Travis Perkins launches Innovation Awards to benefit UK construction industry

In the first initiative of its kind for Travis Perkins plc, the Travis Perkins Innovation Awards will be open for entries in March 2016. The awards will be open to a wide range of sectors for the submission of projects and ideas in an attempt to find ground breaking product innovation and problem solutions for the UK construction industry.

Anyone with a good idea can apply - inventors, university affiliated groups, individual students, suppliers or even Travis Perkins plc employees - all will be eligible to enter the awards through two entry streams of Problem Solving and Product Innovation.

New construction products are the focus of the Product Innovation category with applicants invited to submit their ideas and specifications. Applicants to the Problem Solving category can put forward solutions to industry specific problems identified by Travis Perkins plc customers.

The discretionary award structure is based on providing substantial financial and business support for product and idea development, including up to £10,000 in financing, an opportunity to trial products in selected Travis Perkins plc locations around the UK, and business mentoring and support from Travis Perkins plc’s senior team.

The Travis Perkins Innovation Awards will have its official launch at EcoBuild in early March. All the details of the awards will be available on a dedicated website (www.tpia.co.uk) which will be open for applications from 1st March, with a closing date of 30th June.

Organised by the Innovate team at Travis Perkins plc, the main sponsor of the Innovation Awards is Marshalls, the UK’s leading innovator of hard landscaping, water management and street furniture products. Peter Hallitt Managing Director of Group Trading at Marshalls says “We are delighted to be supporting this new initiative from Travis Perkins plc which provides a great opportunity to bring forward and support new product designs and fresh thinking in the construction industry where innovation is so important.”

John Carter, Chief Executive of Travis Perkins plc, sees the competition as an important expression of the Group’s commitment to innovation and new ideas. “Getting new ideas and products to market and finding the right channels for support can be very hard. This competition provides an opportunity for all the people out there who been harbouring a great new idea for the construction industry to bring it to the attention of market experts and get the support they need for development and marketing.”

Applications will be judged by an expert panel during the summer, with the winners announced by the end of September.

Source : Travis Perkins Press Release