The House of Lords Science and Technology Committee will take evidence for its inquiry investigating Off-site Manufacture for Construction on Tuesday 1 May. The Committee will hear from Mace, Mott MacDonald, the Construction Industry Training Board and others.

The session will explore what actions are needed from the Government and the sector on skills to meet the changing needs of construction and how digital technologies, like Building Information Modelling (BIM) can be used in conjunction with off-site manufacture.

At 3.30pm the Committee will question:

· Dr Mark Bew MBE, Chair, Government’s BIM Task Force
· Mark Enzer, CTO, Mott MacDonald

At 4.30pm the Committee will hear from:

· Mark Farmer, CEO, Cast
· Steve Radley, Policy Director, Construction Industry Training Board
· Mark Reynolds, CEO, Mace
· Dick Elsy, CEO, High Value Manufacturing Catapult

Questions the Committee are likely to ask include:

· What are the opportunities offered by offsite manufacture for construction?
· What are the drawbacks?
· What types of skills are needed to facilitate a move to off-site manufacture? How do these differ from traditional construction skills?
· What are barriers to wider use of Building Information Modelling?

The evidence session will begin at 3.30pm in Committee Room 4A of the House of Lords.