Construction Knowledge Exchange

The Government has established a network of 22 Centres of Knowledge Exchange Activity to support higher education institutions working with business and the wider community. The Construction Knowledge Exchange (CKE) was established in August 2004 with the aim of promoting links and collaboration between higher education and the construction industry.  Our mission is:

To be recognised as an exemplar of good practice in knowledge sharing and to demonstrate high quality impact on business performance

It attempts to promote and enhance engagement in activities that establish industry needs, capture and share knowledge and build capacity and resource through enabled networks and links that reach out to all levels of business and higher education. The project will assist businesses to access the wealth of knowledge in regional universities and turn this knowledge into products, services and improved business processes.

The CKE is a partnership between four national agencies, which is supported by a regional framework of universities (figure 1). The national agencies are Constructing Excellence in the built environment (CEBE); the Construction Industry Council (CIC) and CITBConstructionSkills, which together with CITB Northern Ireland and CIC form Construction Skills the new Sector Skills Council; and the Centre for Education in the Built Environment (CEBE). The partner HEIs are Leeds Metropolitan University, University of Wolverhampton, University of Central Lancashire, London South Bank University and the University of the West of England.

Figure 1: Structure of the Construction Knowledge Exchange Project

Each Construction Knowledge Exchange partner University has a project coordinator with a specific portfolio for industrial liaison. These coordinators have the responsibility for delivering the project outputs at a regional level and for developing their own institutions business and enterprise capability as an exemplar for others to follow.   They will also form part of the national network of HEIs and other agencies.