The Transformation Jigsaw

Author: Keith Waller ,  Programme Director - Construction Innovation Hub

The construction sector stands at a crossroads. Here's why the "how" of transformation matters more than ever

As I write this, the 10th UK Construction Week is already underway at London’s ExCel.

In the lead-up to my talk on Industrialised Construction this Friday, I’ve been reflecting on advice I received from Dr Tim Stone over 15 years ago when I first started working in Whitehall.

He once told me: “Working out what to do is the easy part. Working out how to get it done is where the real skill lies.”

We all know construction needs to transform to be more productive, more sustainable and less wasteful. We all know there are long-standing skills constraints and relatively low diversity in the sector. We have all read reports from both government and industry citing the need to change. I know - I’ve written a few of them myself.

There is plenty of compelling evidence for the need to change—the “what”—but far less agreement on the “how”.  In my role at the High Value Manufacturing Catapult, I meet inspiring innovators and companies—large and small—who are using advanced technologies and creating novel products with real potential to transform construction sector productivity through industrialisation.  It is widely agreed that a more productive approach is essential. 

Industrialised Construction - using manufactured “kits of parts” that can be customised, configured and combined to make our future homes, schools and hospitals - is a key part of a transformed future. More than just offsite construction, modular or “modern methods”, industrialised construction has the potential to deliver a step change in productivity, quality and sustainability by embedding advanced manufacturing processes and solutions that have already helped other sectors boost their own productivity and performance.

But despite great examples and pockets of excellence with the construction sector, change is not endemic, nor is it happening at a pace we need to meet our ambitions for more and better housing and infrastructure. Progress often happens in silos - and in many cases, it stays there.

The main barriers are not technical, but often lie in the culture, customs and the historic business models prevalent in the sector. It is too simplistic to blame all the problems on industry failings, nor can the blame be pinned solely on client behaviours.

We need to create the conditions for success – the right enabling framework for transformation.  I have long said that transformation comes not just through developing an innovative solution, but by also creating the right market for that innovation to succeed and by building capability in industry to deliver it.

I see these solutions as being jigsaw pieces that have yet to come together. I believe most of the jigsaw pieces we need are already here—they just haven’t been shaped and assembled into a clear picture. The Construction Innovation Hub published a report in 2023 called “The Value of Platforms in Construction”.  In it, economic analysis quantified the potential benefits from shaping and combining in a more holistic industrialised approach.  It concluded that siloed progression might be better than doing nothing, but if we want real transformation, we must do more.

I look forward to the forthcoming government outputs – Industrial, Infrastructure and Housing strategies included.  I hope they will outline a path that helps us bring the many jigsaw pieces together into a clearer, better picture.  We have the “what”, let’s progress the “how”.

What do you see as the missing pieces of the transformation jigsaw? I’d love to hear your thoughts.