SIBCA 2024-Article by Nicolas Bellego

This was the theme of my speech last week at the Low-carbon Real Estate Forum, alongside Florence Chahid-Nourai (Icade) and Aubin Balcerzak (co-founder of High Six).

At Urban Odyssey, this is a key issue, and one on which we are making gradual progress, with our start-ups and in collaboration with Icade. The aim is to offer more flexible off-site solutions that maximise the benefits of low-carbon development and quality of use, while incorporating an aspect that is often overlooked: the aesthetics and architectural context specific to each project.

A new approach: flexible off-site

Off-site construction is still often perceived as being limited to 3D modular construction, a solution that is certainly effective, but often too rigid to adapt to the diversity of projects. The main drawback of this rigidity is that it limits both adaptation to varied architectural contexts and flexibility in the face of the economic constraints of each programme.

At Urban Odyssey, we are exploring a more flexible approach to off-site, based on a number of pillars:

• Flexibility in building solutions We're working towards an approach that makes it easy to combine elements from different manufacturers (for example, a timber-concrete floor from one manufacturer and a prefabricated timber façade from another) to offer an optimised response to each project.
• Flexibility in supply Adapting the use of off-site construction to the specific needs of each project, while promoting local partners to strengthen local roots. By modulating the proportion of off-site construction according to requirements, the principle is a hybrid approach, combining traditional on-site construction and off-site construction where it brings the most value.
• Flexibility in interior design Designing buildings that can adapt to future uses, with options for customisation and simple upgrades to better meet user expectations, without rigidity.

The central role of digital in this flexibility

To ensure this flexibility, the digitisation of design methods is essential. That's why, at Urban Odyssey, we invest in technologies that facilitate collaboration between developers, architects, design offices and manufacturers. These digital tools enable different configurations to be tested, design options to be simulated and technical choices to be optimised upstream, all while reducing the overall costs of operations..

The use of tools such as #BIM and the technologies of theartificial inteligence (#AI) can be used to simulate several scenarios based on various criteria (cost, environmental performance, deadlines), enabling decisions to be made at an early stage. Although BIM is an excellent starting point, it needs to be complemented by more specific solutions that 'increase' the number of professions, to meet low-carbon challenges and optimise off-site building solutions.

With Urban Odyssey, we have participated in the creation of start-ups such as High Six, which develops digital tools for off-site design(parametric modules, multicriteria analysis, digitisation of the supply chain, etc.). These solutions make it possible to anticipate risks while guaranteeing high performance in terms of carbon emissions and quality of execution, while respecting the specific architectural identity of each project. This is also the case with Time To Beem, which enables the architect, the client and the design office to iterate together on a project in the design phase, while at the same time having a dynamic calculation of the carbon weight (#LCA) in real time.

The goal is not to impose these tools, but to show how they can enhance architectural designwhile offering more freedom and guaranteeing optimised technical and environmental solutions.

Co-developing low-carbon solutions with industrial companies

Beyond digital, thecomponent industrialisationis crucial to the long-term transformation of off-site construction. However, Standardisation does not mean uniformity. The challenge is therefore to strengthen collaboration between project owners and manufacturers to co-develop standardised components, adapted to specific needs and relevant building solutions. These components become 'ingredients' for building recipes promoting architectural flexibility.

That's why we invest in start-ups like Terrio, manufacturer of prefabricated mud blockscollaborating with companies such as SPURGIN LEONHART (a manufacturer of prefabricated walls). But also with High Six, which, in addition to its digital platform for flexible off-site design, offers specific recipes, such as #CREE , a 2D timber-concrete hybrid off-site building solutiondesigned for outsourced and distributed production in France using existing manufacturing facilities.

Today, complete 3D solutions are often offered by a single player, who has to invest in its own factories. This limits flexibility, because maintaining a continuous production flow requires a large volume of projects. On the other hand, a flexible off-site, independent of a single manufacturer, means that regional production can be distributed, by relying on existing local players. For project owners, this means they are not dependent on a single supplier, thereby reducing the risks and investment involved in production.

The key to success lies in digitising processes, from design to execution, in partnership with these different players.

Flexible offsite: an opportunity for current and future Urban Odyssey start-ups!

At Urban Odyssey, our work leads us to invest more and more in this flexible off-site concept. Thanks to our partnerships with start-ups such as High Six, Time To Beem, SeveUp, Terrio and BlocToBuild, we are building a new way of designing and building. With a player like Icade, whose diversity of projects and expertise enable us to test and put these approaches in practice, we are making concrete progress towards deploying this vision on a larger scale and building the City of 2050, starting today.

Are you interested in this approach and in innovating alongside us?

Contact us !

It's also an opportunity to thank our experts at Icade who are taking part in these discussions and helping us on a daily basis to test these new approaches: David Bruchon Florence Chahid-Nourai Anne-Sophie Duroy Elsa Tchiboukdjian Jérôme DURU Béatrice MORTIERand the many others we call on regularly!