When considering ways to improve construction, the focus often falls on new technologies, materials, or methodologies. However, one aspect that is frequently overlooked is the logistics of the construction site and the opportunities for enhancing its efficiency.

At Stelling Properties, particular emphasis is placed on optimising site logistics and streamlining processes, with a concerted effort to drive continuous improvement across every project.

Steve Hawes, Director of Engineering at Stelling Properties, shares how the company is embedding a culture of continuous improvement into its approach to modular installation.

At the heart of this process is a disciplined, systematic approach to learning, documenting more than 200 lessons from past projects in a live, evolving log. This is not simply about fixing problems as they arise, but proactively locking in refinements across design, logistics and site operations to prevent recurring issues.

Hawes highlights how even seemingly minor details, like the accessibility of a bolt or the availability of battery-powered tools, can have significant consequences when cranes and site crews are on the clock.

Crucially, this process is informed not just by engineers or leadership, but by the practical insight of those on the shop floor and in the field. Their experiences help shape smarter, more installation-ready designs that anticipate challenges before they occur.

How does Stelling Properties approach integrating installation requirements?

One of the things we’ve become quite strong at is learning from project to project.

In particular, between our most recent project and the one we have coming up, we’ve actively maintained a lessons-learned log throughout.

We’ve collected well over 200 or 300 items in it, essentially asking, “What could we do better next time?” That’s not to say everything needs to be improved, but there’s always room for refinement.

We’ve kept this as a live document, reviewing it monthly, with specific actions and progress tracked.

We look at whether we’ve identified something that wasn’t ideal, developed a solution for it and implemented that solution, whether that relates to design, organisation, or something else entirely.

It’s about locking in improvements so that we don’t repeat issues in future projects. It’s an iterative process, we’re always expecting more lessons from the next project, but we aim to improve piece by piece.

When it comes to design, we look closely at how modules are bolted together on site. There are only a few bolts, but they are critical. So we ask: What are those bolts? What torque is required? What kind of head do they have? Can the installers get a large impact wrench on them easily? Are they standard sockets? Do they have enough batteries available?

We’ve had cases where someone unplugged a charger and the entire process was held up, all while paying for a crane and team. These are the kinds of things that need to be considered and designed for in advance.

The iterative process

I’ve been with the business for about 18 months and I’ve certainly led that process during my time, but it was already in place before I joined. I’d like to think I’ve helped accelerate it, but many of these ideas haven’t come from me or even my design team. They’re coming from the guys on the shop floor, especially those who’ve been involved onsite.

I’ve been involved in my fair share of projects, but there are team members who’ve spent weeks doing these specific tasks. They know better than anyone where the pain points are.

If you’ve had to fight your way around a plasterboard panel and some lagged pipework, all while getting covered in fire mastic, you’re going to have a vested interest in making sure that doesn’t happen again.

Have you faced any significant challenges in this process? Is it always easy to implement these learnings?

It takes discipline. You can create the best spreadsheet in the world, but when the next project starts, it’s easy for people to just get on with things and forget about it. Some improvements stick because they become ingrained habits.

Others, particularly for team members who are remote, like some of ours who work from South America and haven’t been on site, require us to go back and actively review the log. We try to do that on a monthly basis, just to make sure nothing gets dropped.

Sometimes the benefit isn’t even seen by the person who implements the improvement. It might help someone else further down the line, but that doesn’t make it any less valuable. You often have to look several steps ahead to see the payoff.

What are your thoughts on Offsite Expo and the wider promotion of the industry?

What strikes me is how rapidly everything in offsite is developing. There are so many different systems out there, some almost completely opposite in approach, yet they all achieve the same goals.

I’m really interested to see how others are doing things and whether there are ideas or solutions we can take back and incorporate.

Some people may be struggling with things we’ve solved already and vice versa, so the information-sharing element is really valuable.

It’s still a niche area and even though I talk to people in construction a lot, I don’t often meet others working directly in modular. Usually, people are asking me how we do it, but I rarely get input from others doing it themselves.

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