AUDIO NEWS: £4m fund to boost construction innovation unveiled and Paralympian becomes a chippie

Government aims for 10% reduction in costs with £4 million innovation fund, 9 firms busted for using illegal workers and Paralympian switches to carpentry

The government has launched a £4 million fund to make construction cheaper and quicker.

The Industrialising and Digitising Construction Research and Innovation Challenge plans to develop and share standard digital designs for infrastructure and buildings.

By bringing together the building industry, manufacturers and the public sector, the government wants to achieve 10% savings in construction costs and time on its major projects.

At the launch event last week, technology secretary Liz Kendall said there was “no route to stronger growth in this country… without science, technology and innovation.”

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Nine construction firms have been fined almost £1 million between them, for employing illegal workers.

A fine of £200,000 was handed to Samuel Buga, director of London-based Sam Construct for workers caught at an unnamed site.

He also collected a second fine of £180,000 for a separate incident.

The Home office promised to crackdown on illegal workers in construction earlier this year.

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Successful Paralympic cyclist, Steve Bate has swapped the velodrome for the carpentry workshop.

The 48-year-old signed off his career last month by winning gold in the individual pursuit B in Rio.

Since then, he has created the gongs for the 2025 British Cycling Awards and is now building display cases for his former team mates to showcase their medals.

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