CONSTRUCTION INNOVATION HUB
LAYING THE FOUNDATIONS FOR BETTER CONSTRUCTION
The Construction Innovation Hub is set to play a pivotal role in transforming construction across the UK and help the industry to build smarter, greener, cheaper and more efficient buildings faster than we currently do. Keith Waller, Programme Director, Construction Innovation Hub, explains more.
1 It’s easy to take for granted just how crucial buildings are to all our lives. Think about the hospital you were born in, the home you grew up in, the school you were taught in and the building you work in. Buildings of all types have a profound impact on each of our lives, as indeed they do on the environment around us. But the way we create these buildings needs to change and that change is becoming ever more urgent. Just imagine for a moment if, for every car in the world, designers went back to the drawing board each and every time. Picture the major car manufacturers using a bespoke design and different supply chains just to get one car off the assembly line. The consequences are not hard to imagine. Costs would quickly rise, and quality would vary widely with greater safety and environmental risks. This couldn’t work for the automotive sector and in truth, it doesn’t work for construction either. The sector is less productive than the economy as a whole – the focus on project build
22
2 cost means we do not get the best value for users, society and in the long term, the economy. Added to this, the sector’s carbon footprint is far too high and with an ever-growing public focus on climate change, the sector’s green credentials will come more and more into the spotlight. Changing construction will be no easy feat – the sector is massive, accounting for around 9% of our GDP and it is deeply fragmented. But change is both essential and inevitable and the Construction Innovation Hub, which I’m privileged to lead, has been given the task of being the catalyst for that change. ‘So what?’ you might reasonably ask. Haven’t we all heard many times before the clarion calls for radical transformation in construction? What’s different this time? These are perfectly reasonable questions. Allow me to set out what I think sets the Construction Innovation Hub apart from what’s come before
and why I truly believe we can deliver what we’re setting out to do. First and foremost, we have strong backing from Government, through the comprehensive Construction Sector Deal, with £72million of funding allocated to deliver our programme. This may not seem like a huge amount, considering how much has been put behind other sectors of the economy. It is, nonetheless, the largest tranche of money Government has ever put behind construction. That, in itself, I would say is evidence of just how seriously Government wants us to succeed. Secondly, from the conversations I’ve had thus far, I think there is a genuine appetite for change amongst the sector. There may be disagreement on how we get there and how far we need to go, but all across construction there is a recognition that the sector needs to modernise, embrace new and better ways of delivering outcomes and be ready to face the challenges of the future. We should aim to be
WWW.OFFSITEMAGAZINE.CO.UK | SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2019