Digital Construction Week review

The first ever Digital Construction Week ran from 20-22 October 2015 and was attended by UK Construction Media. Here’s our review of the event.

The three-day event began with an evening reception held at the Irish Embassy in London where Head of BIM for the UK BIM Task Group, David Philp, addressed the gathered VIPs and spoke about the spirit of collaboration:

“What is BIM about? I think if anything, it’s probably one of the biggest cultural changes we’ve made in a long time; it’s about bringing people together.

“We’re talking about unification, improving our industry; we’re talking about sector modernisation, efficiency reform, and probably at the heart of it is this thing called collaboration.”

David Hancock, Head of Construction at the Cabinet Office also spoke at the reception and talked of digital construction being a force for gender diversity and a greater BME presence within the construction industry.

He said: “The really exciting thing for me is that we will also enable a drive and improvement of gender diversity and BME involvement in construction industry by attracting individuals who have not previously considered our industry as attractive.”

What was evidently clear from both these addresses was Digital Construction Week was about collaboration and bringing people together.

Director of Digital Construction Week, Oliver Hughes, described the event as “an evolution conference”. In his welcome notes he said: “No matter what your profession or experience we want to bring everyone together to start thinking and sharing what digital means to you.”

After Tuesday night’s reception, the two-day exhibition and conference programme got underway at the Business Design Centre in London.

UK Construction Media’s Scott Bryan with David Hancock, Head of Construction at the Cabinet Office

 

The Conference

Running alongside the main exhibition, the two-day conference programme covered all the topics and issues one would expect from a gathering of the digital sector’s leading experts.

BIM guru David Philp kicked off the conference programme. What is immediately evident with David is his passion and enthusiasm for BIM and the digital pathway that the construction industry is on. This infectiousness, coupled with his vast knowledge, made him the ideal person to get the event underway.

In his opening, Mr Philp said that Digital Construction Week was about the digitisation of the construction industry and its journey from analogue to digital. He confirmed the government’s commitment to BIM and spoke of the involvement of the BIM Task Group continuing beyond 2016.

There followed an absorbing panel discussion on the future of the built environment and how digital technology is changing the face of the construction industry.

The issue of collaboration for collaboration’s sake was discussed, with the consensus being that the sharing of data and information should always be done with a purpose, otherwise there is a real danger of inefficiency.

David Philp commented: “Don’t do it for the sake of it. It’s about having a purpose and applying technology with a purpose.”

The conference panel took a variety of questions from the floor and social media, which opened up interesting lines of debate. One such question being the role of experienced people within a digitised construction industry.

Again, the sense of collaboration was evident in the answer: using the strengths of people and technology together, rather than it being a question of choosing between them.

The idea that digital can allow people and companies to do more with less was examined in the ‘Adopting a Digital Mind-set’ part of the conference programme. Given the looming shadow over the construction industry of the skills shortage, this was of particular interest and relevance.

Indeed, the skills shortage and the need to open the construction industry up to a more diverse range of people was a running theme throughout the programme.

‘Shaken & Stirred, the digital natives are coming’ gave a glimpse of the construction professionals of the future – the digital natives. Class of Your Own, providers of education programmes to schools and colleges, gave a group of 16 year olds the chance to demonstrate they could work with a BIM model for their James Bond 007 hotel. From the evidence on show, it would appear that Daniel Craig might not be the only one to have to contend with a smart and a capable young gadget master.

There was also a discussion on the role of digital in terms of industry growth and what skills are needed to fulfil these ambitions. Again, the issue of the skills shortage is something that won’t go away for the construction industry. The panel felt that schools would benefit from more engagement from industry, with talented individuals benefiting from mentoring.

Highlights from day two of the conference programme included Andrew McNaughton, Technical Director on HS2, discussing the influence digital is having on the huge infrastructure project.

Ron Bakker, architect of ‘The World’s Smartest Building’ was also on hand to provide an insight into the future of design. The Edge can track everything form energy use to when vending machines need to be restocked. It is also capable of saving energy by shutting down parts of the building that are unoccupied to reduce costs of heating, cooling and lighting.

There were ample chances to meet with other like-minded people and companies, with networking breaks held throughout the two-day conference programme.

 

Seminar stages

Away from the main conference area, the exhibition also hosted three seminar stages: the Main Stage Seminar & Technology Theatre, the BIM 4 Communities Village, and the BIM Ireland Pavilion.

The Main Stage Seminar & Technology Theatre provided two days of informative sessions, which included lectures and case studies, workshops, drop-in clinics and interactive forums.

The BIM 4 Communities Village provided discussion on the challenges and benefits of adopting and implementing BIM.

For those BIM novices looking to get to grips with its implementation or even for an expert looking ahead to BIM Level 3, it also hosted drop-in clinics after each session and provided an invaluable resource for discussion and to ask questions.

The BIM Ireland Pavilion provided the perfect showcase of the capability and technology available from a range of companies from Ireland.

President of the Association of Consulting Engineers of Ireland, Kevin Rudden spoke at Digital Construction Week’s reception and described how Ireland had become incentivised by the UK government’s decision to mandate BIM and also the country’s need to adopt the technology due to the huge amount of overseas investment, particularly the United States, that had demanded BIM on their projects.

He outlined CIC’s BIM vision, which was presented again at the BIM Ireland Pavilion: “The Construction Industry Council (CIC) in Ireland embraces a BIM enabled world. CIC actively encourages the Irish Construction Sector to continue to take full advantage of current and emerging information and communication technologies to remain at the forefront of the industry in Europe. The CIC views BS1192, PAS1192 and BS8536 as important routes towards standardised BIM implementation.”

From the panel discussions and keynote speeches, it was evident that professionals within Ireland’s construction industry are embracing BIM and ready to share their expertise across the globe.

The exhibitors

The event’s exhibitors gave a fantastic opportunity to see the latest digital technology and how it could be applied within the construction industry. Over 70 businesses were represented, including many of the industries most familiar names such as Bentley, RPS, Union Square, Autodesk, Trimble, Asite, and Newforma, and offered visitors the chance to experience first hand some the latest technological developments that digital had to offer.

Technologies on show included BIM, augmented and virtual reality, robotics, wearables and laser scanning equipment.

For those uninitiated in the world of BIM and digital, the products being demonstrated was an eye opening journey as to what technology is capable of and how it can be applied to all manner of construction related tasks.

One of the first exhibitors you would see upon entering the venue is Hobs and their visionary render virtual wall. This provided an immersive 3D view of buildings and space that could be explored and interacted with.

Soluis and their virtual reality dome was another stand that attracted people hoping to experience a virtual world, which they did via an Xbox controller. This provided an immersive environment that allowed users to walkthrough designs and garner a true sense of a project’s space. The benefits of this over more traditional plans were obvious.

Another stand out display came from HAL Robotics. The London-based robotic control specialists demonstrated ABB Robotic capabilities, giving a glimpse of the collaborative opportunities in the construction industry that the company are working towards.

UK Plant Operators, in association with Lynch, presented a potential solution to the skills shortage of plant operators. The Tenstar training simulation with a fully working driving and operating environment allowed people to get behind the wheel and experience working an excavator. Safe to say, a number of major accidents were prevented by conducting demonstrations of this training in a virtual world!

FARO’s latest scanning equipment, the FARO Focus 3D Laser Scanner and the FARO Scanner Freestyle 3D, which can be used for creating point clouds and capturing 3D images. The benefits for those working in surveying, construction and civil engineering were clear and a great example of technology being used well.

MagiCAD’s exhibit gave the chance to see the MagiCAD for Revit software in action. The piece of kit for HVAC and electrical design allows for a BIM design to be filled with data in terms of product dimensions and performance. Again, this level of information being immediately at hand, demonstrated a collaborative and streamlined approach to a construction project.

 

Conclusion

The digital construction industry was certainly well represented with all the main players present but it was also great to see some new faces in attendance.

The event succeeded in plotting the journey BIM had taken and what the future might bring. It was both informative and in-depth but penetrable enough for those attendees who weren’t directly involved in the digital industry.

One of the major aims of Digital Construction Week was to bring a sense of collaboration and sharing in order to understand how best to use the wonderful technical innovations within the industry. From speaking to exhibitors and visitors, many found it an excellent opportunity for networking and it was encouraging to see exhibitors mingling with each other and finding areas of common ground. There was definitely a sense of people striving to find the best use for digital technology and for it to be used cohesively with people, not to replace them.

There are already plans to run the event again next year in November. The organisers of Digital Construction Week have given themselves a strong platform to build on the successes of this year’s event and will hope to attract even more visitors and showcase a digital world beyond the BIM Level 2 mandate.

 

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