London South Bank University has launched a new joint research and innovation centre with the Building Services Research and Innovation Association (BSRIA), called the BSRIA-LSBU Innovation Centre
The BSRIA-LSBU Innovation Centre (‘BLIC’) will support building services in the construction industry by promoting collaborative research between LSBU’s School of Architecture and the Built Environment (BEA) and BSRIA.
At the signing event, Professor Phoenix, vice-chancellor of LSBU, said: “LSBU focuses on applied research that impacts business and society. This new partnership will help generate research outputs that benefit the sector but also feed into our teaching by providing new case studies and projects.
“Employment opportunities for LSBU students will also be enhanced through the access to BSRIA members that this partnership affords. I look forward to seeing the impact our partnership with BSRIA has in the future.”
Research to help improve the quality of existing buildings
Professor George Ofori, Dean of LSBU’s School of Architecture and Built Environment, commented: “Around 80% of the UK’s existing real estate accounts for more than 40% of UK carbon emissions. In order to meet the UK’s future obligation to reduce carbon emissions by 80%, we must first focus on developing research and innovation to help improve the quality of existing buildings, which are often neglected.
“The challenges associated with retrofitting existing housing estates have been highlighted with the tragic events of Grenfell Tower, but there are other challenges facing the construction industry, associated with fuel poverty, air quality, uptake of technology, performance of existing technology and user experience.
“The new BSRIA research centre will focus on finding innovative solutions to these problems, while providing leadership to deliver safe, affordable and sustainable domestic environments for communities in the UK and globally.”
BSRIA-LSBU collaboration – new opportunities and ideas
Tom Smith, chairman of BSRIA, said: “BSRIA is delighted to be linking its expertise and reach to that of LSBU and views this collaboration as part of the drive to not only pool the expertise and knowledge of both organisations but to create new opportunities and ideas for the sector while meeting the challenge of climate change.”
Julia Evans, CEO of BSRIA, added: “These two institutions will bring enormous focus to the current key challenges facing the built environment and will deliver practical and effective outcomes to the major issues we all face.”
