The UK government is investing £4 million through the Technology Strategy Board to develop low-carbon building processes.
The award will support eight major research and development projects led by construction companies, developers and architects exploring and testing the viability of new approaches that improve build consistency, cost-effectiveness, speed and sustainability.
As well as the £3.78 million from the Technology Strategy Board, the participants will be providing a further £3.82 million.
The funds have arisen out of the Technology Strategy Board’s Low Impact Buildings Innovation Platform (LIBIP), which was set up in response to the government’s target of an 80% reduction of CO2 emissions by 2050.
“The Government has challenged industry to reduce construction costs by up to 30%, which would enable low carbon buildings to be constructed for the cost of a standard building,” says chief executive Iain Gray. “The work we are funding will encourage the UK construction industry to undertake a fundamental rethink of current ways of working and enable businesses to explore potential commercial opportunities created by novel design, procurement and construction processes.”
The projects include two in Oxfordshire, one led by A2 Dominion Group and the other by The Clarkson Alliance.
A2Dominion’s project will use a forensic mapping method to identify failings in new build systems, which will help to create a best practice toolkit. The company plans to use the toolkit in the later phases of its North West Bicester eco-town development and elsewhere.
Other projects will be led by Balfour Beatty (in Manchester), Willmott Dixon and Rider Levett Bucknall (in Birmingham) and Edward Cullinan Architects, Grimshaw Architects and Skanska Technology in and around London.
For further information:
www.innovateuk.org
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Article source: http://www.energyefficiencynews.com/i/5543/
