New consortium formed of construction companies awarded £10,000 of funding and support
29 March 2017 – A new consortium of firms involved in offsite construction is celebrating after winning a share of the £60,000 Collaboration Prize, delivered by Co-operative Development Scotland on behalf of Scottish Enterprise and Highlands and Islands Enterprise.
Offsite Hub, which formed following the UK Government’s release of its 2025 Construction Strategy identifying offsite construction as a vehicle for delivering improvement targets for the construction sector, scooped one of the six £10,000 awards.
Launched for entries in September 2016, the Collaboration Prize attracted a record number of responses from across Scotland.
Comprising nine companies, Offsite Hub’s goal is to promote improved market awareness, address emerging skills challenges and to foster a collective approach to ongoing research and development in the use of timber construction technology.
Together with a number of public sector partners (such as Napier University and SDI), it aims to realise the full potential of Scottish Offsite Modern Methods of Construction by improving the working environment in the construction industry, reducing waste from that sector, and significantly improving the performance of buildings in terms of construction, comfort and long-term running costs.
Offsite Hub will receive £5,000 to implement its collaborative idea, advice to set up as a consortium co-operative and up to £5,000 business support delivered by Scottish Enterprise.
Calum Murray, chairman from Offsite Hub, commented on the win: “Support in translating ideas into practical action will be hugely useful for us and we plan to utilise this support from Scottish Enterprise. For instance, in approaching UK wide institutions with the right message as a group, the assistance will be essential. We are exploring other possible uses for the funding and support, including a ‘learning journey’ being proposed for Sweden next year and representation at a conference on offsite construction in Salford next year.”
Sarah Deas, director, Scottish Enterprise, added: “The response to this year’s Collaboration Prize has been fantastic and as a result we have six brilliant winning consortia, all of whom will be using the support and funding they won to structure their consortiums, develop their business ideas and access new markets.
“Through the Prize the aim is to inspire businesses to be innovative and consider collaboration as a means to achieve growth. By collaborating businesses can reduce costs, share risks and create new platforms for growth.”
The Collaboration Prize was delivered by Co-operative Development Scotland on behalf of Scottish Enterprise and Highlands and Island Enterprise in partnership with Business Gateway and the Scottish Chambers of Commerce.