There was certainly a buzz in the air at this year’s Digital Construction Week 2021. After a difficult 18 months, 125 exhibitors came together at ExCeL London showcasing the latest technological advancements in the industry that will no doubt continue to shape the construction industry for years to come.
If you didn’t get the opportunity to attend this year event. Here is a quick round up from our speakers.
Zutec’s Ray McCaul was joined by Dr Anita Soni, Deputy head of BIM, Skanska in a very special session to share lessons from phase 1 of the HS2 project. Uncovering key findings and showcasing the collaborative approach which was adopted between SCS and Zutec to configure a platform suitable for the unique requirements of the project.
Dr Anita Soni explained the benefits of using Zutec for the HS2 project. “Zutec gave us better visibility of quality issue trends through real-time reporting, the system is already ensuring success, right-first-time and customer satisfaction.”
Ray also commented on the collaboration “It has improved performance and efficiencies through streamlining site inspections with automated workflows, notifications and PIN-secured signatures in a common data environment (CDE). Zutec enables us to package the final handover documentation almost instantly and provides an ideal environment for designers, engineers, architects and suppliers to input into our digital twin.”
The audience where then shown a short video of Zutec in action followed by Dr. Anita Soni sharing the key learnings :
BIM connection and set up was really easy
Project management
• BIM- Zutec weekly drop in session
• Forward thinking plan to pre- empty what could happen before it was fully agreed
• Open communication between Zutec and BIM
• Test/Pilot and trials put in place to ensure integration works
• Agreed at project inception that data was going to be structured based on assets
• Pragmatic approach to defining data structure, didn’t go to n’th degree. Able to deliver quicker as result
• A defined plan was put in place and followed through.
Users engagement
• Use a variety of channels to brief users on how the data was going to be structured on assets
• Engage SME at revision, e.g. NCR form revised 6 times circa with users
• Engaged the right people, not everyone. Had discussions and then executed
• Quality/Technical assurance teams are advocates of solution and key in pushing adoption
Vendor
• Brain storming sessions to answer queries and provide feedback to SCS on what it was possible
• Engaged at the start of the project, normally further down the line with poor data already in place
• Collaboration in Zutec, came across as clearly understanding and most prepared
• During solution option selection it was evident Zutec was the most prepared and aligned with SCS
• Embedded team members (project manager, developer) with SCS BIM to aid collaboration.
• Senior managers involved during the trial. Having access to CTO was very helpful to bring vision to life.
• Project manager knows construction so able to have ‘intelligent’ conversation with site engineers
Data
• Data structure set up in advance and based on assets
• Data in SQL database from start (not usual in construction)
• All data structure is standardized, making it simple to connect and work with
• Structured Data around assets
• Getting data Structure right at the start was key
Documentation
• Screen views to showcase how things worked (light)
• Document output of the brainstorming to show what if was possible (Zutec)
Technical / IT
• BIM team has control of the data where eg AssetWise is through third party vendor so challenge in relationships
• API was easy to set up (set up over the weekend) and it still works. Only one connector rather than multiple as in Assetwise
• Clear requirements from the start that allowed identification of what development was needed
Training
• Training with all relevant stakeholders
• Easy to train as only one solution
• Having specialist product owner (Zutec) was key in developing and implement training
Emily Hospson-Hill, shared her extensive knowledge and expertise of digital transformation implementation at this years DCW. Talking through common reasons why digital transformation stalls or even fails she took the audience on a journey through change in the industry that’s making digital transformation increasing necessary and prevalent.
Emily put forward how to approach high level stakeholders to get them onboard with digitization and how to get your champions buy-in. Speaking then about adaption Emily said: “You need to plan time and activities and measure success on both. And remember that no plan survives contact with the enemy or as Mike Tyson put it ’everyone has a plan until they get punched in the mouth’.”
Rounding off her speakers session Emily left the audience with this summary – “Technology is there to ensure we’re all speaking the same language, with the same amount of detail.”
Host Rahul Shah, BSI opened the session with a discussion around how the BSI kitemark certification helps to align software to the highest usability standards and provides guidance on both robust and resilient BIM Developments.
Asked about the future of construction within the built environment Jeslin emphasised how data plays an important role in shaping the processes used within construction. Enabling transparency and helping companies achieve compliance on their projects.
Lastly, Jeslin highlighted the importance of the BSI Kitemark he pointed out the importance it has for building trust in the construction industry between customers and vendors and insuring a high standard of quality in SaaS platforms inline with best practices.
Didn’t get a chance to catch up with us at Digital Construction Week? No worries, if you would like to find out more about Zutec, you can talk to one of our consultants by booking a demo here.
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