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Major boost for offsite schools building


A new consortium has been launched to transform the way primary schools are designed and built. It is managed by construction consultants Blacc and is funded by Innovate UK, the public body established to drive productivity and economic growth through innovation The other partners in the Seismic


consortium are technology-led design practice Bryden Wood, the Manufacturing Technology Centre (MTC), and two of the UK’s leading offsite specialists, Elliott and The McAvoy Group. Around 100 new and replacement


primary schools are needed every year in the UK at a cost of £5bn. This level of demand far exceeds the capacity currently available in the construction industry. The challenge is compounded by the general inefficiency of the construction sector compared to UK manufacturing. Every primary school construction project has a bespoke design, is procured individually and is delivered by a fragmented supply chain. This process leads to varying levels of quality, low productivity and increased risk of time and budget overruns. The new consortium has been


established to carry out extensive research and development to engineer a range of standardised offsite solutions which will radically increase productivity and efficiency, drive down costs and reduce lead times in the delivery of exemplary primary schools. Commenting on the partnership’s


vision, Richard Crosby, Director of Blacc, said “By applying greater use of standardisation, our aim is to develop a series of components to enable multiple offsite specialists to achieve unprecedented economies of scale and efficiency in manufacturing. This will bring a higher degree of stability, predictability and transparency to the procurement process – to the benefit of both the client and the supply chain. It represents a window into a brave new world for UK construction.” One of the solutions currently in


development is the creation of a pioneering digital tool to accelerate the initial design phase for new primary schools. This user-friendly web-based app, which can be used by teaching professionals, will configure a primary school building on a specific site in line


with DfE requirements, and using a standardised offsite solution to optimise efficiency. This will significantly reduce the time and cost of the initial feasibility and design phase and will facilitate the input of stakeholders. “By digitising the process of designing


a primary school, we believe we can deliver significant reductions in lead times and build costs whilst accommodating individual design requirements”, said Jami Cresser-Brown, Director of Bryden Wood. “With the use of a digital tool, more time can actually be spent on the bespoke elements of the design of each school.” The Seismic project will also look at


how standardised module sizes and steel- framed offsite solutions can be developed, costed and manufactured to achieve greater economies of scale and cost efficiencies for the construction of new primary schools. Susan Hone-Brookes, Chief Engineer


for Construction and Infrastructure at the MTC said, “This project will not only


standardise different, market-leading offsite solutions for primary school construction, but it will act as a trailblazer to demonstrate the very latest offsite manufacturing technologies.” David Clark, Head of Manufacturing and


Innovation at The McAvoy Group, said, “It is fantastic to be a part of such a ground-breaking project which we think will be a catalyst for revolutionising not just school design, procurement and delivery but the wider construction industry. There is also huge potential to take the best of UK manufacturing and apply that to offsite construction to realise even greater cost and programme efficiencies – with no compromise on design – to the benefit of the communities we serve.” James Cowell, Technical Director of


Elliott, said, “This is a tremendous opportunity to take offsite to the next level whilst developing even more innovative solutions to meet the rising demand for primary school places”


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