What makes a construction company truly innovative?

By Iain Miskimmin

Having dealt with deploying innovations into construction over the last 11 years it’s become increasingly clear as to which companies are truly innovative and which ones just pay lip service to innovations when prompted.

Admittedly, we don’t exist in an industry that encourages and rewards innovation, when contracts are awarded for lowest cost, profit margins are tight and those who are risk averse are in the driving seat. Nobody likes to be the first mouse, because the perception is that they will get smashed in the trap, whilst everyone else watches on and steals the cheese afterwards!

There are plenty of organisations out there that have amazing research and development teams, looking at incredible technologies, but these innovations are rarely talked about and only offered to the clients on a case by case basis, rather than an across the board, business as usual offering.

The problem with innovation, is that when it becomes ‘business as usual’ is it still by definition innovative? I won’t go down this theological discussion in this article however, I want to tell you about what makes a construction company truly innovative.

Throughout history we have seen that a strong leader, with a clear vision has been able to make people do what, in the clear light of day is against all their conscious thoughts. This hasn’t always been a good thing, but if we look at the leadership of those in construction, we see very few who have a clear vision of making their entire business do something that some will do perhaps unwillingly. A leadership that openly supports those who take innovations risks and actively funds initiatives that will potentially make a big difference even though there may not be an existing case study or any cold hard financial ROI facts.

This kind of leadership is rare but is to be openly applauded when used to make a real positive change within an organisation. However, a good leader is no use unless they have minions that are enthusiastic and can be directed!

The industry of 10 years ago is very different from the one we have now. Most of the people who work in it have access to technology that most only dreamed of in 2006. Now everyone has a smart phone, access to more information than they know what to do with and countless ways of processing it without the need to even place a call to someone “who knows how to work one of them damn electronic calculators”

We trust technology because it is familiar, but because it’s an everyday thing, it’s not innovative, new or ground-breaking. In too many projects, when the young graduate who has high hopes and low levels of cynicism suggests a new way of doing something the default setting from the project manager is no. This stand point whilst reducing potential risk, will, after a while stop your workforce from ever suggesting a better way of doing things ever again!

So as well as leading from the top, we must also encourage from the bottom, allow new ideas and innovative thoughts to be followed through on site level and them transmitted out to all other sites as required.

We always come back to the question of “What makes technology innovation fail?” and 90% of the time it is people. The only way we can change people is through strong enlightened leadership and active encouragement in the workforce. This of course needs to be backed up with funding to offset the risk, but the tiny amount of money this takes creates an ecosystem that makes that contractor the best at being truly innovative.

If you want to be a part of an already innovative community that will help you to make this leap, then join us here or at our annual conference.

360 degree hi-definition Community Day

On June 9th COMIT held a Community Day at JCB World Headquarters in Staffordshire.  COMIT regular Dr Max Mallia-Parfitt (Virtual Reality lead at Fulcro Engineering Services) brought along a 360 degree hi-definition video camera. If you have ever wondered what happens at a Community Day then his 360 degree view of the highlights will give you a good idea. Thanks Max!

A fundamental problem with most BIM deployments

By Iain Miskimmin

Congratulations! You have forced your supply chain to collaborate, working together on a common data environment that controls all your data using BS/ PAS 1192 principles. You have set up a working COBie exchange mechanism and secured all your information according to the advice in part 5.

The client was enlightened, following the guidelines in the Soft Landings documents and BS8536, ensuring they had libraries, templates and a common classification system. All looked too good to be true.

Then the penny drops. You can control, share, secure, transfer and classify data in a common enforceable method throughout the lifecycle, but wait a minute… Just what information are we talking about?

here has been some sterling work done over the last 5 years, by some very hard working and clever people to ensure we have standards in place to do all of the above, but the “low hanging fruit” has mostly been plucked, and we have to look at the cold uncomfortable truth: the information we are specifying, isn't any different from that which we have had in our maintenance databases all along!

It tells us interesting things about who created it, who owns it, how tall it is and how wide it is. If we are lucky, it will even tell us what its design criteria or function is. But let’s test it to see if it will actually add value to our asset during its lifecycle:

1. Find an engineer who works with this type of “thing” at any stage of its lifecycle.
2. Ask him what would be the top 5 critical questions he would ask, if he was told to go and maintain this “thing”
3. Try to find the answers to those questions in the metadata.
4. If you can solve all the questions, then we have a winner!

It is perplexing to think that some of the answers we are getting now are associated with questions that were asked many years ago!

After all, that is why we are doing this BIM thing, so we can get better value through greater efficiency during the entire lifecycle of the asset.

Without it, we have potentially just got a great management system with nothing of value to manage!

(The whole idea of the article is to see what peoples reactions might be and there are some great differences of opinion! All valid and interesting!)

COMIT Construction Day

by Steve Slater, Chair for Construction

At the end of last month COMIT held a Construction Members workshop day which was kindly hosted by Bentley at their offices in London.

The aim of the day was to better understand the issues facing COMIT Construction members and to prioritise topic areas that can be put to the Technology members. 

The workshop was a great success and was thoroughly enjoyed by the 14 members that attended. Iain Miskimmin opened the session and welcomed everyone to the Bentley-Crossrail BIM academy. A number of presentations were given during the day to prompt debate:

• The State of Innovation in Construction - Steve Slater
• Trending in Construction - Stuart Young
• Setting Innovation Requirements - Iain Miskimmin

The workshop included the opportunity for each of the members to describe their own priority issues and a number of themes emerged with Collaboration and Communication generally being seen as the greatest challenges. 

Interoperability also continues to be a barrier to information transfer and more collection of data in the field at the point of work is needed to improve efficiency. Interestingly it seems there is still a lot to be done on the adoption of mobile forms, even though it is one of the earliest mobile technologies to be have been used in construction,

Unsurprisingly site connectivity came up, but specifically connectivity and hardware performance were seen to be limiting the use of BIM on site. We need to explore how we can improve this, perhaps by exploiting cloud technology.

In summary, the main issues raised and some of the comments are:

Collaboration

Both internal and external. Too much reliance on email, problems with silo'd information. Some alternatives suggested were Trello, Slack and Google drive. Gamification might help, as might restricting the number of systems available and the use of a common data environment.

Communication

Alternatives to email needed. Additional fields within Outlook may help to prioritise and manage emails. Restrict the use of attachments.

Rapid Site Set-up

It is still taking too long to get connectivity on site. 3 to 6 months plus for a BT line on site, which is not always fit for purpose. 3G/4G coverage improving but still insufficient. 

Safety / Issue reporting

Need requirement to report safety issues as soon as possible - and this can be by the public. Waze sat nav reporting was discussed as an example of where this works well.

Plant asset/incident reporting & recording

More use of in-vehicle camera's and suggestions for a a plant "blackbox".

BIM on site

Being constrained by limitations in current hardware and connectivity. Could cloud computing help to resolve this? Ability to view 4D model's with feedback required.

Forms - Electronic v Paper

Adoption still an issue. Mandating use may improve this and keeping the form as the original may help.

Dispatch / Deliver notes

Interesting developments but little progress. Speedy's E-POD implements this and scans the delivery vehicle registration number. Take-up not great.

Orders of Materials

Changes to the programme to reschedule deliveries of concrete e.t.c. would be good if possible.

Field / Site Plan updates

Real-time updates to the programme would improve the quality of planning information.

Internet of things

Interoperability was considered as key to exploiting this

Data Sharing

Fundamentally seen as poor but no suggestions for how it can be imporved

Environmental Monitoring

Of increasing importance. Capture of CO₂ from site plant and products used in construction was discussed.

Remote Asset Sensing

There is an ongoing and widespread need to improve the maintenance of assets.

As usual at COMIT events there was also a lot of informal discussion and networking, especially around the lunchtime refreshments. Many thanks again to Bentley our host and to my colleagues from COMIT for facilitating the event.

If you would like more information about this event or if you want to learn more about COMIT and what we do, then please visit us at comit.org.uk and email us via the contact page.

The COMIT Conference #comit2016

Regulars will know that COMIT holds a construction-focused mobile IT conference each autumn. Planning for this years' event is well under way and will be hosted by COMIT member CH2M at their London headquarters on the 28^th and 29^th September.

The theme is delivering value through innovation under the title of  Digitally Building Britain. The objective is to provide a forum for the presentation and discussion of innovations and solutions that deliver value to the construction industry - and of course for the delegates to share their views, network and learn about new and breakthrough technologies.

The two days will be broadly themed CAPEX and OPEX and tickets will be available for single days for those delegates who can only make one or the other - although we hope that most will join us for both days to benefit from the full TOTEX experience.

This will be COMIT's 8^th Annual Conference and we are going back to our roots to deliver a more intimate and networking-focused event. Delegate numbers will be strictly limited to 100 on each day, so early booking is advised (booking opens June 1^st ).

We are re-designing our usual conference schedule to create a slightly more relaxed pace, In previous years the only complaints that we've had from delegates is that there is just too much to take in. So this time around we are easing back a bit to allow more time for networking. 

There will still be a dozen quality presentations plus panel sessions over the two days but also more time to talk around the subjects and absorb the material. We are also planning a meal and networking event on the evening of the first day (28^th) where we hope delegates will join us to relax and discuss the issues of the day.

A call for presentations went out to COMIT members a couple of months ago, but is now open to everyone. We still have a few presentation slots to fill and are looking for high-quality submissions from organisations directly involved in providing or implementing innovative solutions in construction. We are looking for the latest research, innovations, achievements and technologies that can deliver value to our industry. The conference program is aimed at all levels of the construction supply chain, from Owners to Contractors, Consultants and Suppliers.

So if you have something you would like to share with an international COMIT audience then please visit our website and download instruction on how to apply. The closing date for submitting an abstract is the 30^th June.

Sponsorship & Exhibitor packages are currently being finalised and will be announced shortly. If you are interested in sponsoring the event or exhibiting at the conference and would like to get to the head of the queue then please contact us. Exhibition space will be more limited this year so an early response is advised.

Many thanks to those sponsors who have already been quick off the mark. In particular to CH2M for hosting the event, to @SuButcher and @EEpaul  and  for being our Social Media Sponsors and to @CITY_INSIGHTS for being our New Media sponsor.

We look forward to seeing you in September!

COMIT goes the extra mile for charity

Two members of the COMIT management team are running in this year's London Marathon which takes place on April 24th. Both are hoping to raise significant sums for charity. It would be great if you could support them. Good luck fellas!

Harrison O'Hara

I am taking on the biggest (longest) challenge of my life by running the London Marathon. I am raising money for St Christopher's hospice and your donations will make all the blisters, aching muscles and sore nipples worth it! St Christopher's provide a wide range of specialist end of life care throughout several London boroughs. The hospice has a vision of a world in which all dying people and those close to them have access to appropriate care and support, when they need it, wherever they need it and whoever they are. Your generous donations will go a long way to ensure they achieve their vision. Thank you for your support!

You can support Harrison by visiting his Just Giving page

Stuart Young

Having done a few seemingly crazy endurance events in the past including playing 7 rounds of golf in one day, I’m back for an even bigger and more enduring challenge. I am taking on a 26.2 miler after being lucky enough to get a place to run in the 2016 London Marathon. I am also raising money for Brain Tumour Research as well as Alzheimer's Research UK. Any donations I am fortunate enough to raise will go to these two very worthy causes which will make my seemingly endless training in the cold, wet and dark winter months worthwhile – add this to this the odd injury, illness and general soreness that comes from such a massive undertaking. Thank you for taking the time to visit my Just Giving Page. Donating through Just Giving is simple, fast and totally secure. Your details are safe with Just Giving – they’ll never sell them on or send unwanted emails. Once you donate, they’ll send your money directly to the charity. So it’s the most efficient way to donate – saving time and cutting costs for the charity. 

You can support Stuart by visiting his Just Giving page

Asset Tagging - Tracking the Duty of an Asset not the Product

by Iain Miskimmin

When we talk about asset information requirements we talk about the pieces of information we need to answer critical questions throughout the life-cycle of a “thing”.

There will be databases, documents, drawings, metadata, spreadsheets, 3D/4D/5D models and all number of pieces of information generated in many forms before we know what physical thing or product is going to fulfil that role.

We identify this virtual need and the space it occupies with a unique identifier that will help us link every instance of the asset at every stage and in whatever form it appears.

This unique identifier is called an asset tag, and it is associated with the “Duty of the Asset”.

This Duty, is the specification of what the thing needs to achieve. During the early phases of a project we know very little about what we require, but there will be critical questions that need answering with information generically defined in our AIR but attached to a specific instance.

Strategy

When we are thinking about the overall Strategy we will need to generate information on a facility level to ensure what we are creating provides the social, environmental and economical outcomes desired. In infrastructure these tags will typically be for hubs or connectors.

Concept

During the concept phase, we may just know that a structure is required in a specific location, but we have no idea of its make-up or design. Thus it is essential that we start tracking the fact that there is a need for a structure here, and pursue the questions that need to be answered. By acknowledging this, we can/should assign an asset tag at Entity level. 

Design

When we get to the Design phases, we will know much more about the make-up of the structure and be able to tag an asset down to Element level, thus providing that unique ID for each individual asset down to the maintainable level. (i.e. a window rather than the glass, sealant, hinges, locks etc.)

Construction

All the tags starting from Facility, through Entity and down to Element should be related in a hierarchy to show how assets are associated with each other and their breakdown structure.

Finally, when we arrive at construction we will have built up a set of performance requirements (the duty of the asset) and we can use this information to go and purchase a product to fulfil that role. 

Asset Register

The asset tags at various levels have appeared in all the documents, drawings and models during this build up, but the most important place for them to be is in the asset register.

This register of assets needs to be accessible from every information creating, gathering and consuming system used in the Project Information Model (PIM), ensuring the “things” mentioned in all these sources of information are linked back to the relevant asset tag. This enables us to have all the information required to answer our critical questions throughout the life-cycle.

This asset register will not only contain information about the duty of an asset, but eventually it will include information on similar products which can fulfil that need, along with all the information about the physical thing.

My advice here is to never lock this register away in a CAD package and restrict its access to a small percentage of your team. Data is for databases so that it can be analysed, reported and linked rather than duplicated.

Temporary works

We need to treat our temporary works the same way we treat our permanent assets. I am not suggesting that we tag every piece of scaffolding, but we are recommending that it is broken down into “supporting service” level, where each temporary works element supports a maintainable asset.

We should record these the same way in every drawing, document or model and ensure that they appear in the asset register to help answer any critical questions. Bear in mind that if they are abandoned in place, they will need to be handed over just like any other permanent asset.

Naming convention

There are two polarised views on how we should deal with an asset tagging strategy. One view is that the tag should contain useful information about the asset - the other view is that it should just be a unique ID that means nothing, because all the information is kept in the asset register/ database.

If you wish to put meaning into the name, then I recommend the following:

Location (Facility code) – Functional grouping code – Function – Unique numerical number.

This will allow you to understand how assets relate to each other and the function they play without needing to delve into the asset register/ database.