The UK-Nigeria Sustainable Construction Global Innovation Network will create a platform to inspire and connect key stakeholders and industry leaders across the value chain in the building and construction sector. It is aimed at fostering a dynamic bilateral UK-Nigeria collaboration by exploring existing and emerging technologies and knowledge transfer solutions to facilitate transformative environmental impact and amplify best practices for the building and construction sectors in both countries.
The UK-Nigeria Sustainable Construction Global Innovation Network will center on three key pillars;
- Affordable housing with a focus on prefabrication, modular prefabrication, and on-site assembly.
- Sustainable construction materials, safety, and energy efficiency with a focus on low-carbon building/alternative materials for building, construction, finishings (e.g painting, insulation), and the integration of already existing solutions into the value chain/market saturation, certifications and licensing for alternative materials, safety of labor and human capital, policy and regulations and responsible use of energy.
- Construction waste management with a focus on reuse and circularity and end-to-end waste management across the building and construction value chain.
The launch of the UK-Nigeria Sustainable Construction Global Innovation Network aligns with Innovate UK’s commitment to drive innovation while promoting opportunities for economic development, sustainability, and enhanced collaboration between the UK and Nigeria.
During the soft launch in October 2023, delegates and experts in the construction sector from the UK were present in Nigeria to participate in a knowledge exchange event that brought together local stakeholders, industry players, government, private sector, academia, R&D and more, to map out existing challenges and identify practical global innovative solutions for the building and construction sector in Nigeria.
At the event, Dr Nee-Joo Teh, Director of Global Alliance Africa at Innovate UK KTN, highlighted “Global Alliance Africa has a simple framework that allows the UK to work across partner countries in Africa supporting businesses and innovators from all sectors of the economy to create jobs and new products for the markets. The UK government’s commitment is to drive strong local innovation capacity, across the ecosystem to help sustain and create more sustainable development for these countries across the sectors that are key to their long-term socio-economic and policy drivers. What we are looking at is creating more partnerships and collaboration opportunities for local innovators and international counterparts across key sectors”.
Joshua Adedeji, Nigeria Country Lead for Innovate UK Global Alliance Africa also pointed out that the network will create a platform for businesses and organizations in the building and construction sector to access global cutting-edge technologies, participate in high-level networking leading to potential business partnerships, contribute to thought leadership within the sector, participate in bilateral exploratory business trips (UK and Nigeria) and knowledge exchange activities as well as contribute to policy advocacy for sustainable construction practices at both local and national levels.
The stakeholder groups for the Network include (but are not limited to);
- Construction Companies (UK and Nigeria).
- Building and property developers.
- Government
- Academia
- Policy and Regulatory bodies.
- R&D.
- Innovators
The launch of the UK-Nigeria Sustainable Construction Global Innovation Network in Nigeria is expected to yield significant outcomes, including adopting sustainable construction materials and practices, enhanced collaboration and partnerships between the UK and Nigeria, and influential contributions to policy and regulation. Additionally, the program aims to increase accessibility to more sustainable and affordable housing and buildings.
To express your interest in joining the UK-Nigeria Sustainable Construction Global Innovation Network, please subscribe here.
Innovate UK Global Alliance Africa is a six-year project funded by UK International Development through Innovate UK (GCRF) and the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO). Visit the website.
