Building Systems UK, an enterprise of Tata Steel, held its inaugural ‘Accelerating Construction Transformation’ event #ACTUK23 on 26th October at their Deeside facility.
The event brought together over a hundred people, including architects, academics, construction experts, engineers and cladding contractors. Delegates heard keynote speakers on key topics around productivity, digital integration and sustainability and had the chance to tour the on-site manufacturing facility.
Barry Rust, Head of Market and Business Development, said event attendees shared Building Systems UK’s strong and cohesive view that construction transformation must accelerate to create a more productive, sustainable and resilient sector. The key question posed by the event was, how? He stressed, it’s not about discussing what we should do in the next ten years, but what we are doing now. We need to walk the walk, not merely talk the talk.
During the event, Building Systems UK showcased exactly how it is ‘walking the walk’ by undertaking a Modern Method of Construction (MMC) Live Build in front of delegates, completing a small building within hours. The live demonstration involved the assembly ofa roof cassette using Building Systems UK products, including Trisomet insulated roof panels and Trisobuild Seam Profiles. BiPVco’s integrated PV panels provided a source of immediate and sustainable electricity, whilst maintaining a flush finish to the roof. The Live Build team lowered the roof cassette onto a pre-built structure and concluded the internal fit out to create an outdoor ‘wellness space’ for employees to enjoy.
The team also demonstrated digital traceability through a tag and track system, which provides a digital to physical connection through a simple QR code. This delivers accurate traceability, driving optimum product use during the life of a project and enabling reuse at end of life.
The Live Build went down exceptionally well with delegates, illustrating the speed that MMC can lend a project, reducing both time on site and construction costs. It provoked an interesting debate and highlighted the crucial role of collaboration throughout the supply chain in driving forward MMC innovation and construction transformation. Something Cat Griffith-Williams, Chief Executive of Constructing Excellence in Wales, touched on during her exceptional opening speech, sharing key examples of collaboration between the construction sector and the Welsh Government to ensure future new build and retrofit projects prioritise sustainability.
#ACTUK23 panellist, Trudi Sully, Impact Lead at Mott MacDonald, also spoke about the importance of collaboration and the Seismic II demonstrator building, a collaborative platform based project which Building Systems UK worked on. Trudi said, “This is one of those great pioneering ambassador projects that demonstrates the opportunity to drive efficiency, reduce emissions, reduce costs and improve delivery.”
After speaking in the ‘Delivering Sustainable Outcomes Today’ slot, Matthew Wenban-Smith, Director at One World Standards, and contributor to many pioneering projects within the sustainability field over his thirty-year career, described the event as. “Absolutely fantastic.” He discussed the massive step change he’d seen, from sustainability being viewed as ‘extra’ thirty years ago, to becoming absolutely core to businesses
Reflecting on the overall success of the #ACTUK23 event, Jo Evans, Director of Building Systems UK, said it had been an amazing day, bringing together many like-minded people with similar goals. Building Systems UK showcased its commitment to not only supply innovative and sustainable construction products, but to collaborate with the entire supply chain to drive forward the change needed to make truly sustainable projects a reality. If you’re interested in collaborating with Building Systems UK, we’d love to hear from you – www.buildingsystemsuk.co.uk
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