The TIP Roadmap to 2030 – an opportunity for businesses
Sam Stacey, ISCF Challenge Director for Transforming Construction, UK Research and Innovation (UKRI)
FOLLOWING on from the release of the Construction Playbook in December, the recent publication of the Transforming Infrastructure Performance (TIP) Roadmap to 20301 gives another boost to the transformation of construction that is underway in the UK.
The societal benefits of the transformation are well articulated, with a line of sight to the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals. What will ultimately drive the success of the roadmap however, is the degree to which its prescriptions can be turned into value for the industry’s shareholders. There are excellent reasons why this is feasible; applying the right techniques to the construction and management of buildings can cut man-hours by a factor of three or more, reduce energy demands by a similar amount, and save maybe 30% in terms of materials.
This is a document that not only maps the road, but offers much of the paving too. It provides both assurance and practical detail for businesses around embracing the opportunities of the new ecosystem. The Infrastructure and Projects Authority (IPA) is clearly committed to leading the implementation of TIP as a crossgovernment change programme.
As Nick Smallwood, IPA chief executive, states in his introduction “I would like to set out the challenge to industry to work with the government to grasp the opportunity for transformation described in this roadmap.” In the process, the industry will be drawing on many of the outputs of the £170m Transforming Construction Challenge.
Delivering new economic infrastructure to drive improved outcomes for people and nature
The roadmap has five key focus areas, the first of which is delivering new economic infrastructure to drive improved outcomes for people and nature. This implies a radical shift away from the traditional fixation with minimising capital cost, towards a more balanced value-based model. To guide clients through this is the Construction Innovation Hub’s Value Toolkit.
The Value Toolkit develops and refines a unique value profile for a project, programme or portfolio; it helps clients to identify risks and create a risk profile for the project, select a delivery model and build a commercial strategy which best fits the value profile. Throughout the process measurement and evaluation takes place, thereby supporting continuous improvement of outcomes backed up by solid data, and providing intelligence on the performance of the contributing organisations. Value, properly defined and measured, naturally forms the basis of fair rewards for project participants.
Place-based regeneration and delivery
The next focus area is place-based regeneration and delivery. Two key factors come into play here. The transformed approach to construction enables more valuable use of design resource.
This is a document that not only maps the road, but offers much of the paving too.Routine tasks can automated, freeing up time and talent to concentrate on fit with a building’s local environment. Transformed construction also decouples much of the valuable activity from the actual construction site, enabling it to be relocated to areas with the optimal labour market and facilities. Offsite assembly will be a major contributor to the all-important levelling-up agenda. This process is already well underway with offsite construction factories springing up across the North-East and Midlands.
Addressing the need for social infrastructure using a platform approach
While the focus on valuable outcomes and place-based regeneration offer great societal benefits, it is the area of addressing the need for social infrastructure using a platform approach that will fundamentally reduce the cost of project delivery and thereby save money for public and private sector clients alike. By operating in accordance with a set of platform rules the market will achieve unprecedented economies of scale. The rules will define the interfaces between the kit of parts that make up a building, while freeing up businesses to innovate in the design and manufacture of each part.
Retrofitting existing buildings to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050
Some very impressive work has been going on in the next focus area of retrofitting existing buildings to achieve net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050, which will benefit both existing and new buildings. The Active Building Centre has been piloting significant improvements in heat pump performance and cost-effective energy storage. Connecting these technologies as a system enables the smoothing of energy supply and demand, both within a building and across a grid.
The recent report by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) on cost-optimal domestic electrification of heating in buildings (CODE) demonstrated the greater potential of active building technology compared to fabric interventions. This opens up the opportunity for an industrialised approach to retrofit that would overcome many of the barriers of labour shortage and disruption for building users.
Optimising the performance of our existing built environment
The final focus area of optimising the performance of our existing built environment will capitalise on the data definition, collection and analysis integral to the other four; measurement of the value of the outcomes achieved, digital modelling of design and production quality, and systems to control the active building technology in new and retrofitted buildings. The internet of things in buildings will enable increasing automation of operation and maintenance, guaranteeing performance and reducing labour input. Artificial intelligence can be applied to the data collected to optimise outcomes across communities, such as smoothing energy collection and storage. It will be exciting to see businesses with digital expertise apply their talents to our sector. Once again, the potential for improvement is vast, leading to profitable revenue for innovative companies.
Innovation in the construction sector has long been constrained by fragmentation and lack of opportunity for profit. The publication of this roadmap presents another important step in the industry transformation that will allow new techniques to scale and flourish.
Sam Stacey, ISCF Challenge Director for Transforming Construction, UKRI
www.ukri.org @UKRI_News
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1 www.gov.uk/government/publications/transforming-infrastructure-performanceroadmap-to-2030