BB7 secures Innovate UK funding for new knowledge sharing platform with University of Leeds
BB7 is proud to be entering a new Knowledge Transfer Partnership with the University of Leeds, supported by funding from Innovate UK.
Over the next 2.5 years, the partnership will focus on developing a bespoke Knowledge Management and Training Platform for our business, helping us capture, organise and share the technical knowledge held across our teams.
For us, this is an exciting step forward in how we support our people, strengthen our internal learning culture and continue developing practical innovation through our Research, Development and Innovation team. By bringing together academic expertise, digital innovation and the experience of our professionals, the project reflects something that is central to BB7: putting people first and giving our teams the tools, knowledge and confidence to keep growing.
Sharing knowledge more effectively
The built environment is changing quickly. New regulations, advances in building science and growing demand for more sustainable design mean the knowledge our professionals hold is more valuable than ever, and increasingly important to share well.
For BB7, this Knowledge Transfer Partnership is built around a simple but important question: how can we make our team’s knowledge more accessible, more connected and easier to use across the business?
Across our business, specialist expertise sits within our teams, disciplines, sectors and career stages. Through this project, we want to capture that collective knowledge in a way that supports learning, collaboration and consistency, while helping our people continue to deliver high-quality advice for our clients.
Using technology to support our people
Working with leading researchers at the University of Leeds, we will develop a platform that uses Explainable AI and Machine Learning to capture, organise and share technical expertise across our disciplines.
The project will begin with fire engineering, where specialist knowledge is particularly important, before we explore opportunities to expand the platform’s reach across the wider organisation. In time, our aim is to support professionals at all stages of their careers, from those building early technical confidence to experienced specialists who want to share their knowledge more widely.
Importantly, this initiative is not about replacing expertise with technology. It is about using technology to strengthen the capability of our people.
The platform will help accelerate skill development, improve consistency in technical decision-making and give our teams more time to focus on the complex, creative and judgement-led work that has a significant impact on building safety and performance.
A milestone for our Innovation Lab
David Baron, RD&I Director at BB7, said:
“Securing Innovate UK funding for this Knowledge Transfer Partnership is a fantastic milestone for BB7 and a strong endorsement of the direction we are taking through our Innovation Lab.
Our people hold an incredible amount of technical knowledge, much of which has been built through years of project experience, research and collaboration. This project is about finding a better way to share that knowledge across the business, so that learning becomes faster, more connected and more accessible to everyone.
By working with the University of Leeds, we have the opportunity to combine academic excellence with practical industry insight. That is exactly where meaningful innovation happens, when research is applied to real challenges in a way that supports our people, our clients and the wider built environment.”
Continuing our relationship with Leeds
The collaboration builds on the work already being delivered through BB7’s Innovation Lab, where we focus on turning research, development and innovation into practical progress.
It also follows our previous academic collaboration with the University of Leeds, where our team supported research into evacuation strategies in high-rise buildings, exploring how modelling can provide valuable insight into occupant behaviour, accessibility and emergency planning.
This latest Knowledge Transfer Partnership continues that relationship, applying academic expertise to another important industry challenge: how specialist knowledge is captured, shared and embedded across a growing technical consultancy.
The University of Leeds has a strong track record in Knowledge Transfer Partnerships, which are designed to help organisations work with academic experts and dedicated KTP Associates to translate research into practical, real-world solutions. Through this 2.5-year project, BB7 and the University of Leeds will work together to develop a platform that can support innovation, learning and long-term knowledge sharing across our business.
What this means for BB7
For our teams, this means faster access to knowledge, richer learning opportunities and greater confidence as they develop in their careers. For our clients, it supports more consistent, high-quality advice grounded in the collective expertise of our organisation. For the wider sector, it also shows how specialist consultancies like ours can embrace digital transformation responsibly, using technology to support expertise rather than replace it.
We are proud to be working with the University of Leeds on this next stage of our journey and look forward to sharing further updates, including details about an exciting opportunity to join the project as a KTP Associate.