Constructing Excellence (CE) and BRE have announced a new collaborative partnership that aims to support organisations in the built environment so they can emerge strongly from the current economic slowdown.  

Chief Executive of Constructing Excellence Don Ward said: “Constructing Excellence’s objective is to catalyze performance improvement in the construction sector – in the current financial climate this issue is in the forefront of people’s minds. The other great challenge the industry faces is how to mitigate the effects of climate change in a sector that accounts for 50% of all the UK’s CO2 emissions. BRE has been at the cutting edge of built environment sustainability knowledge for several decades. Clearly as partners we have great complementary expertise that the sector can benefit from.”

With the aims of improving the service offering and value to existing CE customers, and increasing the membership base across the UK, the partnership will herald a new age for Constructing Excellence who were largely Government-funded until 2007.

The core activities of the partnership will be the delivery and dissemination of existing knowledge in forms that leading edge firms can use, and the development of new knowledge that will help accelerate change in the sector. Particular value is expected in the areas of sustainable construction, efficiency and lean processes. The partnership also plans to improve engagement with SME’s across the UK through a network of regional partners and local best practice clubs.

Dr. Peter Bonfield, CEO of BRE and BRE director Anna Scothern, who will lead on the partnership, said: “We are delighted to work with Constructing Excellence. Together we will foster an improved culture of sustainability,  innovation and better business practices which will lead to better take-up of new ideas amongst leading-edge firms across the built environment in the UK.”

Other benefits will accrue to the National Platform for UK research strategy, run by Constructing Excellence, which will gain from closer integration with the Knowledge Transfer Network run by BRE and from new joint projects designed to improve the take-up of research knowledge in practice.