Labour Forecasting Tool grabs innovation award

Published On Thu 24 Apr 2014 by Roddy Isles

A unique tool developed by a Dundee company to forecast labour needs for construction projects has been awarded a prestigious prize by the Chartered Institute of Building.

The Labour Forecasting Tool developed by Whole Life Consultants Ltd and commissioned by the Construction Industry Training Board is a web-based application for forecasting labour needs on a whole range of construction projects, including housing, schools, infrastructure, and commercial buildings.

The labour needs are predicted throughout the entire course of a project on a month-by-month basis, given no more than the value of the project and its start and end dates. The Tool can also be used for forecasting the jobs created in a project once it’s operational.

The LFT has now been recognised with the `Highly Commended Award in Digital Innovation’ at the CIOB’s annual International Innovation and Research Awards.

Professor Malcolm Horner, Chairman of Whole Life Consultants, said, “We are delighted that our software has been highly commended in the CIOB's Innovation and Research Awards. It is rewarding to receive recognition for the hard work that went into developing the LFT and the very successful partnership between CITB and WLC Ltd. The LFT is a powerful tool that is helping clients and the construction industry up and down the country to obtain an evidence-base for calculating their employment and skills needs.”

Sandra Lilley, Commercial Strategy Manager for CITB, said, “CITB are honoured to receive a highly commended recognition from the CIOB's Research and innovation Awards. Developing the Labour Forecasting Tool with WLC Ltd has been exciting and client feedback demonstrates they are gaining real tangible benefits from using the tool. The LFT can create that robust evidence base to support employment and skills planning which is so critical as recovery in the sector gains momentum.”

CITB are the Industry Training Board and a partner in the Sector Skills Council for the construction industry in England, Scotland and Wales. CITB’s job is to work with industry to encourage training, which helps build a safe, professional and fully qualified workforce.

Whole Life Consultants Limited is a spin out company of the University of Dundee. Founded in 2004 its activities encompass the commercialisation of all the intellectual property and expertise developed by the Construction Management Research Unit, part of the University’s Department of Civil Engineering.

The Chartered Institute of Building awards highlight the importance of innovation and research in raising performance levels, enhancing best practice and improving the quality of the built environment.           

For more on the Labour Forecasting Tool see:

http://www.citb.co.uk/research/consultancy/research-labour-forecasting/

Roddy Isles
Head of Press
TEL: 01382 384910
MOBILE: 07800 581902
E-MAIL: r.isles@dundee.ac.uk