Innovative construction businesses are being given the opportunity to receive support through the Government-backed Platform Design Programme.
The new initiative, which will be launched at the Manufacturing Technology Centre in Coventry today, is a centrepiece of the Construction Innovation Hub and supports moves towards P-DfMA (a platform approach to design for manufacture and assembly).
Successful applicants to an open call for bids will get detailed support from manufacturing, performance and digital experts from across the three centres of the Hub, to develop and refine their products or services.
A proof-of-concept building will then be built with the successful applicants’ technologies installed and widely showcased to demonstrate how solutions can be applied across projects for schools, hospitals and prisons.
Construction Innovation Hub programme director Keith Waller said: “Today we reach a milestone in our four-year programme and much will hinge on getting this next critical phase right. Through our Platform Design Programme, we will be demonstrating the art of the possible.
“We’ll be looking to draw together the very best ideas and practices, demonstrating not only how we can build better, but also how we can deliver greater value from how we create new buildings. It’s an exciting opportunity for businesses big and small to be part of a substantial, long term and game-changing programme, which will deliver real benefits, not just for the construction sector, but for our environment and society more broadly.”
Launched in November with £72m from UK Research and Innovation’s Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund, 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). The Hub works in close partnership with the Active Building Centre (ABC) and Network Plus, as part the wider Transforming Construction Challenge.
