Innovate UK is investing £18 million (US$23.5 million) in innovative projects to transform the UK construction sector. It part of the UK Government's Industrial Strategy and Construction Sector Deal to invest in solutions that will improve productivity, quality and performance of the UK construction sector.

Funded over the period of two years, the Keltbray Piling project will deliver unprecedented efficiency improvements in deep foundation construction through collaboration with a consortium of supply chain, technology, consulting and academic partners - Converge, DB Group, City University of London, and GI Energy. Selected from over 100 applicants, the expert jury anticipates provocative results and disruptive market impact. It is the second Innovate UK grant that has been awarded to Keltbray Group in the course of six months and increases the company's funded innovation project value to £1.1 million.

Michael Pelken, Keltbray's Innovation director said: "This collaboration is designed to develop the HIPER pile, a cutting-edge Keltbray Piling development that has the potential to revolutionise the piling industry. It combines a series of new, emerging technologies and ‘around the corner' innovations to create larger benefits applied to sustainable foundation solutions. The project is perfectly aligned with Construction 2025 objectives and the UK Industrial Strategy."

Keltbray Piling's MD, Stuart Norman, added: "This will be a game-changing development with wide-ranging benefits that have the potential to enhance the standing and reputation of the collaborating parties involved, and to drive larger industry change in the UK and beyond. The award of this grant now ensures that we are able to directly employ four full-time research and development engineers, embedded within Keltbray and our collaboration partners to ensure that we drive these much-needed changes through to completion."