Keltbray Group and City, University of London have been awarded funding from Innovate UK for a Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) associated with advancements in deep foundation design and construction.
This follows on from the announcement on 17 October of the signing of a collaboration agreement between City and Keltbray to develop innovative technical solutions to create unprecedented efficiencies in the design and construction of foundations.
The KTP scheme, led by Innovate UK, helps businesses to innovate and grow by linking them with an academic or research organisation through the employment of a dedicated, full time research associate and the provision of academic resources. The idea is that the business will gain news skills and access to the latest advances in science and technology in order to deliver a specific, strategic innovation project.
For Keltbray and City, University of London, the project in question is to build a cutting-edge development that has the potential to revolutionise the piling industry, and in turn support Construction 2025 objectives to reduce construction programme lengths and costs and lower greenhouse gas emissions.
A graduate from City, University of London has now been appointed as KTP Research Associate to lead the project and will be working in Keltbray’s offices for the duration of the grant, creating direct links to the research setting. It is expected that the project will run from December 2018 to December 2020.
Stuart Norman, Managing Director of Keltbray Piling, said “These are exciting times for Keltbray and we are pleased that our collaboration with City is already beginning to bear fruit. The KTP itself promises to deliver ground breaking research with the intention for Keltbray to launch new products and services in the latter half of next year. We are aiming for these to deliver unprecedented levels of efficiency”.
Keltbray’s Innovation Director, Michael Pelken, said “This momentous cross sector collaboration and the associated knowledge and technology transfer create completely new possibilities that are anticipated to deliver significant short, mid and long term impacts for us and the industry at large. The research will focus on sustainability, productivity and new forms of emerging best practice models from design to construction”.
Dr Andrew McNamara, Senior Lecturer in Civil Engineering at City, University of London, said, “As principal investigator for this KTP I am looking forward to experimenting, exploring and developing a sustainable, but more importantly a practical foundation solution for industry. This is a hugely significant project that promises to shake up the piling sector and I am thrilled to be leading it and collaborating with Keltbray.”
Notes for Editors
About City, University of London
City, University of London is a global higher education institution committed to academic excellence, with a focus on business and the professions and an enviable central London location.
City’s academic range is broadly-based with world-leading strengths in business; law; health sciences; mathematics; computer science; engineering; social sciences; and the arts including journalism and music.
City has around 18,000 students (35% at postgraduate level) from more than 160 countries and staff from over 75 countries.
In the last REF, City doubled the proportion of its total academic staff producing world-leading or internationally excellent research.
More than 130,000 former students from over 180 countries are members of the City Alumni Network.
The University’s history dates from 1894, with the foundation of the Northampton Institute on what is now the main part of City’s campus. In 1966, City was granted University status by Royal Charter and the Lord Mayor of London became its Chancellor. In September 2016, City joined the University of London and HRH the Princess Royal became City’s Chancellor. Led by President, Professor Sir Paul Curran since 2010, City has made significant investments in its academic staff, its estate and its infrastructure and continues to work towards realising its vision of being a leading global university: it has recently agreed a new Vision & Strategy 2026.
About Keltbray Group
Keltbray Group is the UK’s leading specialist business, which offers engineering, construction, asbestos management, demolition, piling, decommissioning, remediation, rail, power distribution and transmission, reinforced concrete structures and environmental services. The company dates back to 1976, employs more than 1,800 people, and is a key player in developing and maintaining Britain’s built environment. Keltbray provides services to meet the needs of diverse and complex projects, and its well qualified people take pride in delivering projects safely and efficiently, on time and to budget, and with care for the environment and our communities. Keltbray has contributed to a range of high profile construction projects including The Shard, Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park Stadium, St Pancras International, Crossrail, Earls Court, Battersea Power Station and HS2.
