Is 20th Century Productivity Good Enough to meet 21st Century Construction Challenges?

The construction industry faces challenges like never before. The demand for new housing, healthcare facilities and schools is increasing faster than we are currently able to meet. Budgets are also becoming tighter.

To achieve greater outputs without a proportionally greater cost you have to improve productivity. Traditional construction is a mature industry. It’s unlikely that there are significant productivity gains to be had – otherwise why aren’t they already a reality?

The Infrastructure and Projects Authority (IPA) recently analysed productivity in the construction sector. Overall productivity (measured as output per worker) has increased in construction by just 10% since 1994, compared to over 40% in the economy as a whole.

The IPA found that increasing the percentage value of pre-manufactured components in a construction project increased productivity significantly. The proportion of Modern Methods of Construction applied to the project also boosted productivity.

Projects with the highest proportion of pre-manufacturing and MMC delivered the highest gains. Using a high proportion of pre-manufactured components in a conventional build produced a 10% improvement.

Manufactured Offsite – the Clear Winner

The biggest gains (up to 40%) were delivered by manufactured offsite solutions such as the System produced by Innovaré. These have a high pre-manufactured value and use MMC significantly to deliver bespoke solutions with a standardised process. Unsurprisingly, traditional construction was identified as the least productive option.

So will simply specifying greater use of manufactured offsite solutions solve the productivity problem? It will certainly help. But method is only one part of the story.

The way that manufactured offsite is managed and executed is critical in achieving not just the productivity gains identified by the IPA, but in potentially going further.

In developing the Innovaré business model we recognised that the biggest productivity wins would come from a fully integrated process – from design, to manufacture and installation. Innovaré are the only specialist SIP solutions provider in the UK to have this complete end to end capability and offering.

We are already delivering efficiencies and meeting tough productivity and building performance challenges across housing, education and healthcare. Projects delivered include Kingfisher Court, an 86 bed mental health facility that is the largest SIP-build structure in Europe, and the 900 place Kings CE Secondary School.

We have no need to fear the productivity challenges in construction. But only if we rethink the way that the majority of projects are executed.

To find out more about how Innovaré could help you with your construction project get in touch on 0845 674 0020.