London South Bank University (LSBU) is today announcing a \u00a350K award from the Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE) to support a research pilot conducted by the University\u2019s School of Architecture and the Built Environment (BEA), looking at encouraging students and staff within the architecture, engineering and construction arena to collaborate and work together better on joint projects.<\/p>\n
The research pilot launches this month and is set to run from December 2016 until May 2018 for a period of one and a half years. HEFCE has made the award to LSBU from its Catalyst Fund call for innovations in learning and teaching.<\/p>\n
The project is being led by Jennifer Hardi, Senior Lecturer at LSBU\u2019s School for Architecture and the Built Environment, together with her colleagues Steve Pittard and Professor Andy Ford, who were both in the original bidding team.<\/p>\n
Jennifer Hardi, Senior Lecturer at LSBU\u2019s School for Architecture and the Built Environment said, \u201cThe culture within the UK\u2019s construction industry currently shows a tendency towards silo working, where different professionals working on the same project often fail to communicate well with one another about the different stages of that project. In the past this has proved extremely frustrating and even led to delays in projects being completed and deadlines being missed.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis is not a sustainable or efficient way for the UK\u2019s construction industry to be working if it is to retain its competitive edge in a post-Brexit economy.<\/p>\n
\u201cBy trialling the new methods with LSBU students initially, my research team hopes to be able to develop a model of multi-disciplinary, collaborative working that will eventually be rolled out across the industry, among professional architects, quantity surveyors and engineers.\u201d<\/p>\n
Professor Charles Egbu, LSBU\u2019s Dean of the Built Environment and Architecture said,<\/p>\n
\u201cI am delighted to be able to announce today a \u00a350k funding pledge from HEFCE to support research that will benefit both our students and the British construction industry, by exploring ways in which construction professionals can work together better.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis investment will also help to strengthen LSBU\u2019s strong commitment to supporting our science, architecture and engineering research programmes.\u201d<\/p>\n
HEFCE\u2019s Head of Learning and Teaching, Sarbani Banerjee, said:<\/p>\n
\u201cHEFCE\u2019s catalyst call for innovations in learning and teaching attracted a large number of exciting and high quality bids from a wide range of universities and colleges. We are pleased to be supporting LSBU\u2019s research project, and we look forward to working with them and with the other project institutions to share lessons learned across the sector.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"