The Sustainable Construction Futures (SCF) group engages internationally leading academics and researchers in addressing wider issues in the construction industry through the development of socio-technical innovative solutions. Our interrelated themes directly align with industry challenges at micro-, meso- and macro levels – ranging from small scale solutions and regional challenges to global strategic issues affecting sector performance.

Exemplar projects and expertise include:

Offsite manufacturing, BIM and digital construction
Procurement, process, governance and innovation trajectories
Improvement and change initiatives, environmental sustainability, modelling and scenario development
Economics and value management
Risk management and disaster management
Materials (smart skins, self-healing concrete, fibre-metal laminates) and renewable energy (thermal storage, heat exchangers, advanced combined heat and power systems).

Group members are leading several pioneering initiatives through a wide range of networks, including our joint venture company BIM Academy Enterprises Ltd joint with Ryder Architecture.

Group leadership and contacts

Contact: Niraj Thurairajah and Zaid Alwan

This research group forms part of the Department of Architecture and Built Environment.

Academic team

Niraj Thurairajah (Lead)
Zaid Alwan (Co-Lead)
Allan Abuwanza
Hazel Ponton
Jianfeng Zhao
Kanchana Ginige
Kishor Zingre
Lovelin Obi
Michelle Littlemore
Onaopepo Adeniyi
Pablo Martinez Rodriguez
Rashid Maqbool
Susan Dawson
Terence lam

Research relationships

This group is a part of the University’s multi-disciplinary research into the themes of Digital Living and Future Engineering.

Research from this group will be submitted to REF2028 under UoA 13: Architecture, Built Environment and Planning.

To view research papers emanating from this group, please click here to view Northumbria Research Link, our open access repository of research output from Northumbria University.