77916Developing Active Mass Dampers to enable post-COVID19 use of modular construction in vibration sensitive facilitiesClosedCollaborative R&DInnovate UKDuring the COVID-19 crisis, a significant problem has emerged of a backlog in medical treatments that have been postponed whilst the NHS and its staff understandably focused on the immediate threats caused by the pandemic. Now that we are exiting from the most severe constraints of the lockdown, the NHS urgently needs to deal with the backlog, and it must do this within the constraints of increased social distancing and hence increased requirements for treatment space. A programme of rapid healthcare building development is required and has already been initiated. Modular buildings, which are a high quality, factory produced, rapidly constructed and highly sustainable form of modern construction, will provide a key solution to the need for rapid construction of new buildings for healthcare. We are working with the SEISMIC-II consortium of construction companies, who have been developing modular buildings for schools, to urgently adapt their designs for healthcare facilities which have much more stringent vibration criteria than schools. This can be done very efficiently and effectively through the use of active mass damper (AMD) technology - a new and exciting technology that allows the development of efficient, low cost and environmentally sustainable buildings that have excellent vibration performance. Vibration performance is of crucial importance for medical buildings. Vibrations can disturb building occupants, particularly sick and vulnerable patients, and can also affect the performance of sensitive healthcare equipment. This is a problem that has affected healthcare and laboratory buildings in the past, including both those constructed traditionally and those made from modular construction. AMDs are autonomous devices that sense floor vibrations and generate mechanical forces to cancel them out. They can be conceptualised as 'active noise cancelling headphones for floors'. They are significantly more effective than previously used methods of floor vibration control and have the potential to provide a solution to the conundrum of providing more efficient and sustainable buildings (i.e. with reduced material consumption) whilst still maintaining excellent vibration performance. In the longer term, AMD technology will provide the construction sector with a much-needed competitive advantage as it is an advanced technology that can provide a step-change in building performance and efficiency. It will increase the uptake of more sustainable structural forms, such as constrained layer timber and modular construction. Buildings and construction account for approximately 40% of global CO2 emissions so the environmental impact is potentially huge. Bringing the technology to market will generate significant new economic activity, create engineering and manufacturing jobs and provide a new commercial advantage to UK engineering and construction firms who adopt it. In summary, this project will bring a new and advanced technology to market, contributing significantly to the efforts to rapidly build new urgently required healthcare facilities for the post-COVID-19 world. It will also provide the construction industry in the UK with a new competitive advantage on the world stage and will develop further much needed high-value manufacturing in the UK, providing employment at a time when it is so badly needed.