Construction Innovation Hub – Board Announced

The Construction Innovation Hub (formerly the Transforming Construction Alliance) announces the creation of a powerful new Industry Board to ensure key industry decision makers and leaders help to shape its programme of work.

The £72 million Construction Innovation Hub, funded by UK Research and Innovation through the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund, will transform the UK construction industry. Its new Industry Board will:

  • Ensure the voice of industry – consultants, contractors and product suppliers – is fed directly into the Construction Innovation Hub programme
  • Encourage collaboration across government policy makers, planners and delivery bodies to drive better social, economic and environmental outcomes from the Construction Innovation Hub
  • Make sure the outputs of the programme reach businesses with the potential to drive the transformation of the sector
  • Provide external challenge so the broader, long-term objectives of the Construction Innovation Hub meet the needs and aspirations of businesses throughout the UK

The appointed members of the new Industry Board are:

  • Mark Farmer, Chief Executive of Cast Consultancy
  • Diana Montgomery, Chief Executive of the Construction Products Association
  • Alasdair Reisner, Chief Executive of the Civil Engineering Contractors Association
  • Hannah Vickers, Chief Executive of the Association for Consultancy and Engineering
  • Victoria Hills, Chief Executive of the Royal Town Planning Institute
  • Huda As’ad, Head of Performance, Infrastructure and Projects Authority

Keith Waller, Programme Director for the Construction Innovation Hub said:

The Construction Innovation Hub is working with government, academia, the Construction Leadership Council and other industry leaders to develop solutions that can be used across projects and sectors. But I want our programme to go further. I want to ensure key industry decision makers and leaders help shape the Construction Innovation Hub, so it can deliver for industry as well as society at large. Our new Industry Board will help us develop the framework we need, focusing on those outputs that will make a real difference.

Mark Farmer said:

“I am delighted to be joining the Industry Board. The way we are currently designing, procuring and delivering built assets is broken and many of the problems stem from what clients, funders and their advisors are initially asking for and how they perceive value. We need to completely review how value is defined and measured in such a way that we drive large scale educational and behavioural change. I am looking forward to using my position as an independent voice in the industry, not tied to government or to a membership body, to provide some frank but constructive views on how we make this happen as part of the broader Transforming Construction strategy and in particular what it might mean for the homebuilding sector.”

Alasdair Reisner said:

“The UK construction sector stands on the edge of a transformation that will fundamentally reshape the way we think about delivering the nation’s buildings and infrastructure. We can grasp this opportunity to become global leaders in the field, accelerating productivity and creating an industry that the next generation will want to be part of. We look forward to playing our part in supporting this transformation.”

Hannah Vickers said:

“The role that the Construction Innovation Hub will play in transforming our industry is immense, and I am proud to be joining the board to help in driving it forward. We have a huge opportunity to transform the sector, and in conjunction with ACE’s own Future of Consultancy campaign, I know we will be able to work together to modernise the sector and deliver better outcomes for the ultimate customers, our clients and our businesses well into the future.”

Victoria Hills said:

“Planners make up a vital part of the expertise that enables construction projects deliver true value to people. I am delighted to be able to contribute our profession’s views to help the Construction Innovation Hub transform the sector and find exciting solutions to improve the built environment for everyone.”

FURTHER INFORMATION

About the Construction Innovation Hub

The Construction Innovation Hub brings together world-class expertise from the Manufacturing Technology Centre (MTC), BRE (Building Research Establishment) and the Centre for Digital Built Britain (CDBB) to transform the UK construction industry.

With £72 million from UK Research and Innovation’s Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund, we will change the way buildings and infrastructure are designed, manufactured, integrated and connected within our built environment.

We will be a catalyst for change. We will drive collaboration to develop, commercialise and promote digital and manufacturing technologies for the construction sector. Research will help us understand how the industry can progress to develop new skills, product standards, capabilities and innovative solutions. This will be combined with an academic programme to create the security-minded frameworks and rules that will underpin our future digital built environment and grow exports for UK know-how.

About the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund

The Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund brings together the UK’s world-leading research with business to meet the major industrial and societal challenges of our time. It provides funding and support to UK businesses and researchers, part of the government’s £4.7 billion increase in research and development over the next 4 years. It plays a central role in the Government’s modern Industrial Strategy. It is run by UK Research and Innovation, which comprises the Research Councils, Innovate UK and Research England.

About UK Research and Innovation

UK Research and Innovation is a new organisation that brings together the UK Research Councils, Innovate UK and Research England into a single organisation to create the best environment for research and innovation to flourish. The vision is to ensure the UK maintains its world leading position in research and innovation.

About the MTC

The MTC (Manufacturing Technology Centre) is established to provide innovative manufacturing processes and technologies in an agile environment in partnership with industry, academia and other institutions.  The MTC houses some of the most advanced manufacturing equipment in the world, creating a high quality environment for the development and demonstration of new technologies on an industrial scale. This provides a unique opportunity for manufacturers to develop new and innovative processes and technologies.

About BRE

BRE is a world leading, multi-disciplinary, building science centre with a mission to improve buildings and infrastructure. BRE generates new knowledge through independent research and uses this to underpin the delivery of standards, testing, certification and qualifications that help to ensure buildings, homes and communities are safe, efficient, productive, sustainable and enjoyable places to be. BRE customers use the organisation’s expertise and services to deliver their social, environmental and economic goals.

https://bregroup.com

About the CDBB

The CDBB (Centre for Digital Built Britain) is a partnership between the Department of Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy and the University of Cambridge. It seeks to understand how the construction and infrastructure sectors could use a digital approach to better design, build, operate, integrate the built environment. A digital built Britain will:

  • understand what information is needed to enable better through life economic, social and environmental value from our built environment;
  • champion human-centric design of infrastructure and the services they deliver;
  • exploit new and emerging digital construction and manufacturing skills and technology to reduce costs and increase productivity;
  • grow new career, business and export opportunities for the UK.