Rethinking the Build Process | Process Improvement Toolkit (BEPIT)

“Shrinking the performance gap in the delivery of zero carbon homes”

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Background & Brief

Despite technological innovation to respond to more challenging environmental standards (e.g. UK Code for Sustainable Homes Levels 5 and 6), volume house building performance continues to fall short of design intent. Using the research platform provided by the NW Bicester Eco-Town Exemplar – the largest and most advanced Code 5+ development in the UK – project partners were brought together to work on shrinking the ‘performance gap’. The resulting approach to re-thinking design, build and procurement processes won major multi-year funding from the Technology Strategy Board.

Solution
The Bicester Eco-Town Process Improvement Toolkit (BEPIT) is a four year research project based at the Eco-Town Exemplar. BioRegional leads and manages the project, with its onsite research engineer monitoring progress, following all aspects of the build process and collecting data on the 393 zero-carbon homes. The project is designed as an iterative action-learning approach, involving a cycle of:
• Process observation and mapping
• Performance testing of homes
• Collaborative problem-solving
• Refining of products, processes and specifications
This approach enables systemic process failures in technologically innovative build systems to be detected and resolved. Learning from each stage will be captured in a toolkit for wider dissemination across the sector/industry.

Outcome
Data collected throughout the project will inform the creation of a suite of tools and tactics to deliver Code 5+ housing at speed, with volume, to cost and with low defects. Relevant elements of this BEPIT toolkit’ will be integrated into future standard business processes of each of the consortium partners for use in their wider UK portfolios.

Project funder

Technology Strategy Board

Project partners