Dan Westgate, Managing Director of Brilliant Ideas, outlines some of the obstacles associated with the adoption of new product development and how modular innovations are challenging traditional approaches to construction.
Imagine being offered modular offsite systems that are robustly tested, tried in real-world conditions to see if they work, voted for by panels of industry judges and proven to be safer, faster, cheaper and greener than traditional methods. What would it take for you to embrace these new technologies in construction?
Based in the Derbyshire Dales, we have made a name for ourselves as inventors and manufacturers of unique construction innovations after seeing first-hand how operatives and engineers complete everyday tasks on-site, and through near misses and accidents. We have invested tens of thousands of pounds in research and development to bring these product and systems to market.
While multiple innovations have been rapidly adopted and deployed by end users and main contractors as more effective alternative systems, including a good chunk of the top 50 construction companies, embracing new technology can be a slow process due to resistance rooted in unfamiliarity, a lack of understanding, and concerns about long-term durability.Part of our challenge with developing new modular innovations is educating the market that our niche products fix common problems. Take Stacker Packers which is the brand name for our levelling shims. Not everyone understands their structural benefits because they are made of plastic. When shims have to be load bearing, the industry ‘go to’ solution is steel because they have a very high compressive strength. But our plastic system is load bearing too, in different sizes and configurations.
Stacker Packers have been used on Everton’s Bramley Moore stadium, Fulham, Anfield and Emirates football Club, Manchester’s Co-op Live, and La Sagrada Familia in Barcelona. A lot of thought has gone into the material selection, which is a virgin high impact polystyrene, with UV stabilisers to overcome the yellowing and brittleness linked with prolonged exposure to UV rays, and absolutely critical to performance. Not all plastic shims are load bearing, so it’s important to ask questions about their structural integrity with your supplier. Another unique feature with Stackers is the interlocking protrusion to help keep the load stack stable, and a side profile interlock to create larger load areas.
ALIMATS® is another modular system that comes under the Brilliant Ideas brand. Used under mobile cranes and powered access to spread load, the interlocking system is manufactured using only green energy from high-grade recycled aluminium in the form of an extruded metallic truss design, making them strong and stiff. Light enough to be set-up by hand, they lower the burden on-site of bringing in heavy machinery at an additional cost.
Perhaps what baffles us most, is why large corners of the construction industry are still ignoring the material properties when specifying mats. Most competing mat manufacturers only focus on promoting the strength of crane mats, and not stiffness. You might question why this is important, but we believe the industry is being completely misled by some crane mat manufacturers quoting unrealistic safe working loads. The impact on the offsite sector is potentially aborted crane lifts when the temporary works engineer realises the plastic mats sat under the crane aren’t fit for purpose because they are not stiff enough, and bend.
Company CEO, Chris Massey is the visionary behind each fully-fledged patented invention. In recognition of his commitment to innovation, Brilliant Ideas was named IPA Innovation Champion 2023, at the British Construction Industry Awards, beating Balfour Beatty Vinci, Sellafield and a joint venture between Alice Technologies, Skanska, Costain and Strabag. In the same year, we also won Most Innovative Supplier at the Building Innovation Awards.
For more information visit: www.brilliantideasltd.co.uk
Image: ALIMATS® lower the burden on-site of bringing in heavy machinery at an additional cost
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