Funding
Current opportunities:
The Business & Innovation Support Sprint
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This initiative is funded by the West Midlands Combined Authority and provides up to eight vouchers, each worth £1,000 (including VAT), to support short, focused innovation or technical projects delivered by the West Midlands Combined Universities: Birmingham City University, Coventry University and the University of Wolverhampton.
The Sprint is open to small and medium-sized manufacturing businesses working in Modern Methods of Construction, with activity based in or delivering clear benefit to the West Midlands. It is designed to accelerate practical activity that strengthens capability, productivity and sustainability.
Support can be used for projects aligned to the following broad themes:
• Surveying
• Product testing and materials analysis
• Digital construction and data analysis
To find out more information and how to apply for a voucher, please join the cluster and visit the Members area.
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Previously funded:
Construction to Production Masterclass at the Toyota Deeside EnginePlant
*Funded by the West Midlands Combined Authority*
Context: Showcasing Toyota’s world-class manufacturing principles to the West Midlands Future Housing Clusters’ suppliers, to inspire and drive innovation and R&D.
The sector needs to drive its performance and productivity to deliver more houses, of higher quality, and embrace new working practices, operating systems and a collaborative culture.
BBI Services, facilitated an insightful masterclass at Toyota’s Engine Plant, followed by a practical workshop, discussing the insights from the day and how these can be applied to the suppliers’ businesses. This supported the creation of a strategic roadmap to accelerate improvement opportunities, and role modelling the behaviours required to enable productive collaboration between the suppliers.
Goals:
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Demonstrate how innovation occurs through a continuous improvement culture, Toyota demonstrates this extremely well.
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Showcase the plants journey to world-class manufacturing – R&D, culture, the Toyota way.
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Highlight effective mechanisms to engage individuals to actively challenge and to work in teams to drive improvement.
For more information, read our article about the visit here.
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Scalability Opportunities
The successful delivery of the initial feasibility study can be scaled up into a bigger project with wider influence and impacts, through further funding, for example, 5 additional Masterclasses of 16 people, totalling 80 attendees.A support programme to implement the processes experienced throughout suppliers…
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Standardised Fire Tested
Light Gauge Steel (LGS) System
*Funded by the West Midlands Combined Authority*
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Context: Manufacturers of light gauge steel (LGS) framing systems are required to undertake their own fire testing for load bearing wall systems, even when using identical plasterboard products that provide the actual fire resistance.
Each test costs around £10k to £15k and is duplicated across manufacturers due to small differences in section geometry or thickness. Developers, insurers and warranty providers currently insist on test evidence for each specific system, preventing equivalent or shared certification.
This creates unnecessary expense, restricts adoption, and limits supply to a small number of approved providers, creating a single point of failure in the market. A collective, standardised approach could widen capacity, improve resilience, reduce
cost and support greater use of LGS in mid-rise housing.
The idea originated from one of the manufacturers engaged in the WMACC, and there is strong support across industry to participate in a shared solution.
Goal: The structured feasibility study will create the shared technical basis, governance and commercial case needed for a future full-scale testing programme. The shared pathway will also create alignment across multiple West Midlands
suppliers, giving developers greater confidence. If one supplier were to cease trading, others would be able to adopt the same certified system, strengthening resilience across the regional supply chain.
Outcomes: The initial feasibility project is still being funded, and we will share an outcome status and findings when complete.
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