Hamworthy Heating is one of 22 ‘best in class’ consortium partners working with global engineering and construction company Laing O’Rourke to help accelerate new house building technology in the UK.

Administered by Finance Birmingham, funding of £22m under the Government’s Advanced Manufacturing Supply Chain Initiative (AMSCI) will help support research and development, investment in new manufacturing facilities and training for the advanced manufacturing of homes, buildings and infrastructure.

It is estimated that more than 600 new, direct jobs and as many as 1,000 across the diverse supply chain will be created through the grant, helping to address the UK’s housing capacity gap of between 60,000 to 100,000 homes annually.

Business secretary Vince Cable underlined the importance of the initiative: “To meet urgent demand for new affordable homes, the construction industry must embrace new technologies and techniques – and our support will help them do this more quickly. This reflects the long-term commitment of our industrial strategy to modernising British manufacturing.”

Hamworthy Heating’s director of sales and marketing, Keith Thompson, welcomes this whole new approach to construction. “This is bringing the supply chain together in a collaborative way and will result in enormous gas, carbon and energy savings. Our commercial boiler applications will bring benefits to the plant room for larger projects, such as district heating.

He added: “As a British manufacturer, we are delighted to have been selected as one of the ‘best in class’ partners and get jobs back in the UK.”

Pictured right: Business secretary Vince Cable (left) and Laing O'Rourke chairman Ray O'Rourke (right) meet an apprentice at the Elephant Road site developed by Delancey in London's Elephant and Castle.