UK, August 8, 2018.- Digital reading is synonymous with texts linked or enriched to other documentation. Thanks to this marvel I had the opportunity to know the great work done by the public initiative: Innovate UK. The first click landed on this video:
Undoubtedly, entrepreneurs, young entrepreneurs or heroes of innovation deserve all the attention and support of public and private organizations. I wanted to know who was behind that video and Innovate UK appeared. Among his research, studies and analysis, I can not resist reaching a report on the sector in what I now develop my work: The construction sector. For these reasons, I underline the following useful conclusions for any professional specialized in construction.
The construction sector is a big part of our economy – roughly 9% of it – and employs around 10% of the UK workforce. Its output – the built environment – enables the services that drive around 43% of the economy. From roads and rail to offices and factories. However the way we produce buildings has not changed in over 40 years.
The sector currently operates by mobilising a skilled workforce so costs are related to people and quality is related to how skilled they are, and the UK workforce is ageing.
Sector deals are partnerships between an industry and government to address specific issues the sector has together. By taking the lessons from other strong UK sectors, such as automotive, we can adopt technology and processes to improve the productivity, the quality, sustainability and safety of infrastructure and buildings.
The sector deal for construction aims to do just this and address sector issues such as improving procurement practices, skills, exports and innovation.
The £170 million Transforming Construction programme (with £250 million committed match from industry) in the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund is at the heart of the Sector Deal, driving the innovation part and feeding into all the other strands.
The Transforming Construction challenge programme will help industry overcome the innovation barriers in moving to a greater use of digital, manufacturing and integrated energy technology approaches when delivering new buildings and infrastructure.
The aim is to enable the construction sector to deliver buildings faster with a lower cost across their whole life (construction and use). The challenge programme will start with some of the most important buildings in society – schools. The UK builds 2000 primary schools a year to replace aging stock.
Improving the efficiency of this would mean more schools, faster at a lower cost to the taxpayer.
We also want them to perform better. Through research we aim to understand how to improve what a building is for. Imagine a school where children measurably achieve more because the learning environment is optimised.
If that school is also generating more energy that it uses and can provide that energy to the local community, then wouldn’t we build them all that way?
The Sector Deal and the Transforming Construction challenge programme are enabled by a government commitment to procure buildings and infrastructure differently; placing a value on the whole life cost and performance. With consistent aggregated demand from government the sector will be able to invest in the shift to a model that mobilises supply chains rather than people and improve the efficiency of all projects.
Through a Core Innovation Hub, the programme knowledge will be transferred to other buildings such as houses and into major infrastructure projects.
The programme will also establish an Active Buildings Centre to bring down the cost of energy generation and storage technology that is integrated into the building fabric, and demonstrate its use at scale on real developments.
More Information Innovate UK:
Business in Britain is changing. Innovate UK’s Ideas Mean Business campaign is helping to break down the barriers to innovation, encouraging more young people to develop their innovative ideas to change the face of business in Britain. Find out more: search for the Young Innovators’ Programme. With thanks to: Chris Attille – Drone operator, Who Decides? – National Museum of Cardiff, Exeter College Business Department. Subscribe to our YouTube channel here:
https://www.youtube.com/user/Innovate…Keep up to date with the latest from Innovate UK and follow our Twitter account: http://twitter.com/innovateuk
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