On 5 June, Metabuilding Labs project hosted a workshop titled "Unlocking Construction Innovation" as part of the International Social Housing Festival held in Dublin. The session gathered housing professionals, researchers, and technology pioneers to explore how housing providers can adopt advanced construction components and systems. With a focus on accelerating innovation through a collaborative, network-based approach, the workshop offered attendees real-world case studies, expert insights and valuable networking opportunities. At a time when Europe is facing a deepening housing crisis, the event aimed to bridge the gap between research and real-world impact.

Germain Adell of Metabuilding Association opened the workshop with a presentation titled “Metabuilding Labs: Bridging Industry and Housing Providers”, introducing participants to the Metabuilding Ecosystem: an open innovation test bed designed to support the EU construction sector. He outlined the challenges that SMEs face in adopting digital technologies and scaling up innovation, and explained how Metabuilding streamlines access to key services that make this process more accessible and effective. He also gave an overview of the Metabuilding Platform, emphasizing its role in helping SMEs test new solutions in real buildings with actual residents, a particularly challenging step due to the difficulty of securing suitable sites. Social housing organisations are key actors in this process, as they seek innovative solutions to improve renovation efficiency and reduce their carbon footprint.

The first session, “Case Studies of Technology Development and Acceptance”, showcased concrete examples of innovation in action. Sylvie Louisfert from Groupe Polylogis presented testing results from France, sharing both the successes and challenges of piloting new technologies in social housing. She noted the limited number of available testbeds in France and the difficulty of testing only a small range of innovations. Nevertheless, she emphasised the value of such initiatives as a powerful driver of environmental, social, and technological progress in housing, construction, and renovation. Following this, Paul Moran of University of Galway introduced Construct.Innovate, Ireland’s first national, industry-led construction research centre. He explained how the need for such a hub led to its creation, with the centre now serving as a facilitator of world-class research, a collaboration enabler and a provider of open-source information for the sector. Finally, Justin Kinsella presented HTL.Tech, an SME pioneering 3D construction printing technology. He highlighted how this innovation can accelerate building processes, reduce labour requirements, enhance quality and precision, lower costs and improve project certainty.

The second session, “Perspectives on Market Adoption Challenges”, featured a roundtable discussion moderated by João Gonçalves of Housing Europe. The panel included Justin Kinsella, Germain Adell, Ingrid Vogler (Federal Association of German Housing and Real Estate Companies), Marc Patay (Nantes Métropole Habitat) and Sebastian Delpont (Ressorts). Together, they explored the complex landscape of scaling innovation in the housing sector. Key points included the need to build coalitions across different stakeholders, the importance of clear standards and mutual understanding and the role of the Metabuilding initiative in breaking down silos through a Europe-wide innovation ecosystem. Panellists acknowledged the diversity of national contexts, each with unique regulations, financial structures and legal frameworks, that complicate the cross-border adoption of innovative technologies. They also highlighted persistent barriers such as limited funding, legal constraints, and the challenge of adapting, replicating and scaling solutions across vastly different social and policy environments in Europe.