Work with Us | Off-site Construction Research Centre | UNB

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Off-site Construction Research Centre

Work with us

Join our mission to revolutionize the construction industry through research and innovation

Elevate your construction business to new heights by partnering with the Off-site Construction Research Centre. Our cutting-edge research, innovation and development can help you stay ahead of the curve in the rapidly evolving construction industry.

With our extensive expertise in the off-site construction sector, we offer a comprehensive range of services that can help your business increase productivity, optimize processes, implement digital technologies and bring your product ideas to life through lab testing.

Areas of research

We help companies unlock potential through research and internships that optimize processes and enhance productivity strategies.

Research areas include

  • Assessment: process mapping, flow charts, process charts, activity diagrams, material movement mapping and modelling
  • Measurement: time studies, video capture
  • Analysis: crew balance charts, productivity ratings, labour utilization factors, cycle charts, identification of non-value add work improvement initiatives, plant layout optimization

Our success stories

Partner review

"Offsite construction to speed deployment, improve reliability, and decrease costs is the future of the energy industry. UNB's continuous innovation and leadership in this field will help to accelerate the clean energy transition."

Ramya Swaminathan, CEO, Malta Inc.

Our research helps organizations create and adopt digital solutions with seamless integration through internships.

Research areas include

  • Network structure mapping
  • Building information modelling
  • Virtual design and construction
  • Machine learning and artificial intelligence
  • Evaluation of digital technologies
  • API development
  • Implementation of augmented and mixed reality in construction
  • Benchmarking, road mapping and implementation of construction technologies
  • Software (CAD and CAM) and manufacturing hardware (CNC)

Our success stories

Partner review

"We are proud to collaborate with UNB's Off-site Construction Research Centre to develop data-driven modeling for the scaffold industry. Together, we are shaping the future of construction, with a focus on safety, efficiency, and innovation. Our partnership with UNB's Off-site Construction Research Centre is a prime example of successful collaboration between academia, industry, and government. By working together, we are driving the advancement and implementation of off-site construction technologies and practices, ultimately accelerating innovation in the construction industry."

Brandon Marton, CEO, Hinton Scaffold Solution Inc.

We provide cutting-edge lab testing services for comprehensive analysis of building materials, structural components, and digital monitoring of the tests to measure and improve mechanical and physical properties that fit project's needs.

Research areas include

  • Building envelope testing (air and water infiltration, wind pressure testing, structural and impact tests)
  • Characterization of mechanical material properties for building materials
  • Materials durability testing such as freeze-thaw and erosion tests
  • Structural component testing under flexure, shear, axial and other loading
  • Monitoring of structure and material response during strength tests with digital image correlation
  • Use of additive manufacturing in off-site construction
  • Structural analysis and design
  • Finite element analysis

Our success stories

Partner review

“Looking at how previous OCRC projects have influenced our industry makes me confident in their technical expertise and passion for running a building envelope research facility. I am confident a team of experts including Dr. Alan Lloyd, Dr. Zhen Lei, Dr. Samira Rizaee, Brandon Searle, and other technical staff, will make substantial contributions to the industry through this facility.”

Don Isnor, P.Eng., Vice President, Strescon Limited

We work with trade associations, standards development organizations and public sector organizations to perform industry-wide research that highlight industry trends, benchmarks current capabilities and capacity and delivers roadmaps for industry to innovate.

Research areas include

  • Documenting capability and capacity to conduct industry benchmarking. Project performance evaluation and assessment to quantify benefits or drawbacks of off-site construction (e.g., safety, sustainability, cost, productivity, digital technology maturity, etc.)
  • Policy, standard and guideline consultation, contribution and development
  • Supply chain management and mapping
  • Workforce development and impact

Our success stories

Partner review

"I have worked with the University of New Brunswick’s Off-site Construction Research Centre (OCRC) and other industry leaders over the last two years developing a new CIB roadmap for offsite. This applies capability maturity modelling and thematic alignment across Design, Manufacturing and Construction to establish definitive evidential chains covering: business platforms, skills escalators, capacity planning, resilience scenarios, process optimisation, and technology-automation integration.

The culmination of this work has highlighted offsite’s unique innovation premium potential across its products and services. However, this work would not have been possible without the leadership, insight and tireless professionalism of OCRC. Thank you everyone.”

Jack Goulding, Director, Unisearch Ltd.

 

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