Government grants available to help construction companies innovate and diversify are not being applied for, according to new research published by Constructionline and Capita Symonds.

Matt James, associate director at Capita Symonds, has been assisting construction sector companies to respond to changing market challenges, design and develop new solutions and improve their current services. He concluded: “Companies are looking at ways in which they can overcome some of the key issues – time, resource, capability, focus and finance – by preventing or limiting R&D or service improvement activities. The key is looking at the entire process, from trend spotting and in-depth market research at the outset, all the way through to funding and then to product or service launch and commercial exploitation.”