Dr Mohamed Abdel-Wahab, a lecturer at Heriot-Watt University, has recently won a joint R&D bid in collaboration with the Centre for Offsite Construction + Innovative Structures at Edinburgh Napier, Stewart Milne Group and Campbell Construction Group (CCG).
This project can demonstrate that industry and academic partnership can deliver real benefits and impact to the construction sector.
The project involves the creation of an offsite construction hub which will act as a centre of expertise, responsible for defining and showcasing skill requirements and ensuring collaboration between professions. The project is funded under the future programme of the UK Commission of Employment and Skills (UK CES).
Heriot-Watt's role in the project is to support the R&D of practical and interactive learning material to upskill the construction workforce in the offsite construction sector.
Dr Abdel-Wahab said: "This is an exciting opportunity for collaboration between industry and academia to research and develop focused training material to address the specific skills needs of our industrial partners as well as addressing the wider skills needs of the offsite construction sector". He added that "This project can demonstrate that industry and academic partnership can deliver real benefits and impact to the construction sector".
More details are available at: Offsite construction companies take a new approach to tackling skills shortages