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Creating Sustainable Industries

Posted by: clbilsbury

UK Construction sector Deal and the Roadmap to Recovery.

Organised with the Greater Manchester Chamber of Commerce we are taking part in the UK Construction sector Deal and the Roadmap to Recovery webinar to discuss the issues facing the construction sector in the context of Greater Manchester.

The event will focus on medium to long term issues that the industry should be thinking about and planning to implement. It will develop the thinking and activity around transformational ways of working including off-site manufacturing; making buildings financially and environmentally efficient to hit net-zero targets and look at how new partnerships could make the difference and ensure long term, sustained growth.

SESSION 1 – TRANSFORM

This session focusses on the issues raised in the Productivity session in the first event early in the summer and goes deeper into the potential of digital manufacturing and offsite technology. Why is this not currently widespread, will investment costs cripple the industry before it can be rolled out? Are the skills there if not how quickly can they be taught? Will new techniques and operations change planning and building control mechanisms or make them even more of a barrier? Finally are we creating a future job threat by reducing the need for large labour forces?

  • How transformative is offsite manufacturing – what barriers are there to widespread deployment?
  • What will a site look like in 2021? What will an office look like in 2021?
  • Will the switch to digital manufacturing techniques be a threat to jobs?       

SESSION 2 – VALUE

This session focusses on the idea of value in the pre delivery/procurement stage right through to finish and the running costs of a building. In an area of economic challenges and the desire to reduce carbon footprints how can these issues be successfully included in planning, design, build and running? Will there have to be significant law changes or changes to processes to enable a quick decision making process? How realistic and deliverable is the retrofit of existing properties? If it isn’t then what are the barriers and what is needed most to get this activity going?

  • What improvements could be made to procurement to allow delivery of better value?
  • Should the value and efficiency of a finished project be of higher importance?
  • The retrofit of homes is put forward as an ideal way to recue the impact of unemployment and a way of ensuring net zero targets are met but how realistic is this?

SESSION 3 – PARTNERSHIP

This session looks at how the sector already works together and how these examples could pave the way for future new working models and practices. With new collaborative ways of working could better efficiencies be gained in sharing training and other investment needs? Will better buildings result of sharing ideas and expertise? Could this be developed organically, or will it need government intervention, reviews and lengthy time periods?

  • What examples are there already of truly collaborative practices in the sector?
  • How can these be broadened out so that they become the norm rather than one-off examples?
  • What is the biggest investment need around people, skills and technology?
  • Could this be done as part of new partnership models?

Please see below the Zoom joining details for the Creating Sustainable Industries event on 27th October at 2:00pm.

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/88609978387?pwd=cytXZUFWd2lEUlh0dWVWdkQvMVFZUT09

Meeting ID: 886 0997 8387

Passcode: 786437

Explore Construction

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qx-vZV-T1z4

Explore Construction Apprenticeships

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-JhYyxT9Vlc

Contact

Centre for Construction Innovation
Maxwell Building
University of Salford
Salford
M5 4WT

+44 (0)7748 761309
construction.innovation@salford.ac.uk

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