Britain’s construction industry is one of the largest and most visible in the industry, a London skyline dotted with tower cranes testifies to that.
And if construction is enjoying the good times at present with both private and commercial construction faring well while public sector projects slowed leading into the election, estate agents are enjoying even better business.
On the day after the election with the results known, shares in companies like Foxtons rose sharply in anticipation that the housing boom in the capital would continue. And linking these, from the outline of a new product to the sale of a property, is print.
Despite the advent of computer aided design and digital submission of plans, print is still crucial for the initial presentation, to communicate details about the progress of a project through to documentation related to the building and then the sale process.
And companies like Hobs Reprographics and Callprint which are immersed in AEC, are among the leaders with 3D printing, producing architect’s models from digital files.
Service Point is another of the AEC specialists working in construction. It has developed ProjectVault as a means of managing all the printed documentation associated with a building project in a secure online document management system. Now in its fourth iteration ProjectVault is being used on a social housing development in North Aldershot.
ProjectVault divisional manager Dai Lehal says that advantages include reduction of process time and greater efficiencies to any building project. “The earlier we can implement ProjectVault, the more benefits can be achieved.,” he says.
It manages dissemination of documents, email and the collection of all information, when pulling together a tender for example. This can include the drawings, specifications, schedules, photos, ensuring that the latest versions of these documents are available under a hierarchical password structure.
At the close of the construction, the Vault contains the full history of the building to that point including acceptance documentation, training materials, maintenance details, built drawings ready for the marketing process.
In recent years this has become more adventurous as prestige developments seek to attract overseas investors. It is not unusual for marketing material to use commissioned photography and for this to be printed to the highest standards and then case bound.
A similar process will have taken place at the proposal stage where a number of architects are pitching for a projects. The cost of a lay flat book is immaterial against the multi-million value of the project that will follow.
This area is one where Lumejet is marking a mark thanks to the unmatchable quality the press is capable of. The initial machine at AltaImage, the twin installation at Clicks and the Lumejet S200 at TG Print & Design in Woolwich are producing both pitch documents and sales literature.
TG Print managing director David Duhig says: “Some customers want us to print using the Lumejet rather than litho or digital. One of these projects earned us a quality award for digital printing last year. We are producing work like this for customers up and down the country.”
The Lumejet uses a phototonic head to fire light at resin coated photographic paper at the same sized resolution as the grains of silver halide in the paper. It results in a printed continuous tone image that can have the smallest reversed out text imaginable.
Sales brochures can be eight, 12 or 16pp long, he explains, with copies being supplied to both buyer and seller because of their quality. “It gets them ready also for the next property they will buy or sell,” he adds.
It is a long way from the photocopied house details that couples would clutch stumbling from estate agents. Much of this is produced on digital presses ordered through the same systems that the estate agent will use to pull together the sales particulars. Tangent Communications subsidiary Ravensworth has been a leader in this sector for some years.
However, the higher the value the property the fewer the potential purchasers and the higher the quality of the printed literature. “We produced 600 copies of one brochure set for an estate that was selling as a whole or in part. We produced 600 copies and charged £8,000,” says Duhig. “It was a £4.5 million property, so comprised 16pp book with embossed cover, A1 map, lay flat hard cover binding and slip case – a very beautiful job.”
And for this type of property, print is not about to be usurped by digital technology. “We are using print a lot less than we used to do,” says a spokesman for Octagon, a high end property developer in the south east.
“The online PDF and the hard back book are very different experiences. Because each will cost up to £40 each, we do not print lots. Quality of print and finishing is important But we will hold copies. If it was about costs, we would send every prospect a PDF.”
Estate agents’ sales brochures can be eight, 12 or 16 pages long. It is a long way from the photocopied house details that first time buyers would clutch as they left the office.
