Funding secured to tackle £21bn quality crisis in construction

A major funding package has been secured to help the UK construction sector address the estimated £21 billion in losses each year from poor workmanship.

Regeneration specialist, Equans, has secured £193,000 in Industry Impact Funding from the Construction Industry Training Board (CITB) to deliver a new technology that will boost productivity, raise build quality and improve skills.

Equans has partnered with Northumberland-based tech firm Tribuco to develop an innovative digital learning programme, which will offer a suite of bite-sized learning resources, including animations, videos and structured guides. The resources are designed to be used in the workplace or in training environments and will be hosted on the Tribuco app and shared freely via the Supply Chain Sustainability School and Chartered Institute of Building Academy.

Equans conducted research across its active developments to identify performance trends. The findings revealed that existing tools were primarily geared toward reactive snagging, rather than proactive training and skills development.

The intel around areas for improvement, provided the site teams on Equans’ pilot projects with an opportunity to proactively push out targeted learning material, which resulted in a marked improvement in quality scores.

The content on the Tribuco app will cover areas such as retrofit, insulation, cladding, roofing and building repair – including key processes that contribute to net zero performance. Crucially, the platform will enable principal contractors and supply chain firms to demonstrate the competence of their workforce, meeting the increasingly stringent requirements of the Building Safety Act and wider regulatory reforms.

Laura Wilson, Learning and Development Manager at Equans UK & Ireland, said: “This mobile-first approach transforms how we build competence across our workforce, getting new workers site-ready faster while keeping experienced teams at the top of their game. 

 “By delivering free, micro-video guides that aligns with national policy priorities, the initiative is designed to benefit not just participating firms but the wider construction workforce – helping to raise standards, reduce rework, and accelerate housing delivery in a compliant and sustainable way.”

According to Tribuco’s CEO Ivan Carr, the initiative is directly aligned with the Government’s housebuilding targets as well as broader goals around decarbonisation and skills development.

He said: “As someone who has worked in construction for over 35 years, I know how hard it is to hit quality and productivity targets consistently. Most businesses are still operating with outdated quality assurance frameworks that weren’t designed for today’s workforce.

“These antiquated systems lead to many businesses struggling with margin erosion, jumping from one reactive fix to another. The CITB Industry Impact Fund is ideally suited for initiatives like this because it’s designed to benefit not just participating firms, but the wider construction workforce – helping to raise standards and accelerate productivity in a compliant and sustainable way.”

The Chartered Institute of Building (CIOB) will host the new training materials on its Academy platform and promote them across its membership base.

(l to r) Paul Green of Equans, Justin Pringle of Tribuco, Ivan Carr of Tribuco, Laura Wilson of Equans, Dave Lovenbury of Tribuco