Construction Excellence South West and Future Foundations

Project details

Full project title: Construction Excellence South West and Future Foundations

Duration: April 2009-February 2012

Funded by: South West Regional Development Agency

Project lead: Professor Ming Sun

Project summary

UWE Bristol hosted a combined initiative of Constructing Excellence South West (CESW) and Future Foundations (FF), which is partially funded by the South West Regional Development Agency.

The main aim of the project was to improve the performance of the construction industry in the South West so as to create a demonstrably better built environment.

The main objectives of the initiative were to promote improvements in performance of individuals, companies and the industry in the areas of people issues, business efficiency and value for the client, and sustainable construction through:

• Collaborating and coordinating with other related agencies in this region and nationally in order to avoid duplication of efforts and provide effective advice to key stakeholders of the construction sector in relation to sustainable construction and performance improvement
• Providing a forum in the region to enable the construction industry to speak with a single voice.
• Promoting changes to industry practices in response to new regulations of zero/low carbon development through organising network events, inclusive of newsletters and websites that allow people and organisations to learn together and build relationships and trust, thus increasing collaborative and integrated working in all parts of the industry.
• Helping to increase the skills capacity of the sector by providing training for construction clients and the supply chain in key topics, such as low carbon, sustainable procurement, supply chain integration, health and safety, and other relevant topics.
• Organising conferences throughout the region and offering a one-stop- shop for information on innovation and improvement throughout the construction industry in the South West.
• Holding up and promoting excellence and exemplar projects especially in areas such as carbon reduction where learning and embedding are urgently required in the light of Government targets. This includes an annual regional awards event to highlight excellence in the South West and encourage the industry to adopt it.
• More specifically, capturing best/good practice through a series of demonstration case studies, and disseminating the findings widely.