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HOW CAN WE CREATE A CONSTRUCTION REVOLUTION?
https://archives.battleofideas.org.uk/2019/session/how-can-we-create-a-construction-revolution/
On his first day in office as prime minister, Boris Johnson announced plans to put ‘rocket boosters’ under investment in order to tackle the chronic housing shortage and secure vital new infrastructure, such as high–speed rail lines and superfast broadband.
The aim of starting a ‘new golden age’ is certainly laudable. But critics have accused Johnson of ‘boosterism’ – a hyperbolic attempt to alter perceptions while leaving the fundamentals untouched. They point out that previous administrations also aimed to transform construction, but to little avail. Three years ago, the UK government-commissioned Farmer Review investigated the current and future state of the industry. The report, Modernise or Die, was a damning exposé of UK construction’s ‘lack of innovation and collaboration as well as its non-existent research and development (R&D) culture’. Over twenty years ago, another government review, the Egan Report, complained of a lack of ‘innovation and… skilled and experienced teams’ and the need for ‘more efficient research and development’. Plus ça change?
Everyone seems to agree that innovation is crucial to the resurgence of the construction sector. And yet, for all the fine words and government initiatives, the construction industry continues to languish in the doldrums. One researcher states that ‘by the third quarter of the century, construction had achieved some productive advance, but nothing comparable with the industries which had led the country through the Industrial Revolution’.
Yet there was a brief period after the Second World War when new prefabricated techniques were almost commonplace. According to Peter Barry, a firm of chartered surveyors, between 1945 and 1955 ‘around 20 per cent of new housing was system-built, amounting to some 500,000 units, with a further 750,000 units being constructed between 1955 and 1970’.
Today, however, we still sanctify age-old construction methods. According to one report, a constant 85 to 92 per cent of new housing has been constructed using traditional brick/block masonry construction, a labour-intensive mode of building that has ostensibly remained the same for centuries. Essentially, clay raw material is dug from the ground, formed in moulds, placed in kilns and fired into bricks. These are then transported across the country where armies of labourers work for weeks and months, in sun and rain, to place one on top of another. The Roman architect Vitruvius wrote about this process some 2,000 years ago.
If innovation is required, is this a good place to start? After all, while the UK has been slow to innovate technologically, other countries have made strides in adopting new methods such as modular construction. Yet, it seems important to recognise that if such an innovation revolution is to happen, then it is not going to be painless.
Speakers
Dr Theo Dounas
senior lecturer, Scott Sutherland School of Architecture and the Built Environment, Robert Gordon University, Aberdeen
Lisa Finlay
group leader and partner, Heatherwick Studio
Simon Rawlinson
head of strategic research and insight, Arcadis; member, Construction Leadership Council; member, UK Government BIM Task Group
Neil Thompson
director, digital construction, SNC Lavalin Atkins; associate professor, University College London; member, CIOB, Digital Construction & Asset Management SIG
Chair
Austin Williams
senior lecturer, Dept of Architecture, Kingston University, London; honorary research fellow, XJTLU, Suzhou, China; author, China’s Urban Revolution: understanding Chinese eco-cities
