CSIC: Scottish construction in need of “technology revolution”

The Chief Executive of the Construction Scotland Innovation Centre has said the construction industry in Scotland is in need of “technology revolution”.

Speaking to the Glasgow Herald, Chief Executive, Stephen Good, said that by embracing new technology, the construction industry had a “massive opportunity” to operate with greater profitability and efficiency.

Mr Good said: “Construction is one of the last industries to go fully digital. Big chunks [of work] are still manual and traditional. It is ripe for a technology revolution.”

The Construction Scotland Innovation Centre (CSIC) is one of eight industry led and demand driven Innovation Centres supported by Scottish Funding Council, Scottish Enterprise, Highlands & Islands Enterprise and 13 Scottish university partners. It promotes greater collaboration between construction companies and academics to deliver advancements in the industry.

The CSIC is also set to invest £1.5M of its £7.8M core funding on equipment that will provide firms with access to robotics, large-scale 3D printing facilities and a wide range of other innovative equipment.

Mr Good cited a lack of natural collaboration due to the differing roles between the likes of architects, engineers, and builders meaning innovation was stagnating.

He told the Glasgow Herald: “The basic premise is to accelerate the expertise needed to solve industry challenges. Construction needs to have more of an innovation culture.

“The challenge is continuous collaboration after the client has stopped paying. Every building is a prototype, but clients are risk averse, so CSIC facilitates rapid research and development for pilot projects.”

He challenged companies to develop technology that would be benefit to the construction industry as a whole and just on a particular project.

Mr Good believes that the pace of innovation could be accelerated when the hub that will be home to that £1.5m capital equipment investment opens in 2017.

Companies will be able to take advantage of state-of-the-art technology to drive product and service innovation.

Mr Good said that Brexit hadn’t led to any reluctance to invest and was upbeat about prospects for the future. He said: “We’re optimistic, there’s a huge need for housing and infrastructure.”

 

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