The Chartered Institute Of Building (CIOB)-backed ACT-UK Simulation Centre - the UK's first construction management simulation centre - is on course to open in September in Coventry.

Work on the centre is progressing well with a topping out event held at the end of last year and the building due for completion this summer. It will deliver construction management training featuring a pioneering form of simulation training using virtual reality. The centre has already sold nearly 800 course days to UK construction companies and training organisations.


The training facility will recreate, in exact detail, an actual construction site using virtual reality. The three-dimensional computer simulation of the construction project will be projected on to a 12-metre panoramic screen in the Simulation Centre.

Trainees work in actual site cabins and will be given realistic site management scenarios to deal with - based on real-life situations - with site personnel, colleagues, and members of the public played by professional actors. The scenarios test trainee managers' development of management, knowledge, decision-making and people talents.

A CIOB visit to the Centre, at the Coventry University technology park is planned for later this year.

(CD/JM)