Kingspan have announced a new five-year partnership with the Technological University Dublin (TU Dublin) and a donation of €500,000 to support the development of the University's innovative Design and Construct Centre.

The Centre, located at Broombridge close to the University's Grangegorman Campus, aims to enhance the competitiveness of Irish construction, engineering and architectural companies in the global marketplace. It will offer a collaborative learning experience and capacity-building for students from apprenticeship to PhD level, and a testbed for developing innovative and transformative solutions for industry.

Work on the development of the cutting edge facility, including the Kingspan Lab, begins in Q3 of 2021 and will facilitate educational, research and engagement activities. It will have a particular focus on collaborative and multidisciplinary innovation in building performance, digital construction, and smart buildings. Both TU Dublin students and industry staff will avail of skills development and research and development opportunities in the Centre.

Optimistic about the collaboration, our Group Head of Innovation, Mike Stenson, said: "TU Dublin's objectives for their new Design and Construction Innovation Centre in Broombridge, Dublin aligns well with what we do at our IKON Innovation Centre. This alignment is in areas such as showing what is possible in modern building design through a combination of technology, sensors and advanced materials and new products. Being able to partner with the University, gives Kingspan the unrivalled opportunity to work with TU Dublin students collaboratively during the course of their studies. This learning period is the ideal timeframe for Kingspan and the students to build a shared understanding, knowledge and curiosity in innovation, digitalisation and sustainability for a better future built environment. The partnership and the Kingspan Lab also enable the opportunity to collaborate in extensive research in each of these areas, offering students exciting, future-focused and comprehensive learning opportunities that will benefit TU Dublin, Kingspan and the wider construction sector."

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TU Dublin is Ireland's largest education and skills development provider in the Architecture, Engineering and Construction (AEC) sector, with over 7,500 undergraduate and postgraduate students, 1,000 trade apprentices and 120 doctoral students in the University. The €22 million Design and Construct Centre is the University's response to current critical skills shortages in the sector, but it also addresses the potential for developing innovative and sustainable solutions to construction challenges globally.  With the support of industry partners, it will be the first such Centre of Excellence in Europe for multidisciplinary and collaborative education, research in collaboration with industry.

Welcoming the announcement, President of TU Dublin, Professor David FitzPatrick, said: "Kingspan's generous support will contribute to exciting multidisciplinary and collaborative engagement between academics in TU Dublin and industry experts. This is an opportunity to develop new areas of growth for the design and construction sector, as well as integrated educational opportunities for students from apprentices to PhD in digital, industrialised and autonomous construction, integrated energy systems, whole life building performance, integrated supply chain management, smart cities, and more. The Centre will optimise these cross-sectoral synergies and deliver future-focused educational offerings to support the development of a more sustainable and smarter built environment."