Innovation The construction industry

Construction Innovation: A Revolution: UK Prospective Prof. Nash Dawood Centre for Construction Innovation Research

University of Teesside London

Lecture Content What is innovation? A brief introduction to the UK industry. Construction industry traditional business processes. Problems with the traditional processes. Process re-engineering and application of IT. UK Government Initiatives Finally: The Teesside contribution.

Innovation Bring in novelties. Finding faster and cheaper ways of doing the same thing. Doing something differently or use entirely different materials.

The UK Construction Industry Around £60 Billion/year turnover. Employ 1.4 Million People. Highly influenced by the general economy (Boom and Bust), weather, etc and therefore quite risky business. Very difficult work condition Significant impact on the environment

The UK Construction Industry Public Perception is often: One of Lazy, shovel-learning, Cheating Cowboys who bodge, rather than build. In reality, the vast of construction activities is carried out by professional to the highest standard.

Traditional Construction processes Tender Client Architect and professional advisors Contractor seek bid Prep. of design and tender document Appraise of Tender Construct worksPlace order Interim payment Final payment

What are the Problems Adversarial and Fragmented processes. Very little time spent on design development. Minimum communications and interactions between the construction team. High out-turn compared to initial cost. Poor site construction planning.

UK Proposed Annual Targets 10% 20% 10% 20% Reduce Increase Predictability Productivity Profit & Turnover Capital Construction time Defects Accident Source: M4I

The Construction Revolution M odernisation. C lient Satisfaction. T eam work. I nnovative processes, products and tools. W hole life cycle approach.

The Innovation Processes re-engineering and bench- marking (using Lean Thinking Philosophy) Information Technology as enabling tools for processes improvements. Products developments. Safer and well planned construction sites More environmentally friendly sites

Integrated Construction Team Standard products and components Processes re-engineering Design and Product Development Costing Teaming with the supply chain Implementation (site activities) Maintenance Information Infrastructure Product Model Application Software

Comparisons of traditional and proposed processes Range of options Time Range of options Time Conventional Processing Parallel processing Client-Arch-Stru.-Env.- Others

Advantages new processes: satisfying clients needs What are their needs? –Projects delivered, –More reliably, –To higher quality, –Fully meeting their functional requirements, –Engagement - through enhanced, understanding, –Influence - through meaningful interaction.

Advantages of new processes: Time Compresion Replace Sequential Processing by Interactive Concurrent Processing. Enable application of principles of concurrent engineering. Improve planning of construction site procedures. Reduce time from “order” to “delivery”

UK Government Research Initiatives Getting industry and academia to work together (50% contribution from Industry) Construction as Manufacturing Process (CMP Initiative) Partners in Innovation (PII) Meeting Client needs through Standardisation (MCNS) Responsive mode (100% Government)

The Virtual Construction Site: A Strategic Construction Planning (VIRCON). Re-engineering Work-face information Development of Intelligent VR systems for facilitating Outline design International Network on VR Applied to Construction Process and Products ( NET-VR) Standardisation of brickwork construction The Teesside Contribution

Research Projects can be found on the university web site: Http\\ Click: environment or civil engineering

Conclusions In order to be a world class player, the UK construction industry needs to change. The revolution is happening. Process innovation is the key to any technological development. Development and use of standard products and processes.

Conclusions IT revolution is here to stay and the construction industry should capitalize on its benefits Teesside is playing a major role in advancing the construction revolution and contributing to the wealth creation in the UK.

This concludes the presentation Thanks YOU