Mace will invest more than 2.5% of its annual revenue – the equivalent of £1m+ – into new products, technology and processes.
The construction company and consultancy said that it would use the ‘ambition fund’ to drive innovation.
The move comes as Mace launches the second iteration of its Innovation Strategy, titled ‘Speed and Scale’. It sets out three roadmaps for innovation over the next five years in key focus areas for construction: net-zero carbon, construction to production, and digital & data.
Mace will make £1m+ available each year across the business. Aspiring innovators, designers and problem solvers across the company will be able to bid to invest in new technology, supporting net zero, construction to production and data and digital projects that will transform how the business delivers the built environment.
Funding rounds
Mace will award the first round of funding later this year. The process will initially only be open to Mace employees and projects, but by 2023 the group expects to invite supply chain partners to bid for funding.
Recent innovation investments at Mace include the development of low-carbon cassettes. These can reduce the embodied carbon of a standard office structure by up to 75%. Mace has also devised new approach to production control rooms that improved on-site productivity by 20%. And it enabled a 30% faster delivery of high-rise buildings via its Mace Tech business.
Mace works closely with Innovate UK and the Construction Innovation Hub. In 2018 it won the inaugural the Sir Michael Latham Award for its investment in the ‘jump factories’, used to delivery Victory Plaza in Stratford, East London.
‘New way of utilising R&D tax credits’
Mark Reynolds, Mace Group chairman and chief executive, said: “Over the past five years, we’ve invested more than £300m in research and development across Mace, and our 2026 targets include a minimum 2.5% annual investment of our revenue each year.
“Whilst our corporate strategy has driven industry-leading change – many of the major innovations have been delivered on our projects for our clients by talented Mace colleagues who had a bright idea and support they needed to bring it to life.
“Our ambition fund is a bold new way of utilising research and development tax credits to drive that spark further and empower Mace people – and eventually our supply chain partners – to find a better way to deliver for our clients.”
