As part of the Clean Growth Grand Challenge within the Government’s Industrial Strategy, a £420m Construction Sector Deal was announced in 2018.  A key part of the Sector Deal is an investment by the Government of £170m in the Transforming Construction Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund (ISCF) in line with the Transforming Infrastructure Performance (TIP) Strategy and the Transport Infrastructure Efficiency Strategy (TIES).

Background: The Government has an ambitious vision for this sector – halving the energy use of new buildings by 2030; delivering new construction assets at a third of the cost and significantly quicker; providing assets that are cheaper to run, smarter, safer with lower emissions; and ultimately creating cleaner air. 

The Construction Sector Deal sets out an ambitious partnership between the industry and Government that aims to transform the sector’s productivity through innovative technologies and a more highly skilled workforce.

The Transforming Construction ISCF Challenge within the Sector Deal, aims to transform the efficiency of construction techniques through digital technologies like Business Information Modelling; reduce running costs through energy generation and storage technologies; and conduct research and development and demonstration programmes supporting innovations. 

What is the Opportunity? The next and final round of R&D funding will open on the 28th August 2019.

Delivered by Innovate UK, part of UKRI, the funding will include investment of up to £10m in a Collaborative R&D programme, and up to £26m in a Demonstrator programme.

£10m MMC, Digital and Whole-Life Performance (CR&D) Programme: UK businesses can apply for a share of up to £10m for CR&D projects that go beyond the state-of-the-art in improving productivity, quality and performance of the UK construction sector.

£26m Demonstrator Programme: An investment of up to £26m is available in Demonstrator projects that demonstrate improvements in productivity, quality and performance of the UK construction sector. These will include new validations of business models, digital approaches to design, construction and management, advancements in modern methods of construction and approaches to whole-life performance of a building or assets.

This Briefing Webcast will provide an opportunity to hear about the scope of the competition in more detail and how to apply.