Costain and Bouygues staff presented their findings on innovation and new tech at the CIOB’s annual Sir Ian Dixon scholarship presentation last night.
Implementing innovation and delivering new technologies were the topics of focus on the night, with George Holder from Costain and Alex Stephens from Bouygues UK awarded the scholarship to produce and present findings to benefit the construction industry.
The scholarship, delivered annually by the CIOB in partnership with the Worshipful Company of Constructors, is a £3,000 one-year research fund focusing on any area of construction management with support from a company mentor.
Holder focused his project on innovation management. 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.
Innovation has also paved the way for the use of new technologies in the construction industry, an area that Stephens from Bouygues UK chose to research for the year.
His project looked at the use of additive manufacturing technologies 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.
Bob Heathfield, Past President of the CIOB and chair of the SID Scholarship Panel, said: “These research projects reflect the changing landscape of construction as we learn to imagine, invent and implement new ways of working and building.
“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.”
