黑洞社区

Earlier this month a panel brought together by software specialist Deltek and 黑洞社区 magazine gathered to discuss how the construction sector could move from digital transformation to embedding systems, methodologies and technologies into industry best practice.

The panellists, chaired by 黑洞社区鈥檚 group technical editor and insight and strategy director Thomas Lane, looked at the issue of blockers to technological integration, issues with competitiveness in the industry, and possible solutions that start鈥憉ps could bring. A strong theme running through the whole discussion was that firms need to work together in partnership and change their cultures to embed digitalisation.

Slow progress

George Mokhtar, UK head of technology at Turner & Townsend, kicked off the discussions by saying that there was an 鈥渁ccelerating maturity around digital鈥�. He said that in the past couple of years there had been a growth 鈥渋n adopting new technologies changing the way we work, rethinking how our industry behaves鈥�. However, he added, digital progress across the industry varied greatly. 鈥淸The construction industry] isn鈥檛 in any one place at the moment,鈥� he suggested. 鈥淭here鈥檚 basically pockets of light and pits of despair.鈥�

Mark Leeson, operations director at McBains, pointed out: 鈥淭he construction industry is the least digitised industry in the world, so there鈥檚 a long way to go.鈥� He said issues in the industry had been discussed for 30 or 40 years but 鈥渘ot a lot changes鈥�. Leeson said one of the problems was that the industry was so fragmented. 鈥淲e can鈥檛 continue to do things the way we鈥檝e been doing in the past,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 not sustainable鈥�.

A recurring topic in the discussions was that the culture of the construction industry was acting as a blocker to digital integration.

鈥淲e鈥檙e not coming together as best we could and not being as open as we could. The reason 鈥� is liability.鈥�

George Mokhtar, Turner & Townsend

Corporate strategies sometimes struggle to get the balance right, between 50% digital and 50% culture (people鈥檚 behaviour), Mokhtar suggested. He quoted someone at a recent conference as saying: 鈥淐ulture eats strategy for breakfast.鈥�

Mokhtar also pointed out that one of the reasons for slow digital progression was that there were lots of different generations working across a fast-moving sector. Mark Buckle, technical director at Tilbury Douglas, added: 鈥淲e鈥檝e got five generations in the industry and they all adapt to technology in a different way.鈥�

Blockers to digital integration

As well as culture, other blockers were mentioned during the roundtable. Darren Russell, chief digital officer at Mott MacDonald, suggested to the panel that, as an industry, 鈥渨e do everything we can to block

the use of technology to deliver value鈥�. Chair Thomas Lane asked what the biggest blockers were. Russell said one of the issues was intellectual property (IP) ownership in contracts: 鈥淚P is usually invested in the client. But then it just gets stuck there.鈥�

He also said competitiveness between firms was an issue. Andrew Lee, managing director of JNP Group, told his fellow panellists: 鈥淲e鈥檙e all fighting each other,鈥� saying what was needed was 鈥渁 change in the culture of respect and how we perform as a profession鈥�.

Mokhtar agreed contracts were a barrier to embedding technology. 鈥淲e鈥檙e not coming together as best we could and not being as open as we could. The reason is the financial institutions insist on certain levels of liability.鈥�

Professional indemnity insurance was identified as a big digital blocker by several panellists. Lee said: 鈥淚鈥檝e seen people not get PI and closing down. We鈥檝e got a big problem that must be solved.鈥� He added: 鈥淭he financial industry is so powerful. How do we stop them dictating [to us on] something we know better?鈥�

John Chubb, chief executive for consulting (UK and Ireland), RPS, said that firms 鈥渟till have this sort of financial barrier which holds us back鈥�. He said it was 鈥渂onkers鈥� that the biggest investors in insurance were pension funds. 鈥淲e鈥檝e got to change the way we deal with money that underpins the project,鈥� Mokhtar said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 the money that controls the behaviour.鈥�

鈥淭here is absolutely best practice out there. We need to resolve how we can make it the norm.鈥�

Louisa Finlay, Kier

Digital integration could also be held back by recruitment issues in the industry, panellists agreed. Recruitment was 鈥渇alling and falling鈥�, Lee said, adding that if the sector was not careful 鈥渨e鈥檒l be dinosaurs鈥�.

Panellists also said digital progress was being hindered by clients with different levels of understanding of data collection. Mokhtar said: 鈥淵ou鈥檝e got those who know nothing, you鈥檝e got those who sort of know enough to be dangerous, and then you鈥檝e got those who are real experts 鈥� and it鈥檚 very difficult to work across those three mediums.鈥�

Leeson pointed out: 鈥淢any times we have all been asked to provide data when we know full well the person who asked for it is never going to use or understand or even be able to kind of remotely cope with it.鈥� He explained that he was recently confused when a client asked for BIM Level 3.

What鈥檚 working

Mokhtar said that you could see 鈥済reat leaps taken forward鈥� in the infrastructure market. Also in the 鈥渞eal estate sector, particularly information science and technology, manufacturing or engineering鈥�. The real estate sector, he said, 鈥渢ends to be a hive of more agile development. They make very clever leaps forward on a day-to-day basis.鈥� Buckle agreed that success was client-driven so sectors such as infrastructure that were 鈥渕ore agile and top-down鈥�, where the client was better informed, were more advanced in embedding digitalisation.

On the issue of liability, Mokhtar mentioned that when he worked in Denmark he professional indemnity vehicle was much simpler. This simpler form of indemnity allows risks at the design stage and everyone working on the project to come together on a 鈥渟lower, cheaper contract鈥� that is 鈥済eared to outcomes鈥� rather than the money that underpins the project. Chubb also highlighted that as Denmark鈥檚 鈥渃ontract risk is completely different, everybody drives to the same outcome. Everybody gets rewarded with the outcome.鈥�

Louisa Finlay, clients and markets director at Kier, said 鈥渂rilliant policy鈥� and 鈥渟ome really forward-thinking public sector clients鈥� meant Kier was 鈥渄elivering some fantastic projects that are fully digitalised鈥�.

Emily Scoones, head of digital innovation building services at Ramboll, warned that it was vital not to embed 鈥渂ad practices into our data鈥� along with increasing digitalisation. It was important not to introduce biases, she said. Mokhtar agreed it was important to 鈥渢ackle the ethics behind data鈥�. But he added: 鈥淚nsight can be used for good, it can help people use assets better and more safely, and it can drive behaviours that are more sustainable.鈥�

Solutions

Russell said organisations needed to change to create an 鈥渆nvironment for everyone鈥�. He added: 鈥淢y view is that within our sector, we鈥檝e got all of the technology we need to just fundamentally change the way we can deliver, and if we can do that everyone will benefit.鈥� He said the challenge was 鈥渢o enable the whole industry to accept that digitalness鈥�. Russell suggested the industry might come together more 鈥渋f we could start sharing data, trusted data, and having the sort of contractual arrangements where we can actually share it鈥�.

Scoones believed partnerships were essential to embed digitalisation in the sector 鈥渂oth internally within the sector but also externally鈥�. She said there were a lot of other industries 鈥渢hat have gone through all this data stuff鈥�.

It was necessary to learn from other industries, Scoones said, rather than to 鈥渢ry to reinvent the wheel鈥�. She also suggested 鈥渁mazing, great little鈥� start鈥憉ps could work within or with big corporates. Smaller 鈥渁gile鈥� companies could be given space and the environment to find 鈥渃ompletely different solutions that wouldn鈥檛 be possible in the bigger companies鈥�, she advocated.

Russell said Mott MacDonald was investing in a Spanish start鈥憉p with 鈥渋ncredibly clever people鈥� that was 鈥渙pening doors for them鈥�.

However, Neil Davidson, regional vice president for EMEA and APAC at Deltek, spoke about the importance of corporate governance and pointed out that data-sharing as well as bringing start-ups into the 鈥渧alue proposition鈥� brought risks. There was a 鈥渄ifferent commercial risk because you had GDPR considerations and fines that can be associated with that鈥�.

鈥淭he data needs to be more standardised in order for projects to become more streamlined and to collaborate better with the wider team.鈥�

Richard Owen, Rex Procter & Partners

Leeson said what smaller companies 鈥渂ring to the party is a kind of system change鈥�. He explained small start-ups might be able to show the way to improve communication, to help the construction industry become less 鈥渇ragmented鈥�. Leeson also suggested that upskilling personnel quickly would help digital integration. 鈥淲here skills run out and we retrain, then you have to make another step. So there鈥檚 that constant kind of jolting of progression thing.鈥� He added that the same data could be used for multiple purposes: 鈥淵ou鈥檝e got to get the data anyway to operate an asset, so you may as well use the same data to properly assess risk at the same time.鈥� On the issue of insurers, he suggested: 鈥淕et close to them. Get close to your enemies 鈥� if they are the blocker.鈥�

Finlay said that if buildings were constructed in a different way and digital technologies were used properly, the industry could 鈥渞ecruit from a whole different skill set鈥�. She added: It鈥檚 really exciting: I think, in the next 10 years, around this table we鈥檝e got the chance to make that change.鈥� She suggested: 鈥淭here is absolutely best practice out there. We need to resolve how we can make it the norm.鈥� Finlay also suggested it was important to get people to understand information management. Mokhtar agreed. 鈥淭he information manager is the lifeblood of a project,鈥� he said.

How useful is standardisation?

Richard Owen, director of Rex Proctor & Partners, said: 鈥淭he data needs to be more standardised in order for projects to become more streamlined and to collaborate better with the wider project team.鈥�

Finlay said she believed 鈥渟tandardisation drives quality鈥� but the industry had to be careful because you don鈥檛 want to end up with 鈥渏ust square buildings everywhere. We need difference.鈥� Rob Sargent, board director at Stride Treglown, said that 鈥渟tandardisation is about just saying: 鈥榊ou know what? We鈥檙e not going to have a debate about whether we use Lafarge or British Gypsum.鈥� It just makes life so much easier.鈥�

Mokhtar said: 鈥淚t鈥檚 the physical standardisation of components that鈥檚 important. I think digital can really help streamline that.鈥�

He added that 鈥渟tandardisation of insight鈥� was important. If you can standardise 鈥渞eporting, intelligence, the data in the systems鈥� then you can 鈥渃ook down things like decision time鈥�.

Leeson said if you get a really good system then it 鈥渄oesn鈥檛 stifle innovation鈥� and should be useful for retrofit, 鈥渨hich will probably be the vast majority of what we are doing in the end鈥�.

Scoones added: 鈥淚 think what standardisation allows us to do is to flip how we use our resources on a project. Traditionally you start really small and then, by stage four or five, that鈥檚 where all your fee comes in. Standardisation allows you to take that fee and bring it up to the front end.鈥�

Sargent finished off the debate by talking about the 鈥渋mpossible matrix鈥� that the industry was 鈥渢rying to stitch together鈥�. He said of the future: 鈥淚 imagine a world of extreme complexity, of hundreds of apps all trying to talk to each other and nothing really goes.鈥� He stated: 鈥淪ome simplicity would be lovely.鈥�