After some delay, the Government
finally launched its much-anticipated
Construction Sector Deal (CSD) in July,
with a vison to develop an industry able
to respond to the pressures of changing
demographics, technological change and
sustainable building.
The construction sector is central to the
UK's economic health and wellbeing
yet forever seems to be tarnished
by pockets of poor productivity,
low quality, unpredictability and
resistance to change. Talk of industry
transformation, better collaboration
and modernisation has been
swirling around since the late Sir
Michael Latham's landmark report
'Constructing the Team' in 1994. The
latest report to crystallise the industry's
key problems was Mark Farmer's
2016 review, now simply known as
'Modernise or Die'. This report was
perhaps more brutal in its assessment
of where things need to improve
with the introduction of more offsite
manufacture and the adoption of
digital technology driving advanced
industry and building performance.
The Construction Sector Deal - "an
ambitious new partnership between
the government and the construction
industry" - was unveiled by the
Business and Energy Secretary Greg
Clark, in a speech to the Northern
Powerhouse Summit in Newcastle,
and set out how it will form part of the
Clean Growth Grand Challenge (itself
part of the wider Industrial Strategy)
with the 'Transforming Construction'
investment that is supporting lowcarbon
approaches to housing.
With almost half of the economy
reliant on the built environment
and the services it enables, the
Government is bringing together the
construction, manufacturing, energy
and digital sectors to deliver innovative
approaches that improve productivity
and accelerate a shift to building safer,
healthier and more affordable places
to live and learn that use less energy.
"The construction industry is fundamental to growing our economy as we build to invest in our future," said Business and Energy Secretary Greg Clark. "Major infrastructure projects like HS2 and the commitment to deliver 1.5 million homes by 2022 mean that we need a construction sector that can drive innovation, delivering homes and infrastructure quicker. As buildings account for around 30% of total emissions, we also want to ensure that we are at the global forefront in designing and building smart, energy efficient and affordable homes and buildings through the Clean Growth Grand Challenge. This Sector Deal is supported by the biggest government investment in construction for at least a decade and will drive economic growth and create well-paid highlyskilled jobs in every part of the UK."
The Construction Sector Deal will deliver:
• £420 million investment in 'bytes
and mortar smart construction' -
investment will transform
construction through use of digital
building design, new manufacturing
technologies and offsite
manufacturing helping cut the time
taken to deliver new build by 50%
• Cheaper energy bills for families
and businesses - support Industrial
Strategy mission to halve the
energy use of new builds by 2030
• 25,000 construction apprenticeship starts and 1,000 Construction T Level placements by 2020 to help give young people the skills that industry needs - with £34 million to scale up innovative training models across the country
• Improved global access to a
$2.5 trillion export market - a
globally-competitive sector
targeting the growing international
infrastructure market that is set to
grow by 70% in the years ahead.
The £420 million joint investment aims
to transform construction productivity
by driving the development of new
innovative construction materials
and techniques which will speed up
building time, reduce disruption and
ensure the homes, workplaces and
public buildings of the future are more
energy efficient. The deal will support
the development of affordable, 'easy
to construct' homes, schools and other
buildings which can be quickly and
sustainably manufactured offsite, then
assembled where and when needed.
Offsite methods are central to many
of the projected upgrades in the
UK's built environment and wider
infrastructure and a key way to:
"minimise the wastage, inefficiencies
and delays that affect onsite
construction, and enable production to
happen in parallel with site preparation
- speeding up construction and
reducing disruption."
To read the full article in Offsite Magazine, go to the digital version of Issue 13 
