Report launch - Methodology for quantifying the benefits of offsite construction - postponed

-POSTPONED- 

We are sorry to announce that, due to the emerging and escalating Covid-19 Coronavirus situation, the organisers have unfortunately decided to postpone this launch event - it will no longer be taking place on Monday the 16th of March. We will be in touch with all delegates at a future date when we have a clearer idea of the situation in the UK and how we might re-arrange this event in a safe manner.

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Join us at King’s College, Cambridge on the 16th of March 2020 (see update above) for the launch of the report titled Methodology for quantifying the benefits of off-site construction.

Join academics, industry professionals, and government representatives with a common interest in gathering evidence to support decision-making regarding off-site construction.

Working with over 20 industry and government partner organisations, the Laing O’Rourke Centre for Construction Engineering and Technology at University of Cambridge and CIRIA have proposed a methodology for quantifying the benefits of off-site construction, by thoroughly researching and describing construction performance metrics for the first time. While this report uses education building projects in a proof-of-concept case-study, the methodology described will impact a broader spectrum of projects and industries, from transport infrastructure to housing.

This report serves as a call to action to transform the way the construction industry assesses project performance - opening the door to evidence-based comparisons and data driven decisions to establish best-practice in the industry.

This half-day event gives you the opportunity to:

• Discover the key outcomes of this report, presented by the research team involved
• Hear perspectives from experts including Professor Lord Robert Mair, University of Cambridge, and CIH Programme Director Keith Waller
• Learn how the described methodology is being applied in different sectors
• Participate in a Q&A session with academics and key industry players
• Network with stakeholders across the industry
• Record your morning as a Continuing Professional Development (CPD) session

 

Register for this free event >> here.

 

Programme 09:30 Registration opens. Tea and coffee available. 10:00 Welcome, the objective of the day, brief overview of the Laing O’Rourke Centre, University of Cambridge. Professor Campbell Middleton - Laing O'Rourke Centre, University of Cambridge. 10:05 Welcome from CIRIA. Brief overview of CIRIA. Kieran Tully - CIRIA 10:10 Welcome from the Chairman of the project steering group. Matt Cooper - ARUP 10:15 Presentation of the report - Methodology for quantifying the benefits of offsite construction - Tercia Jansen van Vuuren and Professor Campbell Middleton –  Laing O'Rourke Centre, University of Cambridge. 10:45 Perspective and case study from the transport sector. Joanne Geddes - Network Rail, Secondee to the Department for Transport -Transport Research Innovation Board (TRIB) Working Group 11:05 Coffee break, croissants, pastries and networking. 11:45 Perspective on offsite construction. Professor Lord Robert Mair – University of Cambridge. 12:00 Perspective from the Construction Innovation Hub. Keith Waller – Construction Innovation Hub. 12:15 Q&A – Panel of speakers 12:45 Closing remarks, thanks and report availability 12:50 Event close Speakers

Professor Campbell Middleton

Campbell Middleton is the Laing O’Rourke Professor of Construction Engineering at the University of Cambridge. Prior to Cambridge, he worked for 8 years in professional practice in infrastructure design and construction in Australia and with Arup in London. He is Chairman of the UK Bridge Owners Forum, a member of the Design Panel for High Speed 2, and has acted as an advisor or consultant to a number of organisations including the Department for Transport (UK), Infrastructure UK (now IPA), the Highways Agency (now Highways England), Ministry of Transportation Ontario and the National Transport Commission in Australia. Awards include the IStructE’s Henry Adams Award (1999 & 2014), the ICE’s Telford Premium Award (1999) and Telford Gold Medal (2010) and the ASCE’s J. James Croes Medal (2019). His research interests focus on a range of topics related to bridge engineering including modern methods of construction, digital engineering applications, satellite and smart sensor applications for structural performance monitoring, risk & asset management and non-destructive testing. He is a member of the executive team responsible for overseeing the EPSRC/Innovate UK funded Centre for Smart Infrastructure and Construction and co-author of a recent book titled Bridge Monitoring – A Practical Guide. Kieran Tully

Kieran is the CIRIA project director for ‘C792 Methodology for quantifying the benefits of offsite construction’. He is a chartered engineer, member of the Institution of Civil Engineers, member of the Institution of Engineering and Technology and alumnus of the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership.

Kieran joined CIRIA in January 2015 as Associate Director and works with the CIRIA membership, client groups and knowledge transfer networks to help improve the performance of the construction industry. He leads programmes of research focused on civil engineering infrastructure, geotechnical engineering and process and technology.

Prior to joining CIRIA Kieran worked for Heathrow Express delivering projects at Heathrow airport and Paddington station. He managed the installation of the first digital advertising system in a UK railway tunnel and his project teams achieved a zero accident rate over a period of 9 years. He also led airport teams through railway assurance requirements during airport modernisation.

Earlier in his career he worked for specialist geotechnical contractors and managed projects with varying levels of risk and complexity.

Tercia Jansen van Vuuren

Tercia is a Research Associate at the Laing O’Rourke Centre for Construction Engineering and Technology. She is a professionally registered engineer with over five years’ experience in structural design and construction supervision within a South African context, followed by two years as a sustainability advisor working in London in the construction industry. Her undergraduate BEng is complemented by a Masters in Engineering for Sustainable Development from the University of Cambridge.

Her current role at the Laing O’Rourke centre is to lead the research project, undertaken in collaboration with CIRIA, to quantify the benefits of off-site construction. The aim of this project is to develop a methodology for quantifying the benefits and to create an evidence base demonstrating the impacts of off-site construction through systematic evaluation of projects across a consistent set of metrics. This project is backed by a project steering group comprised of interested parties from industry. Joanne Geddes

Jo Geddes has worked for Network Rail for 9 years, currently in the role of Lead Engineering Capability Manager, where she is developing a change portfolio to deliver business change improvements.

 Jo has recently undertaken a part-time secondment with the Department for Transport as a research resource for the TRIB committee, researching how the DfT could approach the measurement of innovation across its portfolio. Her experience in project and programme management has been invaluable in the research, as had the fabulous support from Professor Middleton and his team at the Laing O’Rourke Centre for Construction Engineering and Technology at the University of Cambridge.

 Jo is currently in the final stage of a Master’s degree in Project and Programme Management at Warwick university.

Professor Lord Robert Mair Professor Lord Robert Mair is Emeritus Sir Kirby Laing Professor of Civil Engineering and Director of Research at the University of Cambridge, where he is also the head of the Cambridge Centre for Smart Infrastructure (CSIC). He is a Fellow of the Royal Academy of Engineering, Fellow of the Royal Society and, in 2018, President of the Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE). Prior to his appointment to a Professorship at Cambridge, he worked in industry for 27 years and has advised on numerous tunnelling and major civil engineering projects in the UK and worldwide, including the Jubilee Line Extension, Crossrail, HS1 and HS2. He is Chairman of the Department of Transport's Science Advisory Council and was appointed an independent crossbencher in the House of Lords in 2015. Lord Mair is a member of the House of Lords Select Committee on Science and Technology. Keith Waller

Keith Waller is the Construction Innovation Hub’s Programme Director. A Fellow of the Institution of Civil Engineers, Keith has been involved in construction and infrastructure projects for over 30 years, leading many major projects in both the UK and overseas.

In 2010, Keith was seconded into government with Infrastructure UK (the predecessor to the Infrastructure and Projects Authority). He has served on several boards and cross-Whitehall groups, including the Infrastructure Client Group, the Offshore Wind Programme Board, Infrastructure Working Group of the Green Construction Board and the Government Construction Board. He has also advised a number of foreign governments on strategic infrastructure planning and delivery.

A keen advocate of driving innovative and productive solutions, his work in government led to the publication of the UK’s first National Infrastructure Plan, the development of the Infrastructure Cost Review and the IPA’s Transforming Infrastructure Performance programme, published in 2017.