The £85 million national challenge is set to overhaul how Britain delivers sustainable social housing
This will boost a sector worth more than £250 billion a year to the UK economy.
Working with Liverpool Combined Authority and the High Value Manufacturing Catapult, the pilot will apply innovative digital manufacturing processes to standardise ‘kits of parts’, improve digital coordination and provide greater certainty of demand.
The challenge forms part of the R&D Missions Accelerator Programme (R&D MAP).
Liverpool City Region as first pilot
Steve Rotheram, Mayor of the Liverpool City Region, said:
Having started my own career as a bricklayer, I understand first-hand the pressures facing the construction sector.
But to deliver on the government’s mission to get Britain building again, it needs to adapt with the times.
I’m incredibly proud that our area has been chosen as the first national pilot to modernise construction.
Our region is home to pioneering expertise in modern methods of construction, advanced manufacturing and digital innovation, with the talent and political will to lead from the front.
If we get this right, we won’t just build the next generation of affordable social housing, schools and hospitals, we’ll strengthen UK supply chains, boost productivity, and give manufacturers the confidence to invest in skills and capacity, helping to create good jobs, and drive growth across the country.
As industry partners, Onward Homes and Torus housing associations will test and refine the approach by trialling it in two social housing schemes.
Their insights will help finalise a standard delivery model for adoption nationally. The approach is expected to transform social housing delivery in its first phase.
Supporting government targets
The challenge, which is the largest in the R&D MAP Growth Mission, also supports the government’s economic growth mission by increasing investment in manufacturing skills and technology.
This will enhance capacity and close the productivity gap in the construction sector, which is consistently around 23% below the national average.
Analysis suggests narrowing that gap could add up to £27 billion in additional economic output over time, generating up to 380,000 new jobs.
The goal is to grow domestic manufacturing capability by:
- improving productivity and reducing build times
- reducing waste and improving cost predictability on publicly funded schemes
- improving the sustainability of construction and the energy efficiency of public buildings
- strengthening UK-based supply chains
- creating high-skilled employment opportunities
Plans also include an Accelerator Centre to support product testing, workforce training and supply chain development in the near future.
Further regions and projects are expected to follow as the challenge develops, informed by evidence gathered through the Liverpool pilot.
Streamlining the process
UK Science Minister, Lord Vallance, said:
We are beginning our mission to transform the UK’s construction industry in Liverpool, a city which has long been at the forefront of innovation and creativity.
The digital technologies and manufacturing methods developed here will help us speed up how we can build more homes, schools, and hospitals right across the UK.
This work will help us set the benchmark for how we deliver high-quality infrastructure more efficiently, directly benefitting communities.
By supporting this initiative, we are backing more high-skilled jobs for Liverpool while also bringing our construction industry into digital age.
Melissa Zanocco OBE, UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) Challenge Director: Growth Mission, said:
We already have strong examples of digitalised and industrialised construction delivering real benefits on individual projects. However, progress has been held back because incentives, pipelines and data remain fragmented.
Industry transformation cannot happen through isolated adoption alone, the Industrialising and Digitalising Construction Challenge will drive integration across the sector by aligning demand, standards and delivery models.
Katherine Bennett, CEO of the High Value Manufacturing Catapult, said:
Our focus is on turning ambition into action.
By bringing together manufacturers, housing providers and public clients around shared standards and clearer demand signals, we can give industry the confidence to invest and expand capacity.
That is how we move from isolated successes to a more resilient and competitive construction sector.
Becky Wood, Chief Executive Officer of the National Infrastructure and Service Transformation Authority (NISTA) said:
The need for high quality infrastructure is greater than ever, yet the challenges remain in meeting this demand.
This initiative will help to address critical market capacity and skills issues, while supporting the delivery of high-performing infrastructure in line with Government’s Construction Playbook, 10 Year Infrastructure Strategy and Pipeline.
The proposed investment also builds on the foundations around the use of platforms established through the pre-existing Transforming Infrastructure Performance Roadmap to 2030.
By providing certainty of demand, and by enabling greater coordination between manufacturing and assembly, this investment will deliver tangible benefits for suppliers, clients and society, reducing cost and waste, and accelerating the delivery of UK infrastructure.
As a champion for collaboration between government and industry, NISTA is in a unique position to convene these partners to ensure that innovation is not only adopted, but embedded in the infrastructure projects delivered by UK Government.
Further information
Construction represents 6.2% of the UK economy and 6% of the workforce, yet productivity is around 23% below the UK average.
Evidence from platform-based construction approaches indicates potential benefits of around £25 for every £1 invested, through improved productivity, reduced waste and stronger, integrated UK supply chains.
Analysis suggests that bringing construction productivity closer to the UK average could add up to £27 billion of gross value added to the UK economy over time.
Backed through the R&D Missions Accelerator Programme delivered by UKRI, the challenge is focused on overcoming barriers to integration at an industry level.
It will put industrialised, digitally-enabled construction approaches into action on live housing schemes, laying the foundations for wider adoption across publicly funded projects.
The High Value Manufacturing Catapult will be the delivery partner for the challenge.
It will bring together manufacturers, digital specialists, housing providers and public-sector clients to establish the standards, tools and commercial frameworks needed to support long-term sector transformation.
The Liverpool pilot will apply the approach to two live social housing schemes led by Onward Homes and Torus, generating evidence to inform wider adoption across the UK.
The schemes will be confirmed in the coming months.
The pilot will focus initially on social housing schemes providing a live environment to test repeatable, industrialised delivery models.
Learning from the pilot will inform future national roll-out across housing and other public infrastructure sectors.
The challenge is focused on developing a sustainable delivery model and a supporting digital platform that brings together the pipeline for social housing and public infrastructure, a configurable system of separate parts manufactured off site (kits of parts) and digitised certification processes.
For more information contact:
- Rhiannon Thompson or Jillian Nystedt at High Value Manufacturing Catapult: catapult@crestviewstrategy.com
- Mike Doran at Liverpool City Region: mike.doran@liverpoolcityregion-ca.gov.uk