Increasing green retrofits and installation of renewable technologies by SMEs through next generation, cloud-based CAD/Estimating tools to reduce UK housing carbon emissions

b6dcaa13-d151-49d1-b104-a760fb5177d7

Active

Innovate UK

£49,979

Nov. 1, 2022

April 29, 2023

* Funding sought aligns with the Industrial Strategy Challenge Fund, Construction Sector Deal and the Construction Playbook which focuses on digital approaches to design, construction and management to improve productivity in construction and increase green retrofits and installation volumes of Renewable Technologies such as Solar PV, EV charging points, Air Source Heat Pumps and Waste Water Heat Recovery Systems to achieve net zero by;
* adopting digital solutions and automated processes to improve productivity and predictability of construction
* adopting digital to incorporate new building technologies and materials into projects
* better integrating with supply-chain early in project lifecycles, reducing downstream issues
* encouraging SME participation
* working collaboratively

100,000's of houses/extensions/small industrial projects are commissioned by clients p.a. all of which could be enhanced to reduce their energy usage through green retrofit/installation of renewable technologies, concurrent with other building works.

Vision;

The vision is to deliver a next-generation, UK-orientated project outcome; a cloud-based integrated CAD surveying and estimating software toolset.

This toolset will help SMEs on site to survey projects and specify green retrofit measures to improve installation volumes and reduce carbon footprint of existing housing stock, the bulk of which are completed by SMEs.

Objectives;

It will;
* Enable fast, de-skilled site-based surveying of existing homes incorporating green retrofit measures concurrent to other works
* Instantly calculate building costs, producing professional quotations
* Integrate with supply-chain products/pricing to produce accurate/optioneered tenders
* Instantly generate 2D plans, 3D models and working drawings including placement of renewables
* Interoperable with IFC outputs (UK BIM Framework target)
* Integrate with construction phase cloud-management, encouraging collaboration between contractors, supply-chain and clients
* Empower SME building firms to adopt digital through ease of use/device independence

Innovation;

Whilst competitor CAD products exist, most are;
* desktop-based
* time-consuming/require training
* too expensive
* not-integrated with estimating/management software to cost/manage projects (this non-integration causes a budget versus what it really costs deficit).
* not fit for SME purpose on site
* not enhanced to promote and educate on renewable technologies

Furthermore, although individual desktop softwares exist, with 15% growth in cloud-based SaaS tool adoption expected 2019-2022 (Statista Technology Market Outlook, 10/2020) desktop software will be rapidly obsolete.

This cloud-based project outcome is innovative and disruptive and will alter the way SMEs operate, displacing the established desktop technology as it's;
* cloud-based
* fully-integrated CAD surveying/estimating
* designed for SMEs to be used on site
* no training required
* incorporates the very latest construction technologies
* educates and encourages SMEs to green retrofit and install renewable technologies
* affordable