Project support
Feasibility services
Because of how we started, we’ve got MMC supply chain clients and end-user clients. The majority of our work is helping clients understand their opportunities and options at a strategic level and how they fit with the solutions on offer, but we also work on the technical side which is really exciting given the way the market is moving towards a productised digital platform-based opportunities using standardised processes and products.
The important thing for us in remaining adaptable is working broadly across a range of sectors and across each stage; it's not just designing, it's helping the client to understand what the right solution for them is, for their region, and for internal governance requirements for example.
There's always discussion over panelised vs. volumetric, what are your thoughts?
I think that like with anything if you can get the story right, you can make anything work?
We like to really ask a client why when they suggest a modular project, and really evaluate what is driving them. You cannot say one is better than the other. For example, if you come to us with a project at stage three, it’s too late for a volumetric provider unless it's been designed with that in mind, but I can make it work for a panel. If you come to us at the start, I could make it work for a panel, or I could make it work for a module, but that depends on what the client wants. What's the driver? And really, really, importantly, which only a few others out there really get the grasp of, it's actually about the business model deployed (i.e. direct or indirect access to sites). Whilst we don't have an opinion on either being best, our approach is to rule out, not rule in.
Looking back over the last 12 months, could you describe some of your successes?
More recently, we have developed the Better Delivery Collective. When I started out, it was just me, I didn’t have investors, but I needed to find a way to scale the business. So, I spent 18 months scouring the market and going through contacts to work out who fits with what we're trying to achieve and secondly for SMEs that were also on a growth journey and who wanted to grow together – and so the idea for the collective was formed.
The collective has really taken off in the last two years and allows us to play against the big players. There is a contractual agreement between us, which enables us to offer engineering, design and management services under one wrapper.
“We’ve just delivered an incredible project for the Piccadilly Lights building at One Sherwood Street with our collective partners, which really answered the question “What can offsite do?”
Piccadilly Lights building at Piccadilly Circus, London
We were called in at RIBA Stage 4, it was Central London, with one small loading bay, so you can imagine the technical challenge. We couldn't move the site, so we had to create the design around that planning requirement.
“We conservatively estimated and agreed with the Wates team that we’d knock five months off the overall delivery program because of the non-traditional approach.”
Looking ahead to this year, what’s the most exciting thing on your horizon?
I’m very excited about the process of developing MMC products and house types, but also about our increased involvement in international projects. I’m most excited about the chance to influence the fundamental, strategic level of how things are done across the sector. We’re working on the big projects, and we’re getting in early to really change the thinking, and with that, the market is learning.
What do you consider to be the biggest challenge in influencing strategic change?
There remain these perceived and, in some instances, completely irrational, barriers that exist around risk. And the biggest thing for us is “prove it's better,” that's our tagline.
What I mean by that is using data to say, "this is better than that." We're doing a lot of data capture at the moment, trying to build a picture of where the sector is at. It is both a challenge and an opportunity.
How do you see the opportunity for the use of technology in offsite?
The short answer is that there are loads of opportunities. But, one of the things I'm quite keen on is not using technology for technology's sake.
I absolutely love where the generative design space is going. We have scoured the market and have found Matterlab, who we think are one of the best. They’re part of the Collective and are using AI and digital tools to vastly improve the process. For example, at present, the cost and time implication of redesigning, even just to account for a minor change, can be huge. The design not only changes, but the new proposal must consider the increased materials needed, the electrical supply, position of power outlets etc. Instead, this new tool they have developed called KOPE.ai has automated this at the click of a button, saving both time and resources.
“The other side where tech can be powerful is process management. Especially with DMFA and MMC being so different to the traditional methods, the existing processes in place will not work, so I’m always interested in emerging process tools.”
What do you think is needed for offsite construction to become the main way we build?
I think we need better data to prove that for some projects, offsite is the best way. The value proposition needs to be clear. But, to collect lots of data, you need to do lots of projects, so it's chicken and egg and most projects don’t have the financial scope to collect or review further data. It needs to be clear why the client would benefit from MMC, but also why we are talking about it at all.
We created a positioning document as part of our rebrand, called Beyond MMC, that helped us to articulate our way of thinking and how we approach projects. In it, we detailed that if you’re starting a conversation with an intended outcome of MMC, you’re asking the wrong question. And further to that, we asked whether we are going to have a chat in 10 years’ time and still call it MMC? Because what's modern now?
“We’ve now got a nice data set that enables us, on certain projects, to say, ‘Yes, this is the best way to do it,’ with absolute certainty.”
Is there anything that I should have asked you today that I haven't?
I think I would just like to reinforce the fact that we all need to start working together to collect data. If you want to change something, you have to support it with results. The days of claiming that you can deliver your products “50% quicker," with no data to support that, are over. People are seeing through it. If we all work cohesively on data capture, we will eventually be able to compare any new method against the traditional ones.
If MMC is the best way, it should just be proven as the best way.
And to end, who are you passing the mic to next?
“I’m passing the mic to Dave Flynn from Matterlab. Dave and his team are building some fascinating AI tools for MMC”
