The Innovative Manufacturing and Construction Research Centre (IMCRC) will undertake a wide variety of work in the Manufacturing, Construction and product design areas. The work will be contained within 5 programmes:1. Transforming Organisations / Providing individuals, organisations, sectors and regions with the dynamic and innovative capability to thrive in a complex and uncertain future2. High Value Assets / Delivering tools, techniques and designs to maximise the through-life value of high capital cost, long life physical assets3. Healthy & Secure Future / Meeting the growing need for products & environments that promote health, safety and security4. Next Generation Technologies / The future materials, processes, production and information systems to deliver products to the customer5. Customised Products / The design and optimisation techniques to deliver customer specific products.Academics within the Loughborough IMCRC have an internationally leading track record in these areas and a history of strong collaborations to gear IMCRC capabilities with the complementary strengths of external groups.Innovative activities are increasingly distributed across the value chain. The impressive scope of the IMCRC helps us mirror this industrial reality, and enhances knowledge transfer. This advantage of the size and diversity of activities within the IMCRC compared with other smaller UK centres gives the Loughborough IMCRC a leading role in this technology and value chain integration area. Loughborough IMCRC as by far the biggest IMRC (in terms of number of academics, researchers and in funding) can take a more holistic approach and has the skills to generate, identify and integrate expertise from elsewhere as required. Therefore, a large proportion of the Centre funding (approximately 50%) will be allocated to Integration projects or Grand Challenges that cover a spectrum of expertise.The Centre covers a wide range of activities from Concept to Creation.The activities of the Centre will take place in collaboration with the world's best researchers in the UK and abroad. The academics within the Centre will be organised into 3 Research Units so that they can be co-ordinated effectively and can cooperate on Programmes.

For many refugees in European cities, finding affordable quality accommodation is a significant challenge replete with obstacles. Yet, decent housing is key to their successful integration into the local community since it provides social contacts, access to services and employment. In contrast to traditional social housing, new types of housing have emerged across Europe with a stronger focus on collaboration, participation and social support among residents. This project explores the potential of such collaborative housing solutions for the long-term integration of refugees. It will deliver recommendations for urban policy-making based on our studies in Austria, Sweden and the UK.

Physical activity is beneficial for the health of young people. It is recommended that young people engage in physical activity of moderate intensity for at least one hour a day, to maintain good health. However, just 24% of British girls and 32% of boys achieve this recommendation, which has been partly linked to the rise in obesity levels across the UK. Studies have found that weekday physical activity in school children is lowest when they are at school. Numerous school-based interventions have focused on physical education lessons in an attempt to increase activity levels, but have generally been unsuccessful. Environments both stimulate and provide the arena for physical activity although there is limited research to show if changing the physical environment at school influences activity levels in children. Camden Borough Council will be re-designing six existing school playgrounds with exciting bespoke features to engage children to become more active. The underlying goal is to encourage motivation by integrating potential for activities that are not motivated by traditional sports or by team competition. This presents a unique opportunity to evaluate the impact of these structures on physical activity, engagement, wellbeing, and academic performance. The building work will be undertaken in the school holidays of this year. Measuring physical activity in children is challenging and often relies on proxy measures such as parent-report that can be unreliable. In the last decade the measurement of physical activity has been revolutionised with the introduction of small wearable motion sensors that now enables us to assess movement objectively over prolonged periods at low cost. We propose to randomly select approximately 80 pupils from similar year groups from each of the six schools (total sample size~ 480) and collect objective physical activity data from them, using an accelerometer, at three different time points before and after the intervention (Spring/summer term 2014; Autumn term 2014; summer term 2015). Taking repeated follow up assessments would allow us to examine if short term effects are sustained over a longer period. We will also collect data on the child's mental and physical health (such as body mass index), and markers of academic performance.

The proposal integrates the expertise of the research centres and project partners in transport policies and planning, design, operations and evaluation. The UK government, European Commission and other agencies rightly emphasise the importance of socially inclusive and sustainable interventions. As yet, however, there is a dearth of comprehensive 'toolkits' and resources to support those who are working to reduce social exclusion in journey environments. The shared vision is to produce rigorous methodologies for sustainable policies and practices that will deliver effective socially inclusive design and operation in transport and the public realm from macro down to micro level. Three Core Projects will develop decision-support tools that will establish benchmarks and incorporate inclusion into policies, and support the design and operation of journey environments and transport facilities. A real-world but controlled 'Testbed' facility will allow these to be piloted in the context of the policy intentions and constraints that shape implementation. Solutions will then be tested and transferred to other Case Study areas and sites. Phase 2 of AUNT-SUE will build on the suite of tools developed in Phase I and apply these to intensive case studies of transport interchanges, nodes and development areas. This will both develop and test techniques to design accessible journey environments (routes and facilities) and transport provision and planning, and consult on these with people who have been identified as socially excluded from travel. Three inter-linked research modules will be validated through integrated case studies outlined below, utilising a GIS-based platform supported by CAD, relational databases and both quantitative and qualitative social surveys.

The proposal integrates the expertise of the research centres and project partners in transport policies and planning, design, operations and evaluation. The UK government, European Commission and other agencies rightly emphasise the importance of socially inclusive and sustainable interventions. As yet, however, there is a dearth of comprehensive 'toolkits' and resources to support those who are working to reduce social exclusion in journey environments. The shared vision is to produce rigorous methodologies for sustainable policies and practices that will deliver effective socially inclusive design and operation in transport and the public realm from macro down to micro level. Three Core Projects will develop decision-support tools that will establish benchmarks and incorporate inclusion into policies, and support the design and operation of journey environments and transport facilities. A real-world but controlled 'Testbed' facility will allow these to be piloted in the context of the policy intentions and constraints that shape implementation. Solutions will then be tested and transferred to other Case Study areas and sites. Phase 2 of AUNT-SUE will build on the suite of tools developed in Phase I and apply these to intensive case studies of transport interchanges, nodes and development areas. This will both develop and test techniques to design accessible journey environments (routes and facilities) and transport provision and planning, and consult on these with people who have been identified as socially excluded from travel. Three inter-linked research modules will be validated through integrated case studies outlined below, utilising a GIS-based platform supported by CAD, relational databases and both quantitative and qualitative social surveys.