Transforming Construction Network Plus

Overview

How do we transform the way buildings are designed, built, powered, managed and used?

And how can we change the construction sector to address concerns of productivity, skills and user experiences?

With £1m invested in a raft of innovative research projects, the Transforming Construction Network Plus (N+) mobilises a new movement in the construction community, bringing together experts from a range of disciplines to tackle the most pressing problems across the digital, energy, construction, and manufacturing space.

The vision for N+ is to deliver transformational impact by adopting an integrated approach, situating construction as a production system for built assets that adds value to cities and their infrastructures.

The network unites academic researchers with industry and policy representatives through networking and skills-building events, creating a new community and body of knowledge to inform future construction policy and practice. Over the past two years, the N+ provided funding for research projects through two funding calls. 

Our aim

The aim of the N+ is to provoke, enable and amplify innovation, through four main objectives: 

• Knowledge: to inform new research and development (R&D) models and government policy that link digital, construction, manufacturing and energy to improve productivity
• Community building: to advance collaborations through knowledge exchange and debate, beyond what is currently possible
• Business models: to produce user-informed, practical resources that accelerate pathways to manufacture and delivery
• Investment and legacy: to de-risk and increase construction sector business R&D spend and enable new R&D collaborations that outlive the grant

The N+ encourages innovation and collaboration through events like this Discovery Day which took place in April 2019 at the Advanced Manufacturing Research Centre in Sheffield.  

Partnerships

The N+ is a joint project between The Bartlett, UCL’s Faculty of the Built Environment, Imperial College London and WMG, University of Warwick. Find out more about the N+ team.  

The Transforming Construction Challenge

The Transforming Construction Network Plus is one of the investments in the Transforming Construction Challenge - the UK government’s challenge to the construction industry and research communities  to make buildings more affordable, efficient, safer and healthier.

The N+ is funded by UK Research and Innovation (UKRI), an investment supported by the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund (ISCF). The overall aim of these investments is to transform the way the construction and built environment sector operates. The support of the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC) is gratefully acknowledged.

Learn more:

• Transforming Construction Challenge
• Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund
• UK Research and Innovation
• Economic and Social Research Council
• Read the UK government’s policy paper Industrial Strategy: building a Britain fit for the future