Construction: What Does The £18 million Funding Boost Mean?

At the end of January, the construction industry received some very good news! The sector has been awarded £18m as part of a new Government funding from the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund (ISCF).

The financial boost will go on to fund four new research projects that aim to look at ways it will speed up assembly, save money, and, more importantly, improve the quality of UK construction projects. The news was announced by UK Research Innovation.

But what does this funding boost really mean for the sector? This post takes a closer look.

The Funding Places More Focus on Digital Technolgy

Out of 18 million, £5m will be allocated to a Research Leaders programme where they will develop innovative solutions to transform the industry. The remaining budget will fund 24 collaborative R&D projects, all delivered by Innovate UK.

The purpose of this funding is to achieve the following three main objectives as outlined by the Transforming Construction Challenge programme:

• Designing and managing buildings through digitally-enabled simulation.
• Constructing quality buildings through offsite manufacturing approaches.
• Powering buildings with active generation and storage.

To achieve these objectives, a lot of research will go into the following areas:

3D Technology

The pioneering success of the first 3D printed house in Europe generated a lot of interest, discussion and debate in the industry. On one side, 3D construction was hailed as a fast and affordable way to solve the housing crisis. But on the other hand, should the sector decide to switch over to the 3D printing, there will be workforce challenges that will need to be addressed.

While 3D printed homes are cheaper to build, it also needs less manpower as well. As a result, the construction workforce could be shrunk significantly, and there could potentially be difficulty in finding and nurturing specialist talent since the employers will have a smaller pool to choose from.

But despite these potential drawbacks, 3D  printing in the construction sector is still in its infancy and will likely be used for smaller and domestic construction projects.

Robotics

Robots are starting to appear in every sector. We've seen them in child care, health and social care, and now they are in construction. Robotics in construction has several advantages. They do all the heavy-lifting, protects the well-being of workers, and they take care of the more hazardous tasks. 

While we're still a long way from seeing robots completely overtaking construction, human oversight is still required.

Again, similar to 3D printing, robotics could potentially impact the workforce. But at this moment, robotics should be seen as the pain-free alternative to manual labour.

Augmented Reality

In terms of health and safety, augmented reality (AR) will help to play a crucial role in complex building assembly without comprising health and safety. If you don't know what AR is, it is where you where you use either a smartphone, headset or glasses to relay information to you against the live background. If you've ever played Pokemon Go or used one of the funky filters on social media, that's AR in action.

If you still don't get what AR is, here's a video that explains it nicely:

Now if you can imagine this in a construction setting, workers will be able to utilize AR technology to pinpoint any flaws in the construction project in real-time. Saving time, and potentially a lot of lives.

The Funding Will 'Transform' The Way The UK Will Build

On speaking with PBCToday, Construction Minister, Richard Harrington mentioned that in embracing these new technologies, the sector will harness new methods of working.

“The use of Artificial Intelligence, digital techniques and off-site manufacturing, help us harness new methods of working. This delivers on the Government's Construction Sector Deal which pledges to build better performing buildings, using less energy and providing better value for taxpayers,” said Harrington. "These new methods to help the construction industry are a testament to the Government's modern Industrial Strategy's aims of building a better tomorrow for us all through scientific and technological advances.”

Interested in a Career in Construction?

If you are looking to get into Construction, then The Learning Station can help. We're a London-based training provider with years of experience in helping people get their CSCS card in a space of a week.

For more information on how we can, please call our centre today on 020 8342 7210.