Big names of construction to play leading role in developing standards for a new ‘kit of parts’ for sector

Some of construction’s biggest players will help develop the standards for a new ‘kit of parts’ which will be used to create the next generation of government projects like schools, hospitals and prisons.

The Construction Innovation Hub has today appointed a new Design Standards Board for its Platform Design programme, a critical centrepiece of the Hub’s wider programme to transform the sector. The new Board, chaired by award-winning architect and National Infrastructure Commissioner, Sadie Morgan, will define the rules for how components and elements can be connected, installed and assembled, setting out both the physical and digital requirements that Platform components must meet.

The Board will also help ensure that the standards developed through the Hub programme meet the requirements of both Government and industry.

Joining Sadie Morgan on the new Board, will be household names from the world of construction including:

• Hannah Vickers – Chief Executive, Association for Consultancy and Engineering
• Alasdair Reisner – Chief Executive, Civil Engineering Contractors Association
• Ron Cowley – Chief Executive, Active Building Centre
• Will Varah – Infrastructure and Projects Authority, Cabinet Office
• David Holmes – Chair, Cross Whitehall Smarter Infrastructure Working Group
• Keith Waller – Programme Director, Construction Innovation Hub
• Peter Caplehorn – Chief Executive, Construction Products Association
• Stephen Good – Chief Executive, Construction Scotland Innovation Centre
• Jane Richards – Director of Building Structures at WSP
• Greg Scott – Director at Clancy Consulting
• Sallyanne Lewis – Associate Director at BuroHappold Engineering

The Hub’s Platform Design programme is a critical centrepiece of its mission to transform the construction sector and is aiming to draw together the very best ideas and practices from across industry. The new standards which will be developed through the programme will include details of quality, performance and tolerance.

Crucially, this will include new interface standards –the rules for how components must connect – in much the same way that components used in auto and aerospace sectors are developed and deployed. Intellectual property within individual components will remain protected, but the new interface standards themselves will be open and free to use to ensure that SME’s and innovators have a clear understanding of the standards new products must meet. The standards will be developed to encourage interoperability so products etc can work across multiple building types.

Construction Innovation Hub Programme Director, Keith Waller, said:

With our Platform Design programme, we are aiming to deliver a real game-change for construction, which will reap rewards not only for the sector, but crucially, for society and the environment more widely.

By bringing together the very best ideas and practices which are already out there, we will demonstrate not only how we can build better, but also how we can deliver greater value from how we create new buildings.

But critical to ensuring the Platform is a success, will be having the right level of expertise around the table. Our Design Standards Board, led by renowned architect Sadie Morgan, brings together the perfect blend of experience and expertise and we’re privileged to have them join us on our journey to transform construction.”

Construction Innovation Hub Design Standards Board Chair, Sadie Morgan, said:

Working to improve places for people is what I am passionate about, so I’m delighted to have been given the opportunity to play a role in the Construction Innovation Hub’s Platform Design programme. 

The Platform and the wider hub programme will need to ensure that the next generation of new build projects are adding more and better value to our societies – long-term success will therefore rely on getting crucial details right at the early stages. I look forward to working with the board to develop a set of parameters that will bring about meaningful and lasting improvement to our built environment.”

Further Information 

• To contact the Construction Innovation Hub’s press office, please email pressoffice@constructioninnovationhub.org.uk.
• Announced on 29 July 2019, the Platform programme aims to bring forward and help develop the best from UK industry. Building on the Infrastructure & Projects Authority’s recent call for evidence on a Proposal for a New Approach to Building, the Hub will follow a Design for Manufacture and Assembly (DfMA) approach, allowing new buildings to be configured from a pre-defined ‘kit of parts’, which are proven to demonstrate greater whole-life value, better safety and quality and which will improve the overall performance of buildings.
• This in turn follows on from the Budget 2017 announcement that five government departments would adopt a presumption in favour of offsite construction, the 2018 Construction Sector Deal and the IPA’s call for evidence on a platform approach to design for manufacture and assembly (P-DfMA).
• Intellectual property within individual components will remain protected, but the new interface standards themselves will be open and free to use to ensure that SME’s and innovators have a clear understanding of the standards new products must meet and confidence of a route to market where any IPR within a component remains protected.