Build it, SAM – Check out the Robotic bricklayer

Those of you who remember Auf Wiedersehen, Pet might recall a scene Jimmy Nail’s character Oz taking on Site Manager, Herr Ulrich, over his right to have a tea break whenever he wanted, as long as there was no shortfall in the number of bricks laid at the end of working day.

Had Construction Robotics’ semi-automated mason (SAM) been an option for the BEKO building site in Dusseldorf back in 1983, Oz might have thought twice about being so confrontational about his unscheduled tea breaks.

Founded 2007 with the aim of bringing robotics and automation to onsite construction, Construction Robotics created SAM – a semi-automated bricklaying robot that is designed to work collaboratively with a mason.

Scott Peters, Co-Founder of Construction Robotics, said the project threw up two initial issues that needed to be overcome.

Mr Peters said: “How do we handle the mortar and how do accurately place a brick with a robot? Robots are typically bolted to a concrete floor where everything is very predictable around it. When you go to a job site, everything is dynamic.

“You take a robot, you put it on upon a mast climbing work platform, it’s moving around very dynamically in the wind and as people walk around. As the robot goes to the wall, it’s going to follow that.”

To overcome this, a sensing system was built that follows a laser that’s fixed to a building and adjusts for any movement to the working platform. Mr Peters commented: “It corrects it and accurately places that brick every single time.”

The process of adding mortar to bricks needed to be considered. SAM does this by approaching the task in a different fashion from a mason.

Mr Peters described the process: “With the mortar, what we do is very different from what the mason does. We apply the mortar to the brick. So as the robot picks up the brick, it applies the mortar to it and places it at the wall. We can measure and temper the mortar, and ensure any different type of mortar is handled very consistently and reliably.”

SAM is controlled and operated via wireless handheld device, which can have map files uploaded to it via USB.

Mortar is fed into a hopper. There are two brick feeds, allowing for half bricks and decorative bricks to be loaded into the machine.

As one brick is being laid, the next brick is being measured so it knows the exact dimensions of that brick.

The robot can lay bricks ranging from modular to utility-sized and is powered by propane. Two gas tanks are fitted, allowing for one to be replaced without shutting off the machinery.

A number of features are included on the robot to ensure the safety of those working with it.

A safety door shuts down the machinery when opened should the operator wish to enter the work area.

A safety wheel also means that once the end of the scaffolding has been reached or an obstruction detected, it will drop down and stop the system.

SAM also includes sensors, bumpers, warning lights and sounds and an emergency stop.

Construction Robotics has created a piece of user-friendly software to work in conjunction with SAM to design brick walls and include elements such as window and door opening openings.

When it comes to operating SAM on the construction site, there is a three-step process.

The first stage involves setting up the Hydro-Mobile and attaching the tracks. The tracks are able to be installed within 30 minutes and don’t need to be removed for the duration of the work on site. Sam is then loaded onto the Hydro-Mobile using a tele-handler.

The second step sees measurement information uploaded to SAM. Once the ‘recipe’ file is uploaded, measurements need to be taken to indicate where the windows, control joints and any detailing works are located.

Mr Peters explains: “The measurements allow for horizontal correction within a given space. Taking into account, job-site variation that transitions from very predictable, theoretical wall map to an actual wall map you can build a wall to.”

Once the measurements process is complete, step three sees bricks and mortar loaded into SAM and the robot shown where the laser system is.

The mason’s role during operation is to keep Sam loaded while the system works independently, which it is capable of doing for hours at a time.

So what does this mean for your average brickie?

In the first series climax of Auf Wiedersehen Pet, just before the lads’ hut burns down, Oz stands with a beer in his hand and looks around the construction site, admiring the hard work craftsmanship that had gone into the building. Oz says: “See all this here. We built all this; our skill and labour. No computer will ever be able to take the place of us. Last for a thousand years this will, you know. I tell you, there’ll always be a place for skilled labour.”

The good news for the likes of Oz is that although part of the bricklaying method may now becoming autotomized, the likes of SAM still require human operation – whether it be designing the brick walls, measuring on-site, operating the equipment and loading the bricks.

Skill sets may change, but competent, skilled workers will always be in demand.

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UK Construction Online Exclusive: Graham Nicholson, Chair of TAC

UK Construction Online talk exclusively with Graham Nicholson on the importance of apprenticeships in construction industry.

Graham Nicholson is a Chartered Structural and Civil Engineer. He is the Executive Managing Director of Tony Gee and Partners and has over 30 years’ experience of working for the specialist consultancy practice.

Graham chairs the firm’s Executive Board and is responsible for leading the strategic direction of the business. He became a Partner in 1992 and in 2003 took the lead role in the practice. Since then the company has grown from 100 to 400 staff. He has a passion for bridge engineering and has been responsible for the design of some extremely interesting and innovative structures, in particular the Dornoch Firth Bridge and Ceiriog Viaduct which were the longest incrementally launched bridges in the UK at the time. He was Chairman of the Association for Consultancy and Engineering in 2011 and remains on the ACE board responsible for chairing another great passion, the Technician Apprenticeship Consortium (TAC).

How important do you feel apprenticeships are to the UK construction industry at the moment?

They are very important. We have a skills shortage and there’s a need to bring in new blood into the industry, and a very good way of doing that is with apprenticeships. As we know, infrastructure plays a vital role in the industry and we need to bring as many people in as possible.

What are the main benefits for an individual who makes the decision to begin an apprenticeship?

It’s a work based route into engineering and it’s limitless. By taking on an apprenticeship, with suitable capabilities, you can gain those qualifications and effectively reach the very top of the industry. Apprentices can, with suitable qualifications and training, become a chartered engineer. The main benefit is that during their training, they are earning money and gaining very valuable on-the-job training.

To what extent do you think apprenticeships are successful in teaching the correct skills, and therefore having a positive experience in entering the workplace once the apprenticeship in over?

I think that’s for industry to teach their apprentices what they want them to do. It can be very tailored. Our particular business has a very specific set of needs and skills and we are able to teach our apprentices those skills that match our requirements, thus leading to a successful career.

What impact has apprenticeships had on the skills shortage that the construction industry is currently facing?

When I think of TAC, we’ve taken on over 1000 young people and put them through an apprenticeship now. That is 1000 people that perhaps wouldn’t have come into the industry that we’ve managed to encourage in through this route, so TAC has had an impact. We still need to bring more and more apprentices in, so we are hoping the TAC programme and the government will meet the targets, which currently far exceeds what we have at the moment, but it is a work in progress. There is still a huge challenge in trying to attract people into the industry. This is still something we have to work hard at.

What reasons are there for why sometimes apprentices don’t complete their apprenticeship?

You have to bear in mind that some of these apprentices come in at the age of 16 and have no experience of the workplace or work in engineering. For some people, they might find that the industry doesn’t suit what they want. This is usually down to the individual apprentices. We’ve had 2 out of 20 drop out and that’s primarily because they’ve come in and said it isn’t what they thought it was. I think that’s inevitable if you’re going to bring people in that are 16/17 years old who have very little exposure to it. You aren’t going to win them all. But the rest of them think it’s a fantastic career, get really stuck in and have done very well.

Companies give them time to go and study, support them financially and most company’s support them well with their training. Inevitably, I think the fact that you’re taking people in at such a young age means you can’t expect to get 100% record of retaining everyone. They start with an idea of what they think an engineering apprenticeship is, but once they discover that it’s not quite what they thought, they may decide to go and do something different. I think that’s understandable and provided it is only a small level of loss, then it’s something that our industry should be able to accept.

What measures can be taken to allow the successful completion of an apprenticeship?

It’s about mentoring and taking care of the apprentices. If you spend time with them and support them, then they should feel like a very vital part of the workforce. There’s a very specific training programme set out now in the apprenticeship route. There are specific requirements for gaining experiences in different parts of the business. It’s a matter of being able to expose them to this and make sure they can reach all of the objectives that they need, to be able to get their qualification. It’s important that the companies take the training of their apprentices very seriously and not think that it’s just down to the apprentice to do the work.

To become an engineering technician, through the ICE route, there are some very clear objectives and attributes that the apprentices have to achieve. The college will teach them some basic principles but they won’t get experience of managing projects or being able to demonstrate creative thought or being able to work off their own initiative. All of this is something that when placed in a working environment, the apprentice can then demonstrate that they have the ability to work on their own, and to work in teams and make a real impact. By having a mentor, someone can sit down with the apprentice and talk about what they have achieved, and what they hope to achieve – planning out where they are going to do their experience and ensuring they are moved around and get a variety of experience.

Do you think that leaving the EU will have any impact on apprenticeships?

I don’t think we will change what we are doing with apprenticeships because we are leaving the EU. The fundamental thing for the industry at the moment is to ensure our investment in infrastructure is protected. We need to keep our industry busy by building vital infrastructure, which is needed now more than ever as we need to create better connectivity with everyone. However, this will still leave us with the issue of the skills shortage.

Apprenticeships will be a very important way of dealing with that. Not just in short term. Apprenticeships are really building skills for the future. You can take in another 5,000 apprentices now and they will be become very valuable people in the next 4 or 5 years’ time. It won’t directly affect anything in the next one or two years.

I’m optimistic that something positive will come out of this, even if it wasn’t what we initially wanted. It is what is it is, and we will have to work hard to make it work.

There’s a lot of disruption that’s going to come but we just need to be clever and innovative and find ways to deal with it. I think we’re a very resourceful industry and country and we will find a way through this. Who knows, maybe in five years’ time we will look back and think this it wasn’t such a bad thing after all.

 

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The man with the plan – Paul Morrell Interview

UK Construction Online’s Matt Brown talks to Paul Morrell OBE, former Chief Government Construction Advisor, about his views on the how 2011-2016 Government Construction Strategy was implemented; the BIM Level 2 mandate; the skills shortage and new technology.

A chartered quantity surveyor and formerly a senior partner of Davis Langton until his retirement in 2007, Paul is now an independent consultant on the economics of construction and procurement.

Has the 2011 – 2016 Government Construction Strategy been delivered in the way you originally envisaged?

Well of course I haven’t been there to see it from the inside since the end of 2012, and you can believe me when I say that the view from outside is at best partial, and sometimes just plain wrong. At that time, however, although things were obviously patchy with some Departments acting as genuinely inspiring pathfinders, whilst others remained mired in years of embedded habits or weighed down by departmental baggage, I would say the general trend was encouraging.

The key to the Government Construction Strategy was that it had all three components of something that can legitimately claim to be a strategy: a diagnosis of the problem, the identification of a number of changes that would bring about improvement, and (above all) a practical plan for implementing those changes. Diagnosis and prescription had been done to death by 2012, and I would not claim any originality in the thoughts and ideas that formed the background to the strategy. Indeed, I would claim familiarity as one of its strengths.

The difference was therefore in Government using its buying power to persuade its suppliers that there needed to be a new bargain, based on the Government improving its practice as a client, and the industry then improving the value it could deliver in meeting public needs. And this was, by the way, at a time when Government’s other instruments of bringing about change – through fiscal measures or regulation – were either unavailable or disfavoured. The guiding principle, though, was that you cannot change an industry by exhortation and waving your arms around. Instead, change comes from changing the drivers of the businesses that make up the industry – and, even in an industry as reactive as construction, one of those drivers has to be the preferences and demands of customers.

As I say, I’m not there to see it from the inside anymore, but occasional messages from friends at the front are encouraging (and I am, for example, frankly astonished that all Departments got themselves “BIM ready” by this year’s deadline), and I am also encouraged by seeing that the reissued strategy builds on the previous one, rather than falling into the usual Governmental trap of reinvention and casting around desperately for something new to announce.

Historically, the construction industry has proven slow to embrace innovation. Why do you think this is?

The answer to that question is relevant context for the answer to almost any question about the industry: in short, nobody owns the whole process. Doubtless if anybody did own the whole process, that would bring problems of its own – particularly if they lacked either the right skills, instincts or motivation for the role. But just one consequence of the current fragmentation of roles, and the fragmentation of demand – so that you never know what the next phone call is going to bring, is that there is little incentive to innovate. Who, after all, is going to invest in finding a better solution to a problem that they’ll never be asked to solve again? So the problem is structural.

The other factors are the lack of international competition that has forced improvements in practice and productivity in other industries, and the lack of a feedback loop by which lessons can be learned on one project and applied on the next, so that user experience is properly represented at the inception of a project.

So the glib answer as to why the industry isn’t better at innovation is therefore because it doesn’t have to be (because of the lack of competition) and because it can’t be (because of a lack of integration and, in a world of “big data” because we don’t capture the lessons – let alone learn them).

How successful do you feel the BIM mandate has been so far? In retrospect, do you feel the construction industry has progressed as much as you had initially hoped?

I think the bandwagon effect of BIM is now unstoppable, and as the number of businesses that are exploring its benefits catches up the number of interviews, magazine articles and conferences dedicated to the subject, its impact can only grow. That is fundamentally because of its merits, and without the tangible benefits that it is already bringing to businesses and projects it would have been stillborn, notwithstanding the undeniable (and entirely welcome) hype. I think the service performed by the mandate was therefore to get people’s attention, and to change the question away from “whether” or “when” to explore BIM’s potential to “how”.

As for the amount of progress made, you would need to be very naïve indeed to believe that everything would change overnight. It’s a cliché to say that it isn’t a silver bullet (although clichés become that for a reason), and you can’t buy everything that BIM can be or do in a box. Structural and behavioural change is inevitably slower – but by comparison with other forces for change that I’ve witnessed over a lifetime in and around the industry, the pace of change is, in relative terms, as close to “overnight” as it could be.

It was never the expectation that every client and every company in the industry would immediately see the benefits of BIM to the extent that it would transform their own way of doing business. Instead, the belief was that the gains made by those who did make the greatest use of it would be such that competition would force the rest to follow, so that in time it becomes the normal way of doing business. Measured against that reality, I think the amount of progress made is nothing short of spectacular.

Do you think that people were getting too bogged down with the BIM Level 2 mandate and the deadline?

Not really. As the coverage of BIM has exploded, there were bound to be some who would seek to put themselves on a superior plane by claiming that it isn’t all that it’s cracked up to be, or that it’s time to forget Cobie, or Level 2 – or whatever. But there’s always had to be a balance between making sure that the leading edge could carry on innovating and leading, whilst the peloton of the industry had a clear answer to the question “so where do I start?”.

For that, as for any project, there needed to be a definition of what it meant, and a budget and a timetable to get there

Back in 2011, one of the definitions of Level 2 was “stuff we know how to do now” and it therefore presented the industry with something that was known to be deliverable; and the development of standards and protocols around it also encouraged convergence, and avoided the trap of there being so much choice that nobody wanted to choose a direction for their own business.

Indeed, I think one of the challenges of moving BIM on has been finding an equivalent definition of the next level, as BIM expands from 3D modelling to genuine collaboration; from design and construction into operations; from individual buildings to cities and their systems; and onto wherever digitising the built environment (at last!) may take us.

Is BIM as much about changing mind-sets as it is about the technology?

A modified version Lyndon Johnson’s advice about how to move hearts and minds is probably relevant here: first grab them by the profit and loss account.

However, yes – I do think it’s now widely understood that technology is the lesser part of BIM, and that the bigger changes are behavioural. Again, that change isn’t going to be bought about by preaching about better ways of behaving. The move beyond sharing data to genuine collaboration, and then on to integration of delivery will only come about if clients can be persuaded that it delivers projects closer to their own criteria for success, and if all of those involved in the supply chain can see that it enables them to work at their best and to do so profitably. That may require an act of faith by some actors on both the supply and demand sides of the industry, but if the business drivers are right, mindset will soon follow, and those who see collaboration as something blameworthy that you do with the enemy will soon be marginalised.

What’s your take on the skills shortage in the industry?

That it too is a consequence of the structural issue that I’ve already referred to. If anyone owned the whole process, then they would keep looking ahead to the resources they would need to serve the market, rather than never looking beyond the next phone call. But because of fragmentation, and because the industry has become wholly reactive as a consequence, when the phone calls start to come in again, an industry that has previously concentrated on downsizing turns around, wonders where the resources are – and inevitably blames the Government.

As it happens, I think the Government could have done better. It was clear back in 2011 that the industry was becoming dangerously hollowed out and that the consequences of any return of demand would be that a bigger share of future investment would go straight into inflation. Given the dependence of so many public services upon effective economic and social infrastructure, Governments should have a vested interest in maintaining capacity in the interest – but sadly the Treasury looks no further into the future than the industry does – and we live with the consequences today.

Setting that aside, though, I think we’ll know when we have a grown up industry when it regards its own problems as being for it to solve; and there can be few issues more pressing than a strategic look at the people and skills we will need in the future and how to attract and develop them.

What are the major challenges facing further progress with the Government Construction Strategy and the implementation of BIM?

Challenges, like sorrows, don’t come as single spies but in battalions – but I would just point to two.

From the Government point of view, the question is whether it has the will and the wherewithal to stick at it and follow Winston Churchill’s advice to those confronting a challenging task to “keep on buggering on”. One consequence of a smaller civil service is that it needs to become more generalist, so people will move around even more than they do now, specialist knowledge will be lost, and every question will be addressed as if it has never been asked before – compounding the habit of new Governments to want to rebadge everything. This is not helped by the suspicion in the senior civil service of specialists who might make good the lack of sector-specific knowledge. We therefore need civil servants who stay in post long enough to deliver their programmes, reporting to Ministers who understand and are supportive of the longer term objectives.

From the point of view of the industry, I think the major challenge is who wants to be the integrator? The natural candidates should be tier one contractors, but my fear is that they’ve become so used to grinding their margin out of either their customers (in good times) or their supply chain (in bad times) that managing that margin has now become their core business – and that the challenges of putting together an integrated proposition for a client, for which they might be held accountable, lacks appeal. Fortunately (for the customers) there are some major players who take the opposite approach, and who are organising themselves to offer a more integrated approach. Unfortunately (for the nation) these tend not to be British owned – and the risk is therefore that those who don’t “get with the programme” will either be competed out or bought out.

Have you seen any new technology recently that has got you excited in terms of how it could be applied to the construction industry?

 You are talking to probably the least tech-savvy person with whom you’ll ever swap thoughts on BIM, and I’m therefore the wrong person to ask. Also, as above, this isn’t principally about technology – and if we get the general direction of travel right, then I’ll have confidence that the software houses will develop the right products for the right jobs.

The excitement therefore comes from witnessing the human ingenuity shown in finding new possibilities created by a digital world.

Having said that, although I would generally regard upgrades as a curse (given that they usually come along just when I’ve learnt how to use a previous version), I have said before that if anyone comes along with a program that upgrades human behaviour towards a genuine desire to collaborate, then I’ll be its first customer!

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Interview with EU BIM Task Group’s Adam Matthews

UK Construction Online talk exclusively to Adam Matthews – Chairman of the European Union BIM Task Group, about the UK’s placement within the construction industry, the European Common Network, the drive for BIM and how other countries are progressing on their BIM journey following Brexit.

Adam Matthews is Chairman of the European Union BIM Task Group which is a network of public sector stakeholders from over 20 nations and co-funded by the European Commission.  He is also Director of International Development for the UK Government’s BIM Task Group and has more than 24 years of experience in information technology and change management in various industrial sectors.  Adam holds an MBA from Kingston University which focused on sustainability and public policy for the construction sector.

 

Since the Level 2 mandate in April, how well placed do you think the UK construction industry is?

‘Standing aside’ from my UK role and just looking at the evidence from surveys, conferences, institutes and associations would suggest that most of the industry has at least started on the journey towards BIM Level 2.  That includes those just beginning to understand what BIM Level 2 is, to those that have immersed their organisation’s procedures as supporting Level 2 and the collaborative use of data.

We can also say that the industry has a much greater awareness and capability in “collaborative BIM” (the original phrase under the Construction Strategy 2011) than five years ago.  This is a big step forward for the UK industry and it should be recognised for how enthusiastically it has embraced this change.

On a personal note, I think it must rank as one of the greatest national collaborative efforts the construction sector has seen.  A building services engineer said to me once that BIM was one of the best things to happen in the sector in his lifetime, and that the UK Government’s BIM programme was the best thing Government had done for the industry (with the notable exception of H&S improvements).  I wouldn’t disagree with his assessment.

To help the industry equip itself on Level 2, there are guides to explain and adopt the Level 2 approach which will be delivered shortly on:  http://ift.tt/2cR3rXs

There is more to do, but we should also celebrate the progress we have made in a relatively short period of time.  The CIC should also be congratulated for their leadership and ownership of the programme since its launch at the end of 2011.

How is the European Common Network developing?

The UK with Norway started the group in late 2013 with 12 other European countries by holding a get-to-know-you session in Brussels.  Since it formed as the EU BIM Task Group, it has grown to over 20 European nations with support and co-funding from the European Commission.  The aim of the group is simple – create a common understanding of BIM in Europe and aim to spread common practice across public clients introducing BIM to public policy or public works.  We launched our website in early 2016 www.eubim.eu and updates on our progress will be issued there.

We have just completed a survey of European practices by public stakeholders and now starting to draft a guide for public procurers on BIM. This BIM handbook will make recommendations for good practice based on the current European experience.

Do you think the EU would ever have a BIM mandate?

Mandate is a strong word. Technically the UK BIM ‘mandate’ is policy encouragement to the UK’s public construction client group to require the delivery of BIM information on centrally funded projects.  It is not easy to see how a single BIM mandate would be applied across Europe – however, do I see common approaches and requirements for BIM being adopted by European governments and public clients? Yes, absolutely.  And looking forward, I see these requirements aligning across Europe.

Over the next three to five years it is likely there will be a growing momentum of consistent BIM requirements in public tenders at national and public estate levels.  We are beginning to see this already. Clients are recognising it is not enough simply to request “It should be BIM” in public tenders: they want to specify standard digital information datasets at key project milestones.

In terms of the EU, is the drive for BIM coming from the private or public sector?

Both, but at some stage in a number of countries – the public stakeholders are taking a leadership role to help create the necessary conditions to deliver joint economic and environmental benefits for both the public sector and for industry.

What impact will Brexit have on closer collaboration with BIM in Europe?

In my view, the collaboration has been a European exercise, not just EU – it actually includes members of the EFTA (European Free Trade Association) such as Norway (a leading partner in the project) and Iceland.

With regards to Brexit, the EU BIM Task Group is a two year project until end of 2017 which would mean the UK will be a full EU member at that time. And the goal of the group is to align the European approach to introduction of BIM. Beyond Europe, there is recognition that BIM is a global language – construction will transform to a global ‘digital construction’ sector over the next five to ten years.  The group is collaborating to place the European sector to compete effectively in this market.

I would add that it is a European success – nations sharing approaches and implementation descriptions in order to agree a common performance level to describe what BIM is to encourage trade across borders.  It continues to be a positive and collaborative experience.

Where would you say the majority of countries are on their BIM journey?

This will be answered more fully in the report of the survey recently conducted. I wouldn’t want to pre-empt its findings and conclusions. However, the group recognises that there is a full range from those just starting to explore what BIM means to a public stakeholder/client to those like Norway, UK and Netherlands that are implementing their programme with industry.

What is remarkable has been the journey since 2013, where we started the group with a just handful of nations with active programmes to now – with over 20 nations involved and the European Commission on-board.  I think that speaks volumes about the recognition of the value proposition of BIM to the public sector.

What countries would you say are further along on their BIM journeys?

There is no hard and fast rule here to describe ‘furthest along’.  For example, the UK programme has the goal to engage the whole value chain transformation of its construction sector, which employs near 3 million. Whereas –Finland, a country of 5 million people, has adopted a highly detailed approach to prescribing specific technical operations at the ‘atomic level’. Which is furthest along?

What is easier to say is the group agrees that we are all heading in the same direction, along similar journeys but going at different speeds.  Another important point is to encourage trading opportunities: no country is so far ahead that they can’t be brought on to a common path with others to support common trading practice across borders. This for me is the real test for the group.

For me, one of the most impressive things about the EU BIM Task Group is that all nations are approaching with an open mind and prepared to debate different aspects of adoption and there is no sense at this time of protecting national positions to the detriment of harmonisation.

After all, BIM is just part of a broader digital transition across governments, across Europe and across the world.

What is being done to help countries that are not as progressed?

Approximately one third of the group have a BIM programme or are in the process of developing one, so this group is actually aimed to share practice with those nations that have yet to start developing a BIM programme….

The survey I mentioned will collate experience from around Europe on the public introduction of BIM and from this with a series of meetings and workshops will help to inform a general recommendation. This recommendation will be made available publicly as a handbook to inform public estate owners, public procurers and policy makers across Europe.

Looking globally,   I think it fair to say that outside a few notable exceptions including China, Singapore and Hong Kong many countries are still evolving their response to BIM. So this handbook has a wider audience possibly.

What is Britain’s role in this?

The UK is the lead coordinator of the EU BIM Task Group as it was nominated by others to have the funding contract with the European Commission for the project.  This contract is administered by the Department for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy (BEIS).  The UK provides a small project office to coordinate the programme and my time is provided to Chair. However, I do not represent the UK interest in the group, this is done by others from the UK BIM Task Group. My role is to independently represent the group members and the programme to the European Commission and to the lead coordinator.

Will Brexit affect Britain’s role?

No, not in this immediate project.  The project has a two year timeframe, and we are already over eight months in – and the UK will remain a full EU member for two years after its exit is formally triggered.

I cannot say that Brexit would have no effect on the UK’s involvement in the future, however while I would accept there is naturally some uncertainty – I firmly believe that this project is part of a European agenda.  I would very much hope the support received from the UK and towards the UK would continue in support of this vital work.

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Fire Prevention: the dangers of timber frame construction sites

UK Construction Online talk to Mike Burroughs, member of the Chief Fire Officers Association, on the dangers of timber frame construction sites.

Mike has been a member of the Chief Fire Officers Association (CFOA) Structural Timber Working Group since 2010. He left Devon and Somerset Fire and Rescue Service in 2015 having enjoyed a career of over 30 years.  He is now a forensic fire investigator with Fire Investigations (UK) LLP http://ift.tt/2bA6aVh , and is fire consultant to the Structural Timber Association; he continues to sit on the CFOA Working Group.

 How common are construction site fires in the UK?

Recent statistics for England show that fires in dwellings under construction have declined from 274 in the year 2009/2010 to 171 in 2014/2015 -a reduction of 38%. These figures are for all methods of construction. However, it is worth noting that it coincides with the recession which started in 2008 and subsequent increase/revival in construction projects in the last few years, as well as an increasing market share for timber frame in England.

Provisional figures show that housing starts in the UK have risen by 6% to 175,000 in the last 12 months and Timber Frame has a 27% share of that market.

What are the main causes of fire on construction sites?

I believe the biggest causes are deliberate fires and ‘hot works’.

What are the positives of timber frame building sites against their vulnerability to fire?

Advantages I am aware of include, sustainability, low carbon footprint, speed of build, and speed to making it weather tight. Various construction techniques are possible including prefabricated panels which are made in factory controlled conditions and assembled on site. Fires in cavities and voids are an issue in all construction types.

Are there any safety features on buildings to make them more resistant to the possibility of fire?

There are many different methods of construction that fall under the title ‘timber frame’. Standard Category A is vulnerable during construction but is appropriate in many circumstances. Once completed there is standard fire resistance within rooms.

Category B has increased fire resistance and Category C is clad with non-combustible boards.  Different features apply to other structural timber such as Cross Laminated Timber and GluLam.

How is safety maintained throughout the project?

Fire safety starts at the design stage and must be maintained throughout the project. In addition, as a condition of membership, members of the Structural Timber Association are required to adhere to the SiteSafe Policy http://ift.tt/2bIFtf1 as well as the 16 Steps to Fire Safety  http://ift.tt/2bA6nYH.

The requirements of the Regulatory Reform (Fire Safety) Order 2005 apply to construction sites and are enforced by the Health and Safety Executive. Once the building is complete the Fire Safety Order is enforced by the local Fire and Rescue Authority.

What is done to promote a “fire safe” working environment to all workers / members of public?

Once the building is complete, the Fire Safety Order is enforced by the local Fire and Rescue Authority.  In addition, the Health and Safety Executive has published guidance HSG 168 Fire Safety in Construction. The Structural Timber Association has published guidance for members on ‘Design of Escape Routes During The Construction Process’. http://ift.tt/2bIFOxY

What measures are in place for if a fire does occur on a timber frame construction site?

This very much depends on the size and complexity of the site as well as the construction method. As mentioned earlier, the Fire Safety Order applies to construction sites. This requires the ‘responsible person’ to take ‘general fire precautions’. This is defined as measures to reduce the risk of fire and spread of fire, providing sufficient means of escape and ensuring they can be effectively used, measures for fighting fire, measures for detecting and giving warning in case of fire and measures for training employees and mitigating the effects of fire.

In addition they are required to consider the ‘off site’ risk. This is where the Separating distance guidance published by the STA and recommended by HSE comes in http://ift.tt/2bA65kC

Finally, again as a condition of membership, members of the Structural Timber Association are required to register all sites over 600 square metres total floor area. This is via a database that is maintained by the Chief Fire Officers Association; entries are forwarded to the relevant fire and rescue service based on postcode. This makes the Fire and Rescue Service aware of the site and allows them to pre plan.

Timber Framers and contractors who are not Structural Timber Association members are encouraged, but not required, to notify the local fire service.

What is the 35 metre rule?

Referring to guidance from the Structural Timber Association (previously the UKTFA) http://ift.tt/2bIFOxY , this recommends a maximum travel distance of 35 m (or 15 m if in a dead end) to a fire exit or protected route on structural timber construction sites, provided that enhanced fire warning systems have been installed, and they include strategically placed automatic fire detection to give the earliest warning of fire to occupants. The earlier warning gives slightly more time for escape and to cover the additional travel distance. If the enhanced fire protection is not in place then the standard distance of 25 m (12m in dead end) applies.

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Alison Watson tackles the skills shortage

UK Construction Online’s Matt Brown speaks to Alison Watson, Managing Director and founder of Class Of Your Own Limited – creators of the Design Engineer Construct! (DEC!) programme.

Design Engineer Construct! is an accredited learning programme for secondary-school age students developed to create and inspire the next generation of Built Environment professionals. Through a project-based approach, DEC! applies pure academic subjects to the latest construction industry practices. The result is young people with real-world practical experience and employability skills.

Could you tell me a little about your background?

I’m a land surveyor first and foremost. But I didn’t find my ideal career until my mid-twenties.

At school, I enjoyed maths. Careers Advisors told me that I should become a maths teacher, which wasn’t for me at all. I wanted to do something interesting with numbers, so after my A levels, I applied to join a bank, and imagined myself crunching numbers and eventually having my own branch. I thought banking was going to be great, but it was the dullest job you could imagine. Lots of sales talk and target hitting, and very little to inspire me.

After six years of banking, the turning point in my life came when I was invited to a nightclub with a friend who was in desperate need of drowning her sorrows following a relationship break up. Within ten minutes, she had disappeared onto the dance floor with a new prospect, and I was left at the bar, wishing I has stayed at home. A chap drifted by and the age old ‘come her often?’ chat up line thankfully turned into a really interesting conversation about his line of work. He was a civil engineer. I didn’t have a clue what that was at the time, but it sounded hugely exciting. We went out for dinner and arranged to meet the following week, but had to cancel as he had to go do and do some ‘setting out’. I had no idea what that was but, assuming he wasn’t just trying to give me the brush off, asked him to take me with him. And that was it – I was smitten. All the maths that I’d enjoyed in school was there on a construction site. I left the bank and started down the road of land surveying and site engineering.

How did ‘Class of Your Own’ come about?

Some years later, I was working on the ‘Building Schools for the Future’ programme as a project surveyor. My first school started in Hackney around 2004 and I didn’t release that setting up a total station in the middle of a playground would be a magnet to kids.

“Who are you? What’s that? What does it do? Can we have a go?”

Rather than turn them away, I handed the kit over. It occurred to me that engaging young people in technology and showing them the application of the stuff they learned in school could be really good fun – maths wasn’t abstract, it was there on the ground.

I worked a number of workshops in BSF schools, and met lots of kids who’d had very little to do with the ‘builders’ on the site of their new school buildings, and very little understanding of what went on behind the hoardings. I was often asked to present “what is surveying?” as a careers talk to groups of kids, often because I was the only female on site. Some of the stuff I was involved in through the new school build programme was so tokenistic; just touring children around a building site with very little opportunity to follow up in the classroom. I was sure we could do better than this.

In an effort to demonstrate the wealth of technical and professional opportunities in construction, I decided to write a workshop and called it ‘A Class of your Own’. Children took on a variety of roles to work together in teams and design an Eco Classroom – a mini version of their school that embraced environmental principles, energy efficiencies, and most of all, end user engagement and satisfaction.

After delivering a number of workshops with colleagues, it soon became clear that schools really valued the challenge, and especially the students, who got to meet real people from industry. It occurred to me that these students could learn so much more if their teachers could teach a dedicated programme that provided access to a wide range of professions – an actual curriculum that would address the growing skills gap in the built environment.

Over time, the ‘Class of Your Own’ one day workshop became a small project, which then developed into the full ‘Design Engineer Construct!’ (DEC!) learning programme with level 1, 2 and 3 qualifications. DEC! became a became a subject in its own right.

What were the aims of the project?

I think the main aim was to contextualise STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths) subjects. STEM subjects are generally taught in silos and I wanted to show children and their teachers that STEM – and Art, Geography, English and History! – is EVERYWHERE in the built environment.

We constantly hear people talking about the need for a change in the perception of construction, to raise aspirations and ambitions, but talk is cheap; doing is so much better. Design, Engineer, Construct! is an applied subject with clear academic synergies, and provides young people and their teachers with the skills and knowledge for a 21st century digital industry.

What was the catalyst for the Design Engineer Construct! (DEC!) programme?

The catalyst was my frustration that teachers knew little more than their students when it came to careers. We needed to empower and excite teachers through a robust training programme, and for those new to the subject, access to a network of experienced Design Engineer Construct! teachers. Critically, we needed to ensure that industry professionals worked closely with new teachers offering focused support where skills gaps existed.

Teachers are central figures in children’s lives. Bearing in mind that teachers spend so much time with children, the hope was that teachers would teach DEC! and the children would go home and involve their parents in their homework. They might sit at the dinner table in the evening and discuss what they’d done in the day. Imagine the conversations around 3D modelling, environmental analysis! Parents would begin to understand, through their own children, that the construction industry was a great place to be.

I wanted to make teachers the new champions of the built environment.

Engaging with students through live projects sounds like it would naturally inspire them.  This must be a rewarding experience for all involved?

It’s brilliant. There are now well over 3,000 kids studying ‘Design, Engineer, Construct!’ and I feel like a mum to all of them! We’ve just had the Ugandan School Parabongo Challenge – the four girls who won were just amazing. You can see what it does for them and they just take in their stride. I am in awe of what they can produce.

I used to say land surveying is the best job in the world but it’s not actually! My new job of encouraging children to be the land surveyors (and architects and engineers!) of the future is a truly rewarding experience. I’m 100% fulfilled, high on happiness, all the time.

Has the well-publicised construction industry skill shortage led to an increase of schools looking to offer the DEC! Programme?

Not at all really. Ridiculous, isn’t it? There’s a bigger push in Scotland and Wales to a certain extent because Construction is generally seen as a good industry to aspire to, although I suspect it is still considered trade and craft opportunity. I think the main reason there is an issue in England is because schools are driven by core academic subjects. Children have to study Maths and English – that’s a given and that’s fine. They also have to study humanities, science and language subjects to meet English Baccalaureate targets.

Vocational, or as the government now refers to them, ‘technical and professional’ qualifications, are still seen as non academic in many schools, and as such, subjects such as DEC! can easily be ignored. Essentially, kids can be left with just one option choice from DEC!, Art, Drama, Music, PE, Sport, Design Technology, and a host of other creative and technical subjects.

Although’ Design, Engineer, Construct’! has academic parity, it’s not part of the EBacc. Most schools don’t see the construction industry as a destination for high attainers, and so you lose young people traditional Law, Medicine, Science and Research careers. The construction industry just doesn’t appear on their radar.

I can give you a good example: at my local school, top-achieving children didn’t have a clue that they could be engineers. Their careers advice was limited to a pile of Russell Group University prospectuses. It’s terrible, but unfortunately, the construction industry is at fault as much as the education system, because we never champion what we do.

It frustrates me; I still believe there’s so much more we could do.

The delays in government announcements surrounding the apprenticeship levy are only making things worse. We are saying “Join our industry; be an apprentice; apprenticeships are fantastic for everybody”, and I thoroughly believe they are, yet the fear of the unknown blocks organisations from stepping up to the challenge. Every time you thing you are making progress, you end up taking a step backwards.

Does this mean that the skills shortage will hit infrastructure and housing projects with a lack of people to build them?

Yes, I’m sure it will, especially when schools see bricklaying, plastering and joinery as a job for those who ‘If you can’t do anything else, do that’. We need to champion the fact that bricklayers, plasterers and joiners need maths. Schools admit to sending kids to construction college because they believe they can’t do anything else. I’m quite sure many of these kids are highly capable, they just learn in a different, more practical, way.

Colleges can turn out some wonderful bricklayers who bypassed the school system because they didn’t achieve the grades they wanted. They need ‘functional maths’ – applied maths – but sadly, the general consensus is that applied maths is for people who can’t do pure maths and statistics. It’s bonkers. Absolute bonkers.

Clacton Coastal Academy is in one of the most deprived areas of the country and depravation is also linked to low attainment. Yet CCA is turning out DEC! students who are being offered great jobs with major contractors and consultants. These kids are fantastic and have been given a chance to prove themselves. The school genuinely believes that the construction industry can offer these amazing life chances.

The same is true at St Ambrose Barlow RC High School in Salford. Those students, even the ones who attained lower grades in DEC!, chose to come into built environment; going to college to study bricklaying and so on, because they want to become bricklayers. They see the worth, they know they’ll need special skills, especially in numeracy and literacy.

We need to put the message out there that whatever you do in construction, you can have a brilliant career. You can carve out a niche for yourself no matter what your academic ability.

Our government is constantly sending out the message that our country needs to up its game when it comes to raising attainment in numeracy and literacy. Instead of spending so much money on deploying teachers from Singapore I’d love to get Maths teachers into construction for a week to spend time with architects, surveyors, engineers and trade and craft specialists – because the maths they use is just like that taught in British classrooms they teach. I have worked with maths teachers and showed them some of the applications we use on site – most memorably Pythagoras for setting out, and most would love to take the kids out into the fresh air and show them. However, there is not enough time – teachers have to crash through an ever expanding GCSE syllabus and hope they hit their target grades.

I’m not criticising maths teachers; I’m basically saying that when pupils question the use of maths in everyday life, saying ‘I don’t like Maths, it’s boring, I’ll never use it’ etc it would be great to show them applications that bring the subject to life. There’s no better industry than construction for doing that. Think of a school building, a classroom, as a fantastic tool – so many opportunities to use trigonometry and quadratic functions, area, volume….

Do think more could be done to encourage and engage children at primary school age?

Yes, but it’s a tough one. Going around and championing Bob the Builder probably isn’t ideal – we’re simply reinforcing the stereotypical builder. Children at primary school learn how to apply maths in the real world. They have the time to look around them and get to go outside doing practical things and as such, we could do lots to inspire them. It’s too early to say “be a surveyor or an architect” at that age, but we could certainly introduce the skills they need. Using a map and orienteering skills is great – I did a treasure hunt a few years ago with a group of 8 year old Brownies, and they loved the fact they had to orientate themselves with a compass and take a number of ‘giant strides’ (metres!) to find the treasure. Let’s not roll out Bob the Builder, instead let’s think outside the box. It’s just too easy to go into a primary school and say, ‘I’m a builder, this is what I do’ and have a bit of fun with Lego. These kids are playing with Minecraft from a young age! We’re all capable of bringing what we do to a younger age group – a little time and effort can make our jobs really engaging for the children.

Given the reports of underrepresentation of women within the industry, does ‘DEC!’ do anything in particular make the programme more attractive to girls?

I don’t worry about girls coming through because they just do! Girls and boys start off working up a design based on a small school building, but when they get to around 14 years old – a really impressionable age when young people do start to seriously think about their future careers – the brief progresses to designing a building that they believe the community needs.

We find that girls design buildings that mean something to them, such as shopping malls and health centres, equestrian centres and spas. We shouldn’t be concerned with stereotyping – most girls like shopping! And actually, there are just as many shopping malls designed by boys because boys like shopping too. We get a number of football stadiums from the boys, and I know of a boy that is designing a centre for the rehabilitation of returning soldiers.

It’s incredible. Some of the work that these kids do before they are even 16 years old can blow your mind. We simply say to them, “Use your imagination; design what matters to you and your community.”

If a girl wants to design a new Topshop, fine, do it. If you think the community needs a Ralph Lauren shop; justify it and then design it. Whatever building they choose, they are thinking about the end users, services, foundations, environmental efficiencies and a building’s lifecycle.

Would you say there is a ‘point of no return’ in terms of an age where young people will no longer take an interest in STEM?

I don’t think it’s so much to do with interest, but the point of no return comes with the restriction of choices. You can still be interested at 50. The point of no return is when a young person’s choices come more limited. The government goes on about increasing awareness of careers at 16 years of age – that’s too late. Kids don’t wake up on their 16^th birthday and suddenly say “I want to be a civil engineer.” It doesn’t happen like that; the seed should be planted well before they take their GCSE options.

Whilst it’s fun to visit primary schools, the serious business begins when kids go into secondary school. When they are choosing their options they are thinking, “Whatever I choose today will affect the rest of my life”. Children have so much angst at this time especially when they’ve had little exposure to really good, reliable careers advice.

Maths and numeracy is still a great problem in our country – we seem to slip down the OECD lists year on year. If they haven’t achieved their Maths GCSE by the time they are 16, some children drop off the radar and can’t see a future for themselves. I just wish that more children could see the value of maths through an applied subject. They would quickly learn not to fear maths when it’s part of a job or environment they want to work in.

Kids are empowered when they know they are using the maths of architects, surveyors, structural engineers. It’s a whole different ball game.

Does the digitalisation of the construction industry with things such as BIM, make DEC! a more attractive option for some students, given similarities with popular video games such as Minecraft?

Massively. It’s funny, I had kids using modelling tools two years before Paul Morrell launched his Level 2 BIM mandate. When it was announced, industry started talking about collaboration and digital engineering. I sat in Paul’s office and told him that I had kids doing the stuff he was talking about and that BIM really needs to be on the government’s agenda to make sure kids are working to the same agenda in schools, albeit at a lesser level, of course.

The reason it’s so easy to work with kids is because they expect to work in teams. They expect to use technology. They go on their smartphones and find some app that enables them to collaborate in real time, and assume that industry is far more advanced then them. There is that expectation from kids that we work in a digital environment and we have to deliver on that.

Is the government being proactive enough in dealing with the skill shortage?

No because, unfortunately, the government only knows what the government knows.

We are so far behind other countries in terms of acknowledging skills. Around the same time as the CBI launched their latest Skills Report last February, some eminent professor from Cambridge, who advises the government on education, said it was preposterous to think that any 16 year old can be work-ready when they leave school. I thought to myself, “These guys should get themselves into a DEC! school – the kids are so work ready.” And they’re being recruited as a direct result of studying DEC!

Take A star DEC! student, Bradley Lees from St Ambrose Barlow RC High School. He was destined for university, but at 16 years old decided to take a technical apprenticeship with Mott MacDonald. His 18 year old work colleagues asked him how come he knew so much ‘stuff’ about the built environment. Bradley had been using Autodesk Revit to work on his buildings and structures for three years, so he was already confident in the digital environment. The ones who came with A levels had no practical application whatsoever. Bradley is a real role model for other kids, but the government is so blinkered with the English Baccalaureate, that kids don’t need creative or technical subjects. I know maths teachers who say they are simply teaching kids to how to pass an exam. There’s no skill involved; a maths exam factory.

I’m genuinely hopeful that Skills Minister Nick Bowles will visit a DEC! school and I think it will be a massive eye opener for him. It’s not just about DEC!, it’s the fact that our teachers are empowered by their industry connections and are showing their students a great way to develop valuable new skills and apply all the STEM subjects.

 

What kind of support does DEC! receive from the construction industry?

I’m a firm believer that, despite all the STEM and construction ambassadors who go around the country giving careers talks to kids, we can do so much more collectively as an industry to impact their future careers.

There’s now significant support for DEC! in industry, and it all started back in 2013 when Keith Howells, Chairman of Mott MacDonald, agreed to support the first Adopt A School scheme. Some of the UK’s most respected organisations have made DEC! a key part of their social responsibility strategies, and more are coming on board all the time.

I wish it would happen quicker and more often, especially given the number of people who talk about it, but I’m patient. Rome wasn’t built in a day, and everyone knows I don’t agree with short-termism in our industry when it comes to investment in education and skills. I hope that the recent apprenticeship developments will see companies taking a longer view and looking to schools to develop young talent in the way that other sectors do.

 

What else does the future hold for Class of Your Own / DEC! ?

There are still loads of things that I want to do. If you imagine a wheel, DEC! is the core subject; the hub in the middle, and I’m developing other specialist programmes that will give DEC! students a chance to study a small project in a discipline that they really enjoy – the spokes so to speak. It will take their knowledge that little bit further because they are interested in it and can see their career path going down a favoured route.

An ambition is to develop a true DEC! teacher training programme and I’m finally talking to academic colleagues to do just that. We’ve had too many enquiries from new and existing teachers who want to teach DEC! to ignore it. I want DEC! teachers to be among the best teachers in the world, whose students remember them as the most inspiring teachers in their schools. For the past year, I’ve been working with some fantastic people, many of them very well known in industry and academic circles, to pull together an extraordinary programme of support. I’m hoping this major collaboration will give built environment education the respect is so desperately needs, bringing a relatively swift solution to the dreadful skills shortage we have.

And when I’m not busy with that, I’m quietly working behind the scenes with some very cool, like-minded people developing a new project to ensure that every child can experience what it’s like to work in our fantastic industry. I’ve been excited about projects before, but this one keeps me awake at night. Just as when I started writing DEC!, the people who matter most are the children who will learn from it, and as such, they are once more my critics. The thought of being accountable to a couple of thousand teenagers…

 

I cannot wait.

 

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What will President Trump mean for the UK construction industry?

Donald Trump is set to be sworn in as the 45th President of the United States is scheduled  on Friday, January 20, 2017, in Washington, D.C. Undoubtedly one of the most divise figures in recent history, UK ConstructionOnline examine what kind of impact President Trump will have on the UK’s construction industry.

After a long and bitter campaign in which much of Mr Trump’s rhetoric seems to have alienated as many groups of people as those that put him in power, many are now trying to anticipate what the reality of his administration would be.

Domestically, spending on infrastructure will play a significant role in boosting the US economy. Trump has made a big play on this policy, commenting: “We’re going to rebuild our infrastructure, which will become second to none. We will put millions of our people to work as we rebuild it.”

There is of course nothing revolutionary about this. China is financing over $720Bn on 303 transport infrastructure projects over the next three years.

As we know, Britain too is investing heavily in infrastructure with projects such as the Heathrow expansion, Hinkley Point and HS2 and this month published its National Infrastructure and Construction Pipeline stategy.

In his victory speech, the President-elect said: “We have a great economic plan; we will double our growth and have the strongest economy anywhere in the world.”

So what will this pledge mean for the UK construction industry?

Following the Brexit vote, the outgoing president, Barak Obama, suggested that Britain would be “at the back of the queue” on any trade deals. Mrs Clinton said she would have taken a similar stance to that of President Obama.

Mr Trump, however, has been far more receptive to the idea of striking a trade deal with the UK once it leaves the European Union.

Back in May, he said: “Britain’s been a great ally. They’ve been such a great ally they’ve gone into things they shouldn’t have gone into, for example going into Iraq. With me, they’ll always be treated fantastically.

“I’m not going to say front of the queue but it wouldn’t make any difference to me whether they were in the EU or not. You would certainly not be back of the queue, that I can tell you.”

The UK currently exports more than £30Bn worth of goods and services to the United States and represents one of Britain’s most significant markets.

There is growing talk of the possibility that Britain could join USA, Canada and Mexico in new free trade area as an associate member of the North American Free Trade Area (NAFTA).

The president-elect was vocal in his criticisms of NAFTA during his campaign making it inevitable that the deal will be significantly reformed.

The man tipped to be the Secretary of State in the new Trump administration, Newt Gingrich, first put forward the idea of the UK joining such an agreement in 1998.

The idea was backed by Conservative MP, Jacob Rees-Mogg, who said: “What could be bad about it? As long as it does not stop us doing free trade deals with other people too.

“This is one of the great virtues of Brexit – we can look at all these things and if we think they are good we can tag along.”

Whether, the picture would be this rosy for Britain remains unclear. Undoubtedly, Trump policy is to put America first and he has been very critical of free trade.

Any deal with the UK would certainly depend on whether there would be any adverse effect on American employment. However, trump will not see Britain in the same way he views Mexico – a low wage threat to American employment.

This is clearly something that troubles the President-elect, given his pledge to build a wall on the border with Mexico to curb immigration.

Another advantage the UK is likely to have is that the American public would appear to be far more receptive to striking a trade deal with Britain , making the job of getting such a deal through Congress that much easier.

Trump’s seemingly close relationship to Nigel Farage, who for now remains acting leader of the UK Independence Party, might indicate a willingness to strike a favourable trade deal with UK once it eventually leaves the European Union.

There have been calls for Mr Farage to act an informal ambassador to the President-elect given his access to Trump’s inner circle.

Graham Brady, the Chairman of the influential backbench Tory 1922 committee, felt that the idea had merit and Mr Farage’s closeness to Mr Trump shouldn’t viewed as a negative thing.

Speaking to the University College London Conservative Society, Mr Brady commented: “Do I think it’s a bad thing if Nigel Farage is spending time in Washington encouraging them to be pro-British? No I don’t. I am quite relaxed about it.”

Mr Brady did, however, rule out the interim UKIP leader being given an official role.

He also suggested that Trump’s win was perhaps more in Britain’s favour than if Hilary Clinton had succeeded in becoming the first female president as his victory made easier trade negotiations more likely.

For some the idea of dealing with Donald Trump is distasteful but one thing that is certain is Britain must engage fully with the Trump administration if it is to secure and hopefully enhance its relationship with its biggest market.

The construction industry will hoping that the handwringing can be put to one side and the government get on with the task of securing the best deal possible.

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How BIM is redefining best practice

Whether we realise it or not, Building Information Modelling (BIM) is redefining industry best practice. Decades of entrenched process are being streamlined to create a more collaborative and efficient way of working, though the transition itself has been anything but easy.

In a UK Construction Excellence exclusive, Mark Bew, MBE – Chairman of the BIM Task Group – offers a retrospective look at the Government’s BIM Level 2 mandate, his thoughts on Level 3 and beyond, and an appraisal of the industry’s current progression towards digitalisation.

How do you feel the industry is progressing in terms of its BIM adoption? Has the BIM Level 2 mandate helped to kick-start the process?

It’s very easy for those in the UK to look at what we’ve achieved, forgetting where we started from four years ago. I’ve spent a fair amount of time out of the country looking at other nations – in Europe and Australia, for example – and it’s only when you go elsewhere that you realise just how far we’ve come.

Bill Gates once said: “We always overestimate the change that will occur in the next two years and underestimate the change that will occur in the next ten”. That very much applies to BIM, I think. We’ve made a staggering improvement – a step change – but the more you look around, the more you realise that BIM and the digital transformation is happening and that we’re taking it for granted.

The Government’s intervention, the technology becoming ubiquitous, the younger generations coming out of universities with an iPad underneath each arm – each of these factors have come together to form a perfect moment.

If you look at our BIM journey and the mandate intervention, most surveys reckon that we’re 40% to 60% through the process. If those surveys are to be believed, we’ve moved across all of the public sector plus a lot of the private sector market.

We know that there’s a massive tail in construction, from Tier 1 contractors to smaller companies, but the reality is that it’s unlikely that jobbing builders are going join into BIM in our career lifetime because there are no barriers to entry. If, in the future, we start to see planning regulations change as they have done in Singapore – where you now have to submit a model to receive planning permission – things will move even further.

Where we are right now is pretty much where I’d like to be however; probably better than I had hoped in many ways.

With the mandate now behind us, what’s next for the industry in terms of BIM implementation? Do you think Level 3 will be mandated as Level 2 was, for instance?

We’re committed to setting a date at some point in the future, though we can’t mandate something without knowing what it is. Once I have that clarity in my own mind, along with the support of the public sector, we can make another intervention.

Right now, our focus is on driving benefit from Level 2, increasing market capacity and growing exports, while also ramping up the Level 3 Digital Built Britain team. We’ve started to put that team into place and I’m hopeful that the contract for the first piece of feasibility design will be out fairly soon.

Level 3 is a quantum of scale larger than Level 2. It’s going to be a lot more complex but we’ll also have five times more budget per year to ensure that it’s done professionally, as Level 2 was.

Contractors often risk falling into the trap of thinking “I’m here to build this” rather than “I’m building an environment for people to thrive in”. It’s an idea that the industry has yet to get its head around. It’s not good enough to just throw buildings up. You need to build something that adds lasting value to businesses and lives. The social impact is much more critical than the cost of the building itself.

I think the construction industry will have a Volkswagen moment in the next decade. The public will suddenly realise that the things we’re building don’t work very well, and there will be enough data available publically for someone to create an app and hold the industry accountable. That data will drive out bad practice.

Broadly speaking, are the ‘BIM4’ organisations – BIM4SMEs for instance – succeeding in engaging their respective sectors?

The supply chain coming together to create the BIM4s is, in my view, essential – though it’s a shame that the big Tier 1 contractors haven’t been able to find a bit of money to engage the public and the supply chain in the process. A little investment would drive massive amounts of goodwill, I think. The BIM Task Group has spent a lot of time kick-starting and supporting the BIM4s, but it would be wrong for a public client or government to actually fund them.

I’m currently working with two or three groups including the UK BIM Alliance to find out what things might look like post-September, when the market takes ownership of Level 2. At that point, there needs to be some sort of coalition inside the supply chain that can help bring together responses and messaging. Using what we’ve learnt over the last four years, this should be possible.

Are SMEs in danger of being left behind? What has the BIM Task Group done to bolster their uptake?

We’ve spoken to people in businesses with 1 to 100 employees and their feedback is that the Government doesn’t listen, provide access or pay on time. In truth, the same is true of most clients or organisations, whether you’re a Tier 1 or a one-man band. The problem we’ve got is the impact of those behaviours on smaller businesses.

Ultimately, BIM isn’t going to help with that but if we can use BIM as a Trojan Horse to articulate the problem further up the tree, we may start to see some traction. Project bank accounts have made sure that SMEs are paid on time, for example, while free access to the BIM4s has improved SME inclusion and diversity. It’s never perfect for everyone but we’ve tried to break down any barriers where possible.

How important is education in making BIM standard practice?

There are two parts to this, the first being ‘is Level 2 possible?’ In 2011, we set the standard and established our perspective on how the industry might get there. The challenge is now ‘how can we get everyone doing it?’ The major role of education is to grow capacity so that we can follow through with what we’ve set out and consistently deliver on those 15% to 20% savings. The fact that we have a clear methodology around strategy, process, training, delivery and support has given us an edge over other nations.

There is another role around education, which is research. Universities are already investigating Level 3 which is absolutely crucial. We need those brains because they will be the ones improving capacity at the bottom of the pile.

We’re also on what is now our third iteration of the Learning Outcomes Framework. We’ve given complete clarity to the market as to what our expectations are for learning, and we have engaged the education sector to chair and run that piece of work with our help and support.

Finally, we are looking at an accreditation programme for all training and delivery services to maintain quality and consistency.

To date, BIM uptake has been driven by the Government. Engaging Private Sector clients is crucial however. Is the Private Sector amenable to change? Are Private Sector client beginning to specify BIM Level 2 in their projects?

For sure. We’ve worked with a lot of developers – in London especially – and, as we all know, they’re a hardnosed and financially focused bunch. They wouldn’t specify BIM without reason. According to Great Portland Estates, for every pound spent they have received two in return. That kind of commitment to BIM shows what’s possible.

It’s the same with the Tier 1’s – some of them are doing spectacular things with BIM. I was with a Tier 1 the other day and over half of their projects are now Level 2 compliant from a portfolio some three or four hundred strong.

No-one – including the Government or client – is perfect at this at the moment, but we’re much better than we were four years ago and we’re going to be even better in four years’ time. That is the nature of the journey we’re on.

I recently chaired a session at an ICE (Institution of Civil Engineers) event. The room was full of government clients, designers, consultants and contractors. It was amazing. That cohort of individuals would never have entertained a conversation about data two or three years ago and yet, all of a sudden, it’s at the top of their agenda. That shift has come about so quickly. It’s hugely exciting, and the fact that the UK is leading the way is a really exciting opportunity for us all.

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David Philp on the Scottish BIM Programme

UK Construction Online’s Matt Brown spoke with David Philp, Chair of the Scottish Government’s BIM Working Group, about the Scottish BIM programme ahead of Scotland’s BIM Level 2 mandate in April 2017.

Can you tell us about the Scottish BIM Programme?

A key recommendation within Scottish Government’s Construction Procurement review was the implementation of Building Information Modelling (BIM) to Level 2 by April 2017. The review set out the following recommendation which was endorsed by Scottish Ministers:

‘The use of Building Information Modelling (BIM) should be introduced in central government with a view to encouraging its adoption across the entire public sector. The objective should be that, where appropriate, construction projects across the public sector in Scotland adopt a BIM level 2 approach by April 2017.’

The Scottish Future Trust (SFT) are supporting the delivery of these requirements and have created a BIM Implementation Plan, Scottish BIM Delivery Group to support procuring authorities within Scotland to implement BIM Level 2 from April 2017.  This roadmap sets out a combination of focused actions including:

• Pathfinder projects,
• Guidance,
• Training,
• Research 

Does the UK’s BIM mandate make easier in a sense to get Scottish firms to get on the BIM journey?

Undoubtedly the HM Government mandate and the creation of the BSI suite of BIM standards has helped create a firm foundation for industry. The BIM requirements of the Scottish Government will further advance this journey in Scotland and create appropriate digital journeys for the Scottish Public Sector procurer. 

Can you tell us a little about how the Scottish BIM implementation will practically be applied?

We have developed a three stage approach to implementation in Scotland.  Firstly the public sector client will, early in the procurement process, utilise the SFT BIM Grading tool to determine the appropriate Level of BIM maturity for their project, either Level 1 or 2.  Secondly they use the Return on Investment (ROI) calculator to help inform the business before finally the “How?” which is informed by our departmental specific BIM navigator portal.

What advice would you give to Scottish firms looking to take their first step on the BIM journey but aren’t sure where to begin?

Get to know the British Standards in relation to BIM, they are free to download and are available via  http://ift.tt/2gP6QJv  Make sure that you target Level 1 BIM maturity as your first milestone, it is imperative that this foundation is in place before proceeding towards Level 2.  Benchmark where you already are in your journey, the SFT and promoting the BIM Compass http://ift.tt/2gCeHqS as a useful and agnostic way of doing this.  Have a strategy based upon where BIM will give you and your customer’s added value. 

 Is it the case that BIM is as much about changing people’s mind-sets as it is about the technology?

Yes it is important that BIM implementation is seen as much about improving behaviours and ensuring better ways of delivery than it is about the technology.  Creating more collaborative ways of managing and delivering information is at the heart of BIM.  BIM in its various guises is becoming a metaphor for industry change, the client “pull” is helping drive innovation and set a compelling vision of what a digitised sector would look like using computer readable data.

That said the technology is the vital enabler and should be given equal consideration, it should however always be appropriate to the outcomes that an organisation wishes to achieve – don’t by authoring tools when all you need is a free viewer.  Understand what plays you need, create a functional requirement and work from there.

Are there any new technologies that you have seen recently that have got you excited?

I have seen a lot of improvement in AR/VR offerings which is great however I have witnessed some incredible examples of machine learning and cognitive workflows especially around generative design that got me real excited.

What’s was you thoughts Digital Construction Week this year and what involvement did you have?

I was doing a talk on the improved functionality that Level 3 might offer and the benefits that it could enable especially in the operational delivery and how real time data and analytics can support.  It was noticeable at this year’s DCW that as well as the BIM discussions there was more of a wider zoom out and embracing of a more general digitisation of construction which was refreshing.

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Timelapse video of Barcelona’s Nou Camp upgrade plans released

Spanish footballing giants, FC Barcelona, have released a computer generated timelapse video, revealing their plans to upgrade their iconic Nou Camp stadium, whilst increasing capacity to 105,000.

The stadium is home to Barça’s superstars such as arguably the world’s finest Lionel Messi, Brazil’s leading light, Neymar Jnr and former Liverpool striker Luis Suarez – who if he continues the season in his current form will be challenging Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo for the Ballon D’or.

The current capacity stands at just under 100,000, making it the largest stadium in Europe.

Japanese firm Nikken Sekkei and Catalan studio Pascual i Ausio Arquitecte have been chosen as the designers to transform the stadium. The project is expected to cost around £277.5M and will see the current capacity of 99,354 increased to 105,000, with all seats being under cover.

Work on the Nou Camp is due to commence during the 2017/18 season and should be completed at some point in 2020/21 campaign.

When the Nou Camp opened, it had a capacity of 93,053. It was originally envisaged that the stadium would hold a staggering 150,000 before those plans were abandoned. It is said that the signing of Hungarian legend, László Kubala, was the catalyst to the club’s board decision to move to a new stadium to cope with the increased interest in the team. However, the club’s success in winning back-to-back league titles in 1947-48 and 1948-49 was also instrumental in the club’s decision to build a new home.

It is nearly 70 years ago since the inaugural match was played at the stadium – Barcelona taking on Polish team Warsaw. Barcelona ran out 4-2 winners as the club began a new era in its history.

The cost of the stadium was initially expected to come in at 66,620,000 pesetas, with construction taking around 18 months to complete. However, the cost spiralled to a staggering 288 million pesetas – forcing the Catalan club to look to numerous mortgage obligations to cover the cost of construction and resulting in Barça coping with huge levels debts for a number of years.

The stadium’s capacity was increased in 1982 by 22,150 with the creation of a third tier of seating. This increased capacity to 115,000.

1994 sae more work undertaken to allow the pitch to be lowered by 2.5 metres to expand the lower seating areas. The standing sections of the ground located behind the goals were converted to seating leaving the Nou Camp’s capacity at its present figure of 99,000.

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Interview with Graham Hasting-Evans: Tackling the skills shortage

UK Construction Online talk exclusively with Graham Hasting-Evans, Managing Director of the National Open College Network (NOCN), about the skills shortage, construction workers from the EU, and the importance of giving people a chance.

Can you tell me a bit of your background?

I am a chartered civil engineer and have been in the construction industry for over 40 years. I’ve worked in Europe, the Far East, the Middle East and, of course, mostly in Britain.

I was responsible for the employment skills on the London Olympics as Head of Apprenticeship. I now work for NOCN which is engaged in quite a few construction apprenticeships but we are also working on projects such as the Hinkley Point power station.

What is your take on the current skills shortage in the Construction Industry?

There are three issues that I think contribute towards skill shortages. One is the industry itself – it is a tough job; you’re out in all weathers so it isn’t as nice and attractive a job as sitting in a nice warm office. So the industry by its very nature will always have difficulty getting recruits. It’s a bit like coal mining and steel making in those long ago times; it’s not an attractive industry necessarily.

You then add onto that the boom and bust cycle. All governments do it, whatever political colour, if they want to inflate the economy they spend a lot on construction, particularly public sector infrastructure construction or housing, and then you get a skills boom. Then when the economy is in trouble, which happens roughly every eight years, they slam on the brakes and construction gets halted.

This creates a situation where even when you have skilled somebody up, they hit a recession and are out of work. They find other employment in other sectors and don’t come back. So you have quite a high churn rate in the industry and people are probably getting older by then too. People do drop out although we have a lot of skilled people that are older and we do have a demographic problem in the industry. I think it is those two factors that contribute towards the skills problems within the industry but underlying.

I don’t believe the construction levy causes the skills problem; in fact I think that if we hadn’t had the levy for the last 50 years, the skills problem in the construction industry would be even worse than they are. I think that is quite an important point because the levy is under pressure at the moment with the introduction of the government’s apprenticeship levy, which they are bringing in without sufficient thought as to what would happen with the construction levy.

Therefore the construction levy is currently under threat, which I think is a bad thing. I do genuinely think things would have been worse without it.

The third factor is training capacity. There is a fair amount of training capacity in the old ‘biblical’ skills – bricklayers, plumbers, carpenters, and electricians – the older trades if you think of it that way. There’s not a phenomenal amount of training capacity in the infrastructure type skills such as civil engineering, concreting or formworking.

Plant operating is better and that is primarily due to JCB because they run a plant training skills programme and have done so since the Olympics. There are major parts of the industry where there really isn’t the training capacity but an over supply in capacity exists in other areas so it then becomes difficult to uniformly train to match the skills demand from in the industry. This creates a mismatch in skills in training capacity.

How is NOCN playing its part in trying to tackle training people and things like that?

We obviously work with training providers, employers and major projects like Hinkley Point. What we’ve been doing specifically is to start to add qualifications and apprenticeships into areas that previously didn’t have them.

We do the biblical training but we have put a particular focus on our contribution being to try and help to fill in the gaps where there has been a lack of training resource or qualifications and a lack of apprenticeships.

For example, on Hinkley Point we have bought in a number of infrastructure civil engineering apprenticeships working with industry and EDF. We have also worked in London with Lambeth College and with Canary Wharf to bring in reinforced concrete formwork training and apprenticeships. We are doing the same up in the north around Gateshead and the Sheffield area.

We perceive there to be a particular area where we can add some experience and try to help fill that gap and it is predominately in the civil engineering infrastructure area; that’s where some of the worst skills deficiencies are. I’m not saying there’s not in the other areas as well but the new forms of construction is where we have been trying to plug the gap.

Could you tell us about the trailblazer apprentice scheme?

We are involved in quite a number of the construction trailblazers. A member of our Board of Trustees chairs all the construction trailblazers for the government. So we as an organisation are working ‘across the piste’; none of them are finished yet but there quite a few of them that are close to being ready for approval. Again, we have been focusing on areas where there has been traditionally no proper training, no proper apprenticeships or a poor quality of apprenticeships. This means civil engineering, infrastructure, piling, steel erections – those areas where there just hasn’t been the training or structured training and process in place so we carried through that thrust into the trailblazers.

The thing that worries me and I know it worries lots of people, is it takes a long time to develop the trailblazer. They have been at it a few years, which to me is too long. Although I support the policy thrust of improving the quality of apprenticeships and broadening out the range of apprenticeships.

Do you think enough is being done to encourage more mature people to retrain in the construction industry because a lot of the apprenticeships schemes seem to be targeting young people?

I think they do need to encourage people and it is interesting that on quite a few of our apprenticeships we do get older people. They’re not talking about the school leavers, in fact, I would say that half the people are adults that are unemployed. We as a charity started off helping the unemployed to get into work – that is why we were set up 30 years ago.

I think more needs to be done to encourage adults into these apprenticeships and that can be done for people that are not just unemployed but those in the workforce that are perhaps a labourer with limited skills. They could go into an apprenticeship and become an excavator driver, a steel fixer or roofer for example. Most of the employers see upskilling the existing workforce as an important aspect. In that sense, the employers have got a different view than the government. The government focus is all about young apprentices. I think there should be a focus on young apprentices but not at the expense of adult apprentices. They should be encouraging upskilling in the workforce.

 

Do you think older people get the opportunity or there is a biased towards younger people in the construction industry?

The industry in my experience is quite open. We even take people out of prison where other industries won’t. It is quite an open and welcoming industry, though probably not for women but that is changing.

There isn’t any problem with them taking older people; there is no issue. There is nothing in the industry that stops it, it’s government policy I think influencing things where they put the money. So if they put the money into younger people, it draws people in that direction. The government I think has not focused enough on adult skills and they have spent too much time and money focusing on younger people.

Do you think training and employing ex-offenders might offer a solution to some of the problems?

Quite a lot of prisoners do go into construction. I don’t know the full percentage but I think about 60-70% of prisoners find their way into construction because it is an open industry because if you can get the skills and it is a real opportunity to upskill people.

The construction industry doesn’t have that bias as long as you are honest on the site. Obviously they wont make you the financial director if you’ve been in for fraud!

In my time, I have worked with people that were ex-prisoners; as long as they do the work, we don’t care. There is no prejudice in the industry around that but the concern that people have got is drug taking. Most roles involve handling some type of tools or machinery, therefore they have to be clean.

Otherwise, it’s a massive health and safety risk both to themselves and others. That’s the issue – they would be more worried about drug taking rather than whether you have been in prison or not.

Do you think enough is being done to promote the benefits to employers of apprenticeships from the government and the media?

I think you literally have two parts of the construction industry. You’ve got the civil engineering infrastructure part and you’ve got the building part. In the building part there has been a long history of apprenticeships so the government almost doesn’t need to promote them; it is in the psyche.

In the civil engineering infrastructure side, that’s not so true and therefore I think there is a need. The government produced the infrastructure report about a year ago now and talked about the skills gap in infrastructure but beyond that you don’t hear very much about it from the government.

 

Do you think it just lip service or do you think maybe they are just prioritising other areas?

I don’t think they have followed it through. At the moment, while they can draw in skilled labour from Europe they are less worried. Following the EU referendum that may be different!

At the moment the industry has been able to fill most of the skills gap from Europe and therefore there has been less spent on it. The big worry in the industry is that the apprenticeship levy is going to damage training because it is going to replace or it is thought it is going to replace the CITB levy or that they are not going to work well together.

Therefore the impact of the apprenticeship levy is seen as fairly negative in the industry. I know that is strange as there is a lot of the industry working on the improved apprenticeships. I think there are two parts of government policy here which are related but aren’t necessarily linked. Improving the quality of the apprenticeships, you could do without bringing in the levy because the construction industry could do that and just keep the existing levy but the government isn’t allowing that.

The government is saying everybody, including the construction industry, has to pay the apprenticeship levy and the way that is panning out at the moment is not being made clear and we still don’t have a clear set of information on how the levy is going to work even though it is supposed to be coming in April next year. What the construction industry has been told so far is causing considerable alarm and there are real thoughts that the number of apprentices will be cut from the construction industry, which is really worrying.

It is a real worry and that is because the government has failed, in my view, to work out how it brings in the general apprenticeship levy into sectors that never had a levy before, which is a positive thing, with sectors like construction and engineering that is the ECITB levy where there has been a levy in place for over 50 years. In my view, the government should not implement the apprenticeship levy in those areas. They should keep the existing levy but bring in the new style of apprenticeships, but they are not doing that. They are bringing in the levy without any understanding and without any agreement as to how they might work with the old levy and what is the future of the old levies and that uncertainty is causing considerable concern in the industry.

 

There are a lot of workers coming from Europe coming into Britain; do we lose a lot of our workers going to work in the EU?

Not as many as come back. No I would say inevitably some go abroad, some go to the Middle East, Gulf States. In fact we train people and employers send them off to the Gulf States, so that happens and that has always happened in the industry.

I did my time in the Middle East and the Far East; it is a global industry, the British construction industry. There are the opportunities to work all over the world and that has been the case for a long time. We will get some of our workers who will go and work abroad but that is small compared to the workers coming in from Europe. They are coming in because they are better trained and they have got the appropriate skills which we don’t seem to be able to train and develop in the UK.

We are back then to my point about a mismatch in training capacity and resource in the UK. We just haven’t got the training resource and capacity aligned with the demand of the industry and therefore the gap is then filled from people coming from Europe who are trained in that way and have got better apprenticeship systems.

The Northern European countries – so that’s Scandinavia, Germany, the old Eastern Bloc countries – they have got a good quality of apprenticeship systems as we did about 30 years ago. Unfortunately, we let ours go and we are now trying to rebuild it so our workers are able to come in and get job ready.

If you’re an employer and you need somebody, you’re going to take them. You don’t have any alternative. They are European citizens so they can currently come here ready to work and they have a great work ethic.

The operative level – the crafts people – are the ones coming in from Europe and we are not growing enough of our own of those. Progressively we’re not growing enough technicians, project managers and engineers. So perhaps in previous times we had a reasonable number of the level 4’s and above, even that now is starting to become a problem and a skills gap.

So when you get in to the level 4’s and above, you are now starting to see skills gaps and people having to be brought in from Europe and interestingly probably more from outside Europe and even from the Commonwealth.

The numbers coming in are much greater than the numbers going out and we have to bring them in because we just cannot grow or seem incapable of growing enough of own resources to fill the gaps. That leads us back to the gaps in training resource capacity, the government is probably not making the industry attractive enough and all of these factors start hitting together and we end up with skills gaps.

 

What’s obvious from your background is that you don’t write people off and are willing to provide people with the skills to change their lives. Can you tell us a little about your ethic behind this?

We are the only awarding organisation and apprenticeship assessment organisation that is a leader in diversity. Our charity started from not writing people off and giving everybody a chance. I have always believed before I joined NOCN that we should give people a chance and most people respond well. It is very rare that somebody doesn’t respond.

I remember many years ago I had a gang served up to me because they were useless. I suppose they changed my mind on the training, I was a young manager at the time and I asked them why they were the lowest performers. They said they have never been properly trained. I sent them on a three-week training course and within six months they were my best gang.

It was a personal experience; it taught me not to write anybody off and deal with the problem. If you train people properly, most people in my experience want to do a good job. It’s training, explaining and managing and all the rest of it.

So it’s in my personal ethos but it’s been ground into NOCN; it is its reason for being. Hence, it’s a leader in diversity: we don’t write anybody off.

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