The Construction Research and Innovation Strategy Panel (CRISP) was an initiative established in 1995 to identify and prioritise the research needs of the

construction industry of the United Kingdom The construction industry of the United Kingdom is one of the major industry sectors in the UK economy, contributing about 6% of UK gross value added in 2019. In 2018, it was, by GVA, the sixth biggest construction sector in the world. Scale and ...

. It operated through a series of Task Groups, each dealing with a particular research topic, and each of which produced a report published on the CRISP website. Collated recommendations were passed to appropriate funding bodies. In 2005, CRISP was absorbed into the National Platform for the Built Environment.

History

In 1995, CRISP was given responsibility for advising the then

Department of the Environment An environmental ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for the environment and/or natural resources. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of the Environment, ...

on priorities for research and innovation, and was based at the

Building Research Establishment The Building Research Establishment (BRE) is a centre of building science in the United Kingdom, owned by charitable organisation the BRE Trust. It is a former UK government national laboratory that was privatised in 1997. BRE provides researc ...

Garston, Hertfordshire Garston is a suburban village in Hertfordshire, England. Garston is contiguous with Watford and now, despite retaining a local identity, is effectively a suburb. It is within the Stanborough, Woodside and Meriden Ward (politics), wards of the bor ...

, near

Watford Watford () is a town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, 15 miles northwest of Central London, on the River Colne. Initially a small market town, the Grand Junction Canal encouraged the construction of paper-making mills, print works, a ...

Operation between 1998 and 2003

From 1998 Davis Langdon Consultancy provided management support. Between 1998 and 2002, 13 Task Groups covering topics such as ''design'', ''sustainable construction'', ''performance'' and ''value'' produced 233 recommendations. In 2000, 2001 and 2002, the requirements identified by the groups were used to form action plans for the Department of Trade and Industry, the

Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council The Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council (EPSRC) is a British Research Council that provides government funding for grants to undertake research and postgraduate degrees in engineering and the physical sciences, mainly to universi ...

, the

Economic and Social Research Council The Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC), formerly the Social Science Research Council (SSRC), is part of UK Research and Innovation (UKRI). UKRI is a non-departmental public body (NDPB) funded by the UK government. ESRC provides fundi ...

, the

Highways Agency National Highways, formerly the Highways Agency and later Highways England, is a government-owned company charged with operating, maintaining and improving motorways and major A roads in England. It also sets highways standards used by all fo ...

, and the

Environment Agency The Environment Agency (EA) is a non-departmental public body, established in 1996 and sponsored by the United Kingdom government's Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with responsibilities relating to the protection and enha ...

New CRISP (nCRISP) from 2002-3

New CRISP was formed in 2002-3. An

awayday A meeting is when two or more people come together to discuss one or more topics, often in a formal or business setting, but meetings also occur in a variety of other environments. Meetings can be used as form of group decision making. Defini ...

in March 2003 identified a set of 10 research priorities which were incorporated in the nCRISP Business Plan published in October 2003. nCRISP Task Groups were established as follows: * Education and Skills - supported by the

Construction Industry Training Board The Construction Industry Training Board (CITB) is the industry training board for the UK construction industry. History The CITB was established on 21 July 1964 by the Industrial Training (Construction Board) Order 1964,Explanatory Note to The I ...

* Heritage - supported by

English Heritage English Heritage (officially the English Heritage Trust) is a charity that manages over 400 historic monuments, buildings and places. These include prehistoric sites, medieval castles, Roman forts and country houses. The charity states that i ...

* Knowledge * Major Projects * Infrastructure - supported by the

Institution of Civil Engineers The Institution of Civil Engineers (ICE) is an independent professional association for civil engineers and a charitable body in the United Kingdom. Based in London, ICE has over 92,000 members, of whom three-quarters are located in the UK, whi ...

* Value - supported by Be (Collaborating for the Built Environment, known as Be) and chaired by the English architect

Richard Saxon Richard Gilbert Saxon CBE (born 14 April 1942) is an English architect. He was chairman of Building Design Partnership (BDP), chairman of BE (a fore-runner of Constructing Excellence), a vice-president of the Royal Institute of British Architects ( ...

. nCRISP also commissioned a report by economist David Pearce, ''The Social and Economic Value of Construction''. All the groups presented progress reports to the nCRISP Awayday in October 2004, and they were finalised in early 2005. They were discussed at the offices of Mace on 16 May 2005. nCRISP was subsequently absorbed into the National Platform for the Built Environment, and ring-fenced government funding for sectors like construction ended, and construction had to compete for funding with sectors such as aerospace and pharmaceuticals.

Legacy and impact

The Design Task Group's report was turned into a book chapter by the group's chair, Giles Oliver. After chairing the Task Group on Value, Richard Saxon went on to publish ''Be Valuable'' through the industry body

Constructing Excellence Constructing Excellence is a United Kingdom construction industry membership organisation created in 2003, the only such which draws its member organisations from across the industry supply chain, ranging from clients, through contractors and consu ...

, while the Task Group report was used as the source of an academic paper. The Pearce Report ''The Social and Economic Value of Construction'' (2003) was used for a special issue of the journal ''Building Research & Information'', edited by Jim Meikle.''Building Research & Information'' vol 34, no 3, May-June 2006, published by Routledge Journals,

References

{{reflist

External links

*http://www.ncrisp.org.uk
Construction Research and Innovation Strategy Panel
at

National Building Specification NBS (National Building Specification) is a UK-based business providing construction specification information used by architects, engineers and other building professionals to describe the materials, standards and workmanship of a construction pro ...

Construction industry of the United Kingdom 1995 in the United Kingdom