Public Funding for Vinci Construction UK Limited

"Industrial productivity has improved over recent decades across most sectors due to process and technology innovation. However, construction has not shown such gains (value added per worker is 60% of that in wider manufacture). Without improvements housing and infrastructure demand will not be met. Conversely, productivity improvements will add significantly to the economy (construction represents c.9% of UK GDP). The size and nature of the sector suggest many opportunities for process and technology innovation. Techniques such as Design for Manufacture and Assembly and off-site construction could significantly improve construction productivity. However, uptake has been slow due to bespoke projects, supply chain complexity and fluctuating demand leading to a risk-averse approach to capital investment through supply chains. Effective planning, and supply chain collaboration are key to ensuring that productivity gains are consistently achieved. We will therefore develop, test and assess an integrated process planning and supply chain management toolkit for the efficient delivery of construction projects. It will improve construction productivity (potential cost and time savings of 25% and 28% respectively) via: * Better project planning; enabling project planners to identify optimum project delivery plans based on context-specific restrictions and supply chain 'pinch-points' where increased capacity/automation could improve overall productivity. * Improved supply chain collaboration; enabling supply chain businesses to securely collect, share and store information, such as task status/completion, component location, and in-use data. The use of 'blockchain' technology will enable smart contracts and timely payments to subcontractors, reducing their financial risk. Analysis of data from on-site sensor networks and through supply chain tagging/tracking systems will provide quantified metrics for planning scenario optimisation and industry-wide KPIs. These metrics will drive innovation, enabling planners to assess project-specific benefits of new digital and automation solutions. The mainstream implementation of such innovative approaches the project solution will help to leverage overall 55-70% savings in programme cost and time. The PLASMA project will be led by construction contractor Vinci, with Skanska also participating. These organisations will provide date from, and access to, ongoing construction projects to ensure that the project solution (made available to the industry as a spin-out) meets industry needs. UK SMEs nPlan and Assentian building on expertise of project planners and in-house innovations from Vinci and Skanska. It will be applicable in other sectors (e.g. Facilities Management). We anticipate revenues of \>30£M pa to the 'spin out"" in 5 years, with the solution used by 10% of the UK sector."

It has been recognised that the benefits of BIM will not be realised without the collaboration of the main contractor’s supply chain: Tier 2 and beyond. There are significant barriers to this and it is unlikely that the CDE for Level 2 BIM is achievable without overcoming them. In response, Tier2Tier is a SaaS-based solution that will provide the Tier 2 specialist with an independent, controlled, bi-directional, cloud-based micro collaboration portal, allowing the 2-way transfer of validated information from tender through to final account. The envisaged service supports the goals of BSI B/555 Roadmap by facilitating controlled inputs, tender exchange, contract administration, automated payment transactions, change management, and COBie data transfer; all whilst minimising user expense. This collaborative project addresses the obstacles to participation of the wider project supply chain in the CDEs required for project teams to attain Level 2 BIM Maturity. This will be achieved by the re-examination of the business-to-business processes of tendering, invoicing, change management and payment, as well as using new “Big Data” and Social-graph approaches to manage multiple BIM projects.

The aim of the 4BIM Project is to demonstrate the use of Integrated Collaborative Building Information Modelling (BIM) systems across Supply Chains using the Industry Foundation Class (IFC) and Construction Operations Building Information Exchange (COBie) open interoperability standards. The primary objectives are to: (1) demonstrate that collaborative tools and services using open BIM interoperability standards can allow experts from different disciplines within a supply chain to work together more effectively; (2) show that knowledge traditionally locked up in project documentation, 3D models and other information silos can be codified and shared amongst the supply-chain, fostering information re-use and providing improved transparency across a project, through the use of open standards; (3) demonstrate that the use of BIM can allow new and legacy product information within the construction and manufacturing sectors to create more effective and efficient lifecycle processes.

The public description for this project has been requested but has not yet been received.