The GELCLAD project aims at creating a novel cost-effective, durable, industrialised and easy to install composite insulation cladding system, based on a single multi-meso-structured panel with excellent insulation properties, made from functional bio-polymer composite (ecoWPC) as skin coupling with unique advanced foamable extrudable aerogel (FEA) as insulation core/layer. The GELCLAD is produced using a single co-extrusion procedure in which both ecoWPC framing skin and FEA core are simultaneously formed such that no discontinuity is formed between them. Using a multilayer effective continuous extrusion allows the benefits of high quality multi-meso-structured systems and productive production to be obtained without the traditional drawbacks of existing bonding lamination of extremely high embodied energy insulation materials, and high labouring and skilled installation of multi material layers. By combining also this biopolymer based ecoWPC/aerogel with passive pre-programed materials responding dynamically to ambient stimuli and control the air flow, GELCLAD wants to target the market as a novel environmentally friendly multi-functional smart cladding solution, to be used as an ecological alternative to the current cladding and ventilated façade systems. The foreseen impacts of the novel GELCLAD will be 20% lower embodied energy and carbon than traditional oil based panels, attain more than 40% reduction of energy savings due to GELCLAD refurbishment, reduce costs of 40% over traditional façade thanks to single panel systems, less installation and maintenance expenses, while providing functional building envelope solutions for a life span over 50 years. Full scale demonstration of the application of the novel cladding generation will be performed in demo and public building in Spain and Slovenia for ready uptake and spreading of new technologies, and many other building systems will follow after the success of GELCLAD.

Projects in the construction (AEC) sector generally involve collaboration between various participating companies over the (building construction) lifecycle using different systems and storage solutions. As part of this, the compatibility, control and access of data objects created is critical to the success of a project. Currently, coordination between participants is often a labour intensive manual process and can require a monopoly of software systems to be enforced. The C4C project will demonstrate how a multi-vendor Cloud computing system can be used throughout the lifecycle, thereby preventing single vendor lock-in and enabling a variety of Cloud environments, accessible at different costs, to be used. Data sharing through C4C will be managed and provenance-tracked to automate coordination and staged data verification, which will be based on the BIM process model. This approach will also offer a pragmatic, scalable delivery mechanism for the UK BIM agenda to be realised.

Wireless networks in buildings suffer from congestion, interference, security and safety concerns, restricted propagation and poor in-door location accuracy. The Internet of Radio-Light (IoRL) project develops a safer, more secure, customizable and intelligent building network that reliably delivers increased throughput (greater than 10Gbps) from access points pervasively located within buildings, whilst minimizing interference and harmful EM exposure and providing location accuracy of less than 10 cm. It thereby shows how to solve the problem of broadband wireless access in buildings and promotes the establishment of a global standard in ITU. Building landlords will be incentivized to find funding to realize this solution for their properties to increase their value resulting in a stimulated market for broadband networking products in buildings, benefiting society and stimulating the world Gross Domestic Product. IoRL project provides solutions to the two main barriers to develop this broadband networking solution in buildings because it: (i) Brings together a multi-disciplinary team of research institutions and industries in a collaborative project to develop and demonstrate this vision, who otherwise would not have assembled to achieve this goal; (ii) Develops a proof of concept demonstrator, which will act as the basis for standardization of a global solution. The starting point is the joint VLC demonstrator at Tsinghua University & ISEP, the mmWave at Cobham Wireless and the NFV/SDN at NCSR-Democratos. The challenges are to (i) Develop broadband communication solutions for buildings by integrating these technologies to exploit the pervasiveness and accessibility of the existing electric light access points, the broadband capacities of mmWave and VLC technologies and the flexibility of SDN/NFV; (ii) Industrially design a radio-light solution that can be integrated into the myriad of form factors of existing electric light systems and consumer products.

Conventional Portland cement (PC) production is a major contributor to global CO2 emissions and hence there is a great deal of commercial interest in low carbon cements. One variety of such low carbon cements can be produced by mixing binder materials (including heat treated clays, industrial ashes or slags) with an alkaline chemical activator and construction aggregates to form concrete. The mixture sets and hardens but the new cements have associated CO2 emissions that are much lower than those associated with PC manufacture. These cements (which are the subject of this project), now need to be optimised, manufactured and their performance demonstrated as fit for purpose on a commercial scale. The project includes a supply chain focused consortium including manufacturers of chemical activators, precast and ready-mixed concretes. The project is conducting industrial plant trials, generating performance and durability data, optimising the chemical activator compositions and addressing barriers to market.

Abstracts are not currently available in GtR for all funded research. This is normally because the abstract was not required at the time of proposal submission, but may be because it included sensitive information such as personal details.