Engineering news
The government is to invest £3.78 million in eight construction industry research and development projects that aim to radically rethink build processes.
The funding, from the Technology Strategy Board, will give construction companies, developers and architects the opportunity to test and explore new ways of working with the view to improve build consistency, cost-effectiveness, speed and environmental sustainability.
Iain Gray, chief executive of the board, said: “The government has challenged industry to reduce construction costs by up to 30%, which would enable low-carbon buildings to be constructed for the cost of a standard building.
“The work we are funding will encourage the UK construction industry to undertake a fundamental rethink of ways of working and enable businesses to explore potential commercial opportunities created by novel design, procurement and construction processes.”
The funding comes as part of the Technology Strategy Board's Rethinking the Build Process competition which invited organisations to come up with collaborative research and development projects.
Individual grants ranging from £150,000 to £780,000 will be made to the eight projects.
The R&D projects will be led by: A2 Dominion Group, Balfour Beatty Construction Northern, Edward Cullinan Architects, Grimshaw Architects, Rider Levett Bucknall, Skanska Technology, the Clarkson Alliance, and Willmott Dixon Capital Works.