UK Industrial Strategy: Analysis, gaps, and the path to growth | Martin Wood, Adrian La Porta and John Dyson

Lower land prices also facilitate the development of open green spaces between buildings, bringing the added benefits of biophilic design.. Lower occupancy densities and the adoption of flexible working hours also mean new spatial requirements; reducing individually assigned spaces, more hot desking and creating flexible office spaces with adaptable layouts.

The projects have served as catalysts for change, helping to progress us further toward our goal of modernising and positively shaping the future of construction..The research has also led to interesting collaborations and networking opportunities with other Transforming Construction Challenge partners and beyond.

For example, Dr. Tom Beach at Cardiff University has been funded through one of the projects, with significant scholarly interest in his research on digital compliance checking.As a result of a link fostered by TCN+ with the Construction Innovation Hub, The Hub is now supporting Dr. Beach with some of his leading work.Due to the sheer number of stakeholders involved in supporting these projects, the researchers are frequently making organic connections as they go along.

These include representatives from Tier 1 contractors, housing and healthcare companies, as well as other research bodies like the Manufacturing Technology Centre (MTC).This is all adding to the excitement.. Research acceleration due to COVID-19.

The COVID-19 pandemic took hold just as academics and researchers received funding.

The resulting lockdown forced the redesign of entire research programs, an accomplishment achieved with great perseverance and agility.We’re no longer talking about simply needing more people on site to build things more cheaply.

The focus now is about how we construct our assets and how we operate.. We have important questions to answer: how do we drive greater levels of manufacturing (DfMA) and more productive growth into the sector?How do we use data in a way that supports not just better construction projects, but also better operational assets?

How do we drive that path to net-zero carbon emissions with greater impact on social value?These things are crucial to strategic policy, both in terms of the new assets that we build, and how we operate the existing ones.