In the drive to modernise construction, few challenges loom larger than establishing a shared understanding of what “good” looks like.

For Nigel Ostime, Delivery Director at Hawkins\Brown and a long-standing advocate for design quality and consistency in offsite construction, the introduction of Publicly Available Specifications (PAS) represents a significant step toward a more confident and collaborative industry.

Speaking with Offsite Media at Offsite Expo, Ostime explained that the PAS framework, funded by the Ministry of Housing, Communities & Local Government, helps lay the groundwork for clarity and trust between clients, designers and manufacturers.

“I think it’s good just to have some sort of standardisation,” he said. “When we started doing this in the offsite construction world, we talked about the different types of offsite construction – categories one to seven.

“They may not be perfect, but you’ve got to start with a common language. If you’re going to talk about anything, you’ve got to establish what language am I talking. The PAS follows that on, and like any standard, it gives you a common language to talk about. When you’re talking a common language, you can have a better conversation.”

Nigel believes that this shared framework is vital in giving clients and funders greater confidence in offsite construction, an area often clouded by uncertainty and perceived risk. “Clients can take comfort from the fact that the industry, helped with sponsorship by government, is trying to form that common language,” he said. “That’s where everything starts.”

However, while the creation of PAS is an important milestone, Ostime is quick to point out that the real test lies in its adoption. “Change is really hard,” he admitted. “It’s one step to produce a document like the PAS; the next thing, and probably much harder, is to get people to actually use it. We need to put as much effort into advocating it – publicising it, telling people about it, explaining what it’s there for and helping people to use it. Those of us who were involved in steering and drafting it probably have the biggest obligation to do that, because otherwise, what was the point?”

Reflecting on his past experience supporting housing associations and local authorities, Ostime noted that even well-intentioned programmes often falter at the point of implementation. “There are a number of programmes I’ve helped develop that made sense, were logical, and thought about the key issues, but actually getting people in those organisations to pick it up – that’s the real challenge,” he said.

He credits the government’s support and the cross-industry collaboration behind PAS for its resilience and credibility. “This whole offsite construction thing has sat across two different governments,” he observed. “It’s good that it has survived that change of government and political party, and we’re still talking about it. That’s really encouraging.”

From an architectural perspective, Ostime views the PAS not as a bureaucratic burden but as an enabler of better, safer and more consistent design outcomes. “Our whole industry is governed by regulation,” he said. “Architecture is interesting because on one hand, you have to be creative, but on the other, things have to stand up and not burn. We’ve gone through the whole Building Safety Act as a result of the awful tragedy at Grenfell Tower, and we’ve realised that our industry desperately needs to focus more on this.”

For Ostime, the introduction of PAS sits squarely within that broader shift toward accountability and assurance. “It’s helpful, really,” he concluded. “Sometimes people say, ‘It’s another standard I’ve got to comply with,’ but actually, it’s a help. We’re getting commonality of approach and managing risk – which we really need to do, for the sake of the industry and the people that live in our buildings.”