Changing landscape of the industry

The CIOB has presented the findings of its latest scholarship award winners which focused on implementing innovation and delivering new technologies.

George Holder, Costain, and Alex Stephens, Bouygues UK, were awarded the Sir Ian Dixon Scholarship (SID) to produce and present findings to benefit the construction industry, themselves and their company, and those findings were presented at the reception.

The scholarship, presented by the CIOB in partnership with the Worshipful Company of Constructors, provides a £3,000 one-year research fund, which winners can focus on any area of construction management with support from a company mentor.

Innovation Management was the focus from George Holder, Costain. This relatively new concept is proving vital to the construction industry. The research examined the current use of innovation management standards and the role that these standards could play in improving how projects are delivered. The findings showed that standards are critical when creating an environment to support innovation and organisations benefit from implementing them.

New technologies in the construction industry, was the area that Alex Stephens chose to research. His project looked at the use of additive manufacturing technologies (technologies which build 3D objects by adding layer-upon-layer of material) in construction through literature review and case studies. More demanding construction programmes are driving the industry to seek alternative methods to build and his findings show that these new technologies can produce complex geometries at a relatively low cost compared to conventional processes.

“These research projects reflect the changing landscape of construction as we learn to imagine, invent and implement new ways of working and building,” said Bob Heathfield, Past President of the CIOB and chair of the SID Scholarship Panel. “We need to continue, as an industry, to be forward thinking. We need to make space for new ideas and innovations to streamline our processes and improve the quality of the built environment.”

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