Enterprise Ireland commissioned RSM in April 2024 to evaluate the Built to Innovate Initiative. This was carried out under the Roadmap for increased adoption of MMC in Public Housing Delivery, in order to provide some baseline information about the programme's effectiveness and impact.
Key findings included a consensus that the Built to Innovate Initiative had the potential to positively influence the wider housing market in Ireland by promoting lean principles, digitalisation, and advanced manufacturing technologies. Similarly, the adoption of sustainable practices, such as timber frame construction, was highlighted as a key issue that could shape the future of the housing industry. A series of recommendations were set out to help develop the Built to Innovate Initiative in line with Housing policy.
Enterprise Ireland’s Built to Innovate initiative is based around existing Enterprise Ireland supports. It is not a standalone funding programme, but rather a framework that brings together a range of existing grant aid offerings and opens them to Irish residential construction companies to enable them to innovate and adopt Modern Methods of Construction.
Enterprise Ireland evaluates applications to the Built to Innovate programme using structured assessment criteria aligned to the programme's goals of improving productivity, innovation, and cost efficiency in Ireland’s residential construction sector. Productivity and Innovation Projects are evaluated on whether the project introduces a new process, or significantly improves an existing one, and can demonstrate a measurable impact on reducing the cost of home building in Ireland.
Enterprise Ireland evaluates whether the proposed project aligns with the programme’s core objectives of enhancing:
• Usage of Modern Methods of Construction (MMC)
• Lean construction processes
• Digitalisation and enhanced data use
• Research and innovation related to construction productivity
Enterprise Ireland will evaluate the Built to Innovate programme in 2027; this is five years since the initiation of the Programme.
