Laing O’Rourke consortium secures grant to boost off-site housing technology

The UK’s challenge to increase the number of new and affordable homes built each year received a boost this week with the award of a £22.1M government grant to a Laing O’Rourke led consortium to boost investment on off-site manufacturing.

Antony Oliver
03 March 2015

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The Department for Business Innovation and Skills grant is part of its Advanced Manufacturing Supply Chain Initiative (AMSCI) and will help to fund a £104M project for the advanced manufacturing of homes, buildings and infrastructure and support research and the development of new manufacturing facilities and training.

“The investment is potentially great news for our ability to help address the UK’s housing capacity gap of some 60,000 to 100,000 homes annually, with advanced off-site manufacturing and digital engineering speeding up the provision of affordable, high quality accommodation,” said Stephen Trusler, Laing O’Rourke’s accommodation sector leader. 

“To have any chance of meeting the demand for affordable homes, the industry must embrace the latest house building technologies and techniques." Business secretary Vince Cable.

“We estimate that it will create over 600 new, direct jobs and as many as 1000 across the diverse supply chain,” he added. “Our consortium of 22 partners integrates the design, manufacturing and assembly construction supply chain with leading research institutions to create a new platform for collaborative innovation.”

The project will build on Laing O’Rourke’s existing innovation in the use of Building Information Modelling (BIM) to extend research into modular design and manufacturing. The grant will also accelerate training initiatives and, the firm explained, “provide the existing workforce and new recruits with skills around digital engineering, the manufacturing process and installation”.

“This grant comes at a critical time for the construction and engineering sector and its supply chain,” says Stephen Harley, Director of Advanced Manufacturing at Laing O’Rourke. 

“It will also contribute to achieving the UK Government’s strategy for construction targets of 33% lower costs, 50% faster delivery, lower emissions and improvement in exports.” 

The consortium includes organisations from across the design sector, manufacturing and research and the supply chain, and includes the Crown House Technologies, Expanded, Select and Explore Manufacturing divisions of the Laing O’Rourke Group. Other partners include:

• Design: Arup Associates, WSP, Hoare Lea, Fulcro.
• Manufacturing/Research: University of Cambridge, The University Of Sheffield, BRE.
• Supply Chain: Airedale, Armstrong, Beckhoff, Crane, Apex, Grundfos, Hamworthy, British Gypsum (part of the Saint-Gobain group), SIG and Thorn.

Business Secretary Vince Cable announced the grant award during a visit to South London’s Elephant Road site being developed by Delancey in Elephant and Castle where three new residential towers are being constructed using the advanced building techniques.

“If we want to retain our strength in this economy we cannot stand by. The Information Economy is transforming the way we live and work. It is crucial to our success." Vince Cable.

“To have any chance of meeting the demand for affordable homes, the industry must embrace the latest house building technologies and techniques. That’s why I’m delighted to grant £22.1 million worth of funding to help the sector do just that,” said Cable. 

“Whether through smart digital design or off-site manufacturing, it’s excellent to see firms like Laing O’Rourke leading by example and laying the foundations for growth.”

The announcement came as Cable also unveiled the government’s new Digital Built Britain strategy which builds on the standards and savings delivered by the so-called Building Information Modelling (BIM) Level 2 initiative and sets out the next steps in the use of digital technology to improve infrastructure delivery and management.

“We have seen the global reaction to our Level 2 BIM programme’s successful delivery and significant cost savings which have greatly assisted the construction costs savings of £840M in 2013/4, with several major EU nations including France and Germany announcing similar BIM programmes,” said Cable in his foreword to the strategy.

“If we want to retain our strength in this economy we cannot stand by,” he added. “The Information Economy is transforming the way we live and work. It is crucial to our success on the global stage and to facing the challenges of urbanisation and globalisation that we grasp the opportunity that Digital Built Britain presents.”

See - Digital Built Britain strategy to keep UK ahead in global “BIM arms race"