CCLATEST

Construction

Computing

WWW.CONSTRUCTION-COMPUTING.COM

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2026

VOL 23 NO 01

Scaling with Confidence

Payapps reduces risk by digitising

the paper chain

The Real AI Foundation

Zutec builds AI-based document

intelligence

AI Digs Deeper

How Alice Technologies is

shaping UK tunnelling projects

A New Way of Operating

Why project planning and execution are

key to successful bidding

@CCMagAndAwards

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CONTENTS

JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2026

CONTENTS

SCALING WITH CONFIDENCE 12

How OCU Group, a utilities and digital

infrastructure specialist, strengthened

governance and supply chain trust with Payapps

LIGHT MY FIRE! 16

Graphisoft releases details about its Smart

HVAC solution, MEP Designer, to attendees at

its 2025 User Conference

SKETCHUP AI 20

SketchUp provides some welcome modeling,

visualisation and help tools based on AI in its

latest release, writes David Chadwick

IMMERSIVE TECHNOLOGY 30

An interactive learning environment which

houses an advanced learning space within a

living laboratory is planned for Stowe School

in Buckingham

NEWS................................................INDUSTRY NEWS........................................................................................................6

• AUTODESK INVESTS £2 MILLION IN QFLOW • STREAMLINING SPECS FOR UK ARCHITECTS

CASE STUDY.....................................AI DIGS DEEPER................................................................................................9

• ALICE TECHNOLOGIES EXPLAIN HOW AI IS RESHAPING UK TUNNELLING PROJECTS

COMPANY PROFILE..........................HALF A CENTURY AND COUNTING.................................................................10

• 50 YEARS OF CONSTRUCTION INNOVATION: REDSKY'S JOURNEY FROM CONSTRUCTION ACCOUNTING TO AI

TECHNOLOGY FOCUS......................SPATIAL INTELLIGENCE IN 2026......................................................................14

• Christine Byrne of Looq AI describes the new ground truth for infrastructure

TECHNOLOGY FOCUS......................THE REAL AI FOUNDATION..............................................................................18

• Building document intelligence starts with structure, not web-based models

TECHNOLOGY FOCUS......................A NEW WAY OF OPERATING..............................................................................22

• Why understanding how projects are planned and executed is key to successful bidding

CASE STUDY......................................SYNCHRONISED FOR 4D.................................................................................24

• MORTENSON & MCCARTHY LEVERAGE SYNCHRO TO DELIVER A LANDMARK LUXURY RESORT

INDUSTRY FOCUS.............................AI NEEDS YOUR HELP!....................................................................................26

• IFS EXPLAIN WHY AI REQUIRES A SOLID DIGITAL FOUNDATION IF IT IS TO SUCCEED

CASE STUDY......................................GOING LIVE.......................................................................................................28

• THE UNIVERSITY OF LIVERPOOL ENHANCES ITS OPERATIONS AND ENERGY MANAGEMENT WITH IES LIVE

TRAINING MAP....................................AUTODESK TRAINING........................................................................................32

• YOUR GUIDE TO AUTODESK TRAINING

CASE STUDY......................................BUILDING FOR THE FUTURE...........................................................................34

• SENSATIONAL AND SUSTAINABLE - HOW BIM BUILDS A LASTING LEGACY

January/February 2026 3

COMMENT

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Comment

Would you credit it?

by David Chadwick

Acouple of months ago I wrote in our

monthly newsletter I compared the

enormous cost of running data

centres to handle AI software which was

then being utilised by software designed to

run building and infrastructure projects

more efficiently. I was reminded of this by

the allocation of credits when you

subscribe to SketchUps latest release,

which includes a couple of AI tools: AI

Render and AI Assistant.

A laudable decision and justified by the

reminder that every AI request from a CAD

solution, smartphone, chatbot, driverless

car or a myriad of other devices uses at

least 10 x the amount of data processing

required for a simple Google request. Data

centres are notorious for the amount of

energy required both to run them cool their

hardware arrays down - and it is heartening

to see signs that users are being persuaded

to moderate its use.

I thought I would look into it further. What

does it cost a software developer to add AI

tools to its software, and is there any

indication that any of the costs are passed

onto the user within the monthly or annual

license fee? Well, how long is a piece of

string? The answers ranged from basic

solutions compiled by software tools to

perform simple AI tasks to complex solutions

that perhaps analyse the relationships of

data from multiple sources to compile

financial, planning, environmental and any

other result. Pricewise that can be quoted at

anywhere between £1500-300,000.

What drives up the cost besides the

complexity? That depends on whether the

developer chooses the quickest route by

adding AI to its current application, or

decides to fund a substantial rewrite to

accommodate the new or unique demands

of the AI software. Those who adopt the

quickest route may find that the formats and

processes they have been working with for

years may need a bit of tweaking before they

can adapt to AI.

Within the construction industry, the trend

appears to be moving towards the delivery

of more complex solutions that satisfy the

needs of a very diverse operating

environment. Stakeholders and project

managers have to make decisions on a

multitude of matters from basic on-site

management issues to delivery problems,

sustainability requirements, financial

overheads and much more, hence the costs

of adding AI is not cheap. It is apparent that

companies like Nemetschek have met this

issue head on and have used their own

resources to customise their AI expertise to

fit each of its numerous companies.

Other companies that have AI expertise,

like Looq AI in this issue, have leveraged

it to create specific applications for the

construction industry that can be used to

supplement the information management

and decision making within their

particular environment.

The cost of use remains though. Every

request for AI to perform a minor function

within an application costs a minute fraction

of a penny. The more complex the request -

such as rendering a complete 3D scene -

the greater the cost, though still small. You

can multiply that, though, by the many

thousands of users around the world

working simultaneously on the same

software. How can we measure the impact

that has on a company's operating profits,

presuming that it has to reimburse the data

centre costs incurred by the AI platform?

The only clue is the 200 monthly credit

target that SketchUp has placed on its

standard license. Does that limit help to

maintain a reasonable compromise on

costs - and what happens when a user

exceeds that limit?

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INDUSTRY news

DIGITAL TWINS FOR NATIONAL GRID

Atos has worked with

National Grid to develop

Triton, an innovative new Digital

Twin and Data Visualisation

Tool that will revolutionise electricity

infrastructure planning.

Triton will enable National Grid

to accelerate how it plans the

future electricity network and

support the significant

increase in energy demand

required to achieve Great

Britain's decarbonisation goals.

Triton is a new advanced

visual platform that gives a

clear view of how electricity

demand is expected to grow

across the network. By mapping

future demand at grid

supply points and transmission

substations it provides

vital long-term insight to support

planning and investment

in the grid where it will be

needed most.

By creating a digital replica

of National Grid's physical

infrastructure and designing

Triton to process and manage

this data, National Grid will be

able to run network scenarios

that significantly accelerate

planning, reducing the time

needed to analyse and

decide on where to reinforce

the network by 70%.

Owen Wilkes, Network

Design Director at National

Grid, said, "Triton demonstrates

how innovation, data

and technology can drive

positive change and accelerate

progress towards our

decarbonisation goals.

"Through our collaboration

with Atos we have created a

product that will enable

National Grid to virtually

model scenarios for how,

when and where we expand

our network and services to

meet increased demand for

energy, ensuring we continue

to deliver a resilient, futureready

electricity network."

Triton consolidates thousands

of datasets made

available by Distribution Network

Operators and Transmission

Owners, automating

complex processes and

enabling scenario modelling.

This helps to identify where

reinforcement or new infrastructure

will be required, and

it could also support the

assessment of future customer

connections - such as

data centres or embedded

generation - on local and

regional network capacity.

Triton also feeds directly into

National Grid's deeper monitoring

and engineering tools,

speeding up model configuration

and enabling faster stresstesting

of multiple network

options to identify the strongest,

most future-ready solutions.

https://atos.net

AUTODESK INVESTS £2 MILLION IN QFLOW

Qflow has announced a £2

million strategic investment

from Autodesk, marking

a major step in its ambitious

plan to link construction data

back with design intent. The

investment builds on the existing

product collaboration

between Qflow and Autodesk

Construction Cloud, with the

shared goal of creating a

powerful integrated solution

that helps close the loop

between design intent and

construction reality.

By reconciling construction

data on real-time material

quality, quantity and supplychain

intelligence back into

design data, Qflow strives to

enable construction teams to

identify and resolve materialrelated

issues before they

cause delays, rework, or budget

overruns.

With many project teams still

relying on manual, fragmented

processes to monitor site

Michael Dorman and Marc Schütz

activity, material supply-chain

issues are some of the most

persistent sources of rework

and cost overruns in construction.

This move emphasises

the growing demand for a

solution that delivers accurate,

real-time material and waste

intelligence to reduce errors,

cut emissions, and protect

tight margins. It also reflects

Autodesk's ambition to help

the construction industry

reduce waste, improve data

quality, and enable better sustainability

outcomes.

In Qflow, Autodesk recognised

a best-in-class solution to

achieve this. By digitally capturing

field data in real-time, Qflow

provides project teams accurate

information on their material

and waste flows, and intelligence

on the potential risks. All

of which support minimising

error, liability, and waste.

www.autodesk.com

https://qualisflow.com

TWO NEW APPOINTMENTS FOR REVIZTO

Revizto has strengthened its

leadership team with two

additions. Championing sustainable

growth and transformation

along with a laser sharp

focus on deepening customer

partnerships, Michael Dorman

has been appointed as Chief

Revenue Officer. He previously

served as VP in commercial

roles at Hexagon and Multivista,

which was acquired by

Hexagon. He is joined by Marc

Schütz as Chief Product Officer,

who brings with him over

20 years of experience in product

management and development

across Augmented Reality

and digital transformation in

building and industrial engineering

for companies such as

Bentley Systems and PTC.

Together, Marc and Michael

will develop Revizto’s product

roadmap with a practical, valuedriven

approach supported by

their deep industry experience.

https://revizto.com

6

January/February 2026

SAVE THE DATE

AWARDS CEREMONY

12TH NOVEMBER 2026

CENTRAL LONDON

www.constructioncomputingawards.co.uk

@CCMagAndAwards

INDUSTRY news

UNITED FOR THE UK BUILT ENVIRONMENT

From 12–14 May 2026 UK

Construction Week London

and Futurebuild will come

together to create a new

national platform for the built

environment at Excel London.

The collaborative colocation

will form the UK's Built Environment

super event,

designed to reflect the full

scale, complexity and ambition

of an industry facing

unprecedented change.

Together, the events will bring

25,000 built environment professionals,

600+ exhibitors

and 700+ speakers across

10 dedicated stages under

one roof - making it the

largest and most comprehensive

construction event in the

UK calendar.

While collaborating closely,

UK Construction Week London

and Futurebuild will

retain their own powerful identities,

communities and curated

content, ensuring clarity of

purpose alongside the benefits

of scale and connection.

Futurebuild will remain the

UK's leading event for sustainability,

Net Zero and innovation

in the built environment. It will

continue to deliver highly

respected CPD-accredited

content, connecting architects,

designers, local authorities

and developers with ideas and

solutions driving low-carbon

construction, circular materials

and large-scale retrofit.

UK Construction Week London

will continue to champion

the practical delivery of construction

projects, bringing a

hands-on, solutions-led focus

to the industry. The event connects

contractors, housebuilders,

trades and engineers

with the tools, systems and

skills needed on site, supported

by live demonstrations,

immersive features and CPDaccredited

content grounded

in real-world delivery.

This collaboration responds

directly to the industry's call for

greater cohesion, clearer leadership

and more connected

experiences, at a time when

meeting net zero targets,

modernising skills and decarbonising

the built environment

have never been more urgent.

Martin Hurn, Event Director,

Futurebuild, commented: "This

is about creating one connected

platform that reflects

how the industry actually

works - from vision to specification

to delivery."

www.ukconstructionweek.com

www.futurebuild.co.uk

BENTLEY SYSTEMS BOOSTS ASSET ANALYTICS

Bentley Systems has

acquired Talon Aerolytics

and the technology and technical

expertise of Pointivo,

strengthening Bentley's Asset

Analytics portfolio, which

applies digital twins and AI to

help owner-operators improve

asset performance and

resilience across infrastructure

sectors.

Bentley Asset Analytics

includes OpenTower iQ for

telecommunication towers and

Blyncsy for road networks.

The new acquisitions extend

Bentley's offerings in both

telecommunications and electric

utilities, enabling integrated

digital workflows that support

global 5G deployments

and grid modernisation.

James Lee, chief operating

officer, Bentley Systems, said,

"These acquisitions represent a

major investment in scaling our

Bentley Asset Analytics offering.

By deploying AI across

infrastructure sectors, we are

enabling continuous inspections

to improve operational

performance and maintenance

economics for asset owners. "

www.bentley.com

STREAMLINING SPECS FOR UK ARCHITECTS

Norrsken, a UK-based manufacturer

of high-performance

triple-glazed aluminiumclad

timber windows and

doors, has partnered with NBS

to make its passive house certified

products available on their

construction product specification

platform, NBS Source.

The partnership gives architects,

specifiers and designers

free access to detailed technical

specifications, CAD files

and product data for nine of

Norrsken's most specified

products through the NBS

Source platform, which is used

by more than 5,000 architecture

and engineering practices

across the UK. BIM objects in

Revit and IFC formats for all

nine products will roll out progressively

over the next six

weeks, with multiple opening

configurations and timber or

aluminium-clad variants available

for each product type.

NBS Source allows architects

to search, compare and

select from more than 26,000

construction products, with

direct integration into NBS

Chorus specification software

and plugins for Revit, Archcad

and Vectorworks.

Norrsken's listing includes

comprehensive technical data

for three passive house certified

window ranges and six

door ranges, all manufactured

to bespoke specifications

with U-values as low as

0.64 W/m²K.

www.norrsken.co.uk

8


CASEstudy

AI digs deeper

Bryony Coombs, customer success manager at ALICE Technologies, explains how AI is reshaping UK

tunnelling projects

With billions invested in the UK's

tunnelling infrastructure, delivering

projects on time and to budget has

never been more politically or commercially

critical. From HS2 to Thames Tideway and

Lower Thames Crossing, delays can quickly

become national talking points. To keep

programmes on track, project teams are

increasingly turning to artificial intelligence

tools to analyse options and support datadriven

decision-making.

TOO MANY OPTIONS, TOO LITTLE

TIME

On HS2's Euston section, the Skanska

Costain STRABAG Joint Venture (SCS JV)

used AI tools to explore whether they could

bring forward shaft construction timings. As

Andrew Irwin, construction manager for Area

East, recalled: "We had an idea that we

could achieve this earlier shaft sinking

ambition, but there were too many options

on the table and only limited time available

to analyse them all."

Working from a model built over several

months, the team developed a full picture of

the logistics, equipment, sequencing and

labour requirements. This was used to

generate buildable options. One scenario

alone reduced the programme by 86

working days, worth an estimated £2 million

in overheads.

REMOVING PERSONAL BIAS

The change required the team to rethink

how the work would be delivered on-site.

Their original schedule was based on a

phased approach, but the new model

identified ways to use plant and labour

more efficiently by delivering work

concurrently. This was only possible with

cross-team input.

"ALICE took the whole team's knowledge

and allowed us to create a fully detailed

overview of the project that reflected

everyone's perspective," said Andrew. "By

having this information in one place, we

could use ALICE to churn out options much

quicker than if we had done it by ourselves.

Most importantly, because we had a single

holistic model, it took the personal

attachment to the various work packages

away. ALICE removes that bias, providing

an independent analysis."

BETTER DECISIONS, EARLIER

Early engagement is critical. A large

proportion of programme-defining decisions

are made before ground is even broken. On

major tunnelling schemes, the procurement

timeline for Tunnel Boring Machines (TBMs),

the casting of segment rings, and shift

patterns for critical crews are typically fixed

during pre-construction.

AI scheduling platforms allow teams to

test these assumptions before they are

locked in. Alternative strategies, such as

different crane configurations or crew

allocations, can be explored and

compared, with the impacts on cost and

time calculated automatically.

This approach supports the principle

shown in the MacLeamy curve, which

illustrates that changes made earlier in a

project are significantly more costeffective

than those made later. By

integrating AI tools during early planning,

teams can influence outcomes while

changes are still affordable.

BENCHMARKING FOR

IMPROVEMENT

On another section of HS2, SCS JV used

the same approach to optimise the

installation of over 7,000 precast segment

rings. Adjusting crane use and logistics

sequencing delivered an additional £2

million in savings without any change to

design or specification.

Because the AI-generated scenarios can

be benchmarked against the original

programme, it creates a built-in

comparison of options, helping teams

understand the true benefit of proposed

changes. This can be especially valuable

where procurement decisions or

productivity targets need to be justified.

FROM MODEL TO DELIVERY

The use of AI tools does not end once

construction begins. These platforms can

support live project management, enabling

rapid resequencing if a delay or disruption

occurs. Resequencing allows mitigation

strategies to be explored quickly and

construction work to be reallocated,

reducing the impact of unforeseen events.

Andrew added: "The team took the

optimum schedule that ALICE had

delivered and ran with it, challenging

ourselves to take it even further based on

what we knew about the project so far.

That resulted in another three-month

reduction in programme, so a twelvemonth

advance overall."

BUILDING KNOWLEDGE FOR

FUTURE PHASES

As experience with these tools grows,

project teams are developing in-house

capability to use them more effectively. At

Euston, a core team knew how to set up the

model, what to look for and how it could be

applied to future scopes of work.

As tunnelling projects grow in scale and

complexity, the ability to rapidly evaluate and

compare delivery options will become

increasingly important. AI scheduling does

not replace experience, but it enables more

confident decision-making and offers a

practical way to manage risk across all

phases of a tunnelling project.

Learn more about ALICE Technologies'

suite of products on the ALICE website:

www.alicetechnologies.com/home


COMPANY profile

Half a Century and Counting...

50 years of construction innovation: RedSky's journey from construction accounting to AI

As RedSky celebrates its 50th

anniversary, the award-winning ERP

provider is reflecting on how

construction technology has evolved - from

the earliest accounting systems to today's

fully integrated digital platforms - and where

secure AI will take the industry next.

FIVE DECADES OF PROGRESS

When RedSky began its journey in 1975,

construction software was barely a

recognised product category. As Mike

Aspinwall, now Chief Operating Officer of

JDM Technology Group (RedSky's parent

company), recalls, early systems were

focused almost entirely on core ledgers,

subcontractor payments and job-costed

payroll. Hardware limitations were severe -

machines with 10MB disks and 64K of

memory - yet the goal was already clear:

give contractors visibility of job costs and

subcontractor activity in one place.

Today, although the physical act of

construction hasn't radically changed, the

digital infrastructure surrounding projects

has undergone a significant

transformation. What started as accounting

for construction has evolved into a cloudbased,

fully integrated ERP platform that

supports Finance, Commercial,

Operational, and Site teams.

FROM PAPER TO DIGITAL

WORKFLOWS

The last decade has seen an industry-wide

shift away from paper. Processes that once

relied on printed documents and manual

circulation - especially invoice approval -

are now digital: invoices arrive by email,

OCR captures key data, workflows route

approvals, and documents are stored

centrally and securely.

This digital-first approach now extends to

timesheets, expenses, site inspections,

health & safety forms and snagging lists.

RedSky's mobile-enabled forms allow site

teams to capture information on

smartphones and tablets, syncing to the

ERP when online. The gains are significant:

faster approvals, better accuracy, fewer

lost documents and tighter control over job

costs. These improvements form the

foundation of RedSky's modern platform -

progress that has been widely recognised

across the industry.

2025: AWARD-WINNING ERP IN A

LANDMARK YEAR

2025 marks two major milestones:

RedSky celebrates its 50th anniversary

and has been named Best ERP Software

of the Year at the Construction Computing

Awards (The Hammers). As one of the

industry's most respected judging panels,

The Hammers recognise technology that

is genuinely raising the bar for digital

construction.

This latest honour follows RedSky's 2024

win for Best Construction Management

Software, cementing the platform's

position as one of the most trusted and

proven ERPs in the sector. These back-toback

awards highlight RedSky's longstanding

reputation for quality, innovation

and unwavering commitment to the

construction industry.

REAL RESULTS: WHAT REDSKY

CUSTOMERS ARE ACHIEVING

RedSky customers reveal the real-world

benefits of adopting construction-specific

ERP, from streamlined subcontractor

processing to stronger commercial

reporting. Their successes highlight the

immense value of integrated ERP today:

Stepnell migrated to RedSky's latest

ERP and now processes around 2,000

invoices a month through the Invoice

Register. OCR and automated

workflows have transformed Accounts

Payable (AP), while Business Analytics

gives more than 100 commercial users

CELEBRATING 50 YEARS WITH A LIMITED-TIME ERP OFFER

To mark its 50th anniversary, RedSky is offering new customers a milestone

opportunity. For a limited period, every ERP adoption includes a complimentary

£5,000 consultancy package, designed to accelerate implementation and help

teams get value from day one. It is a thank-you for five decades of trust, and an

invitation to the next generation of contractors joining the RedSky community.

To learn more about how RedSky solutions can help streamline your business

processes, get in touch today.

10


COMPANYprofile

real-time CVR and cost visibility. By

integrating RedSky with Payapps,

Stepnell has made its subcontract

order-to-payment process around 75%

more efficient.

FT Group uses RedSky ERP across

three businesses as a job costing and

financial control platform. Business

Analytics dashboards enable contract

managers and QSs to self-serve job

costs, and the Payment Performance

app provides the evidence needed to

stay on public sector frameworks by

demonstrating that supply chain

payments are made on time.

Johns of Nottingham moved from a

legacy system to RedSky ERP and a

digitised Invoice Register workflow,

making AP around 40% faster and

audits far simpler, while online

timesheets via RedSky Time save tens

of thousands of pounds a year.

The impact is clear: contractors achieve

stronger governance, dependable digital

processes and insights they can measure,

repeat and scale across every project.

WHY REDSKY ERP WORKS: THE

TECHNOLOGY BEHIND THE

RESULTS

The performance described by RedSky

customers is driven by a platform

engineered specifically for the

construction environment. RedSky ERP is

a modular, scalable system built around

project-driven work and disciplined

financial control:

Construction-Focused Financials:

Projects sit at the centre of the

Contract, Sales, Purchase and Nominal

Ledgers, allowing teams to track

committed and actual costs, retentions,

valuations and margins with instant

drill-down to every transaction.

Cost Control & CVR: The CVR suite

replaces fragmented, spreadsheetheavy

reporting with consistent,

auditable dashboards that clearly

display cost to date, cost to complete,

and projected outcomes.

Procure-to-Pay Automation: Integrated

Procurement, GRN and Invoice

Registers digitise the full requisition-topayment

lifecycle, cutting manual entry,

reducing disputes and accelerating

approvals.

Business Analytics: Role-based

dashboards consolidate live

commercial, financial, procurement,

and plant data, enabling teams to work

from the same accurate, up-to-date

information.

Subcontractor Processing & CIS:

Purpose-built ledgers, automated CIS,

Reverse Charge VAT workflows and

HMRC integrations provide full

visibility and compliance across the

supply chain.

THE NEXT CHAPTER: SECURE AI

Looking ahead, RedSky has developed

AI Assistants designed to work securely

with customers' existing data and

accessible from inside the platform. The

primary goal is to streamline everyday

tasks and make information more

immediately accessible. Instead of

searching menus, exporting data or

building reports, users will get accurate

answers using plain language.

For example, users can ask simple

questions such as:

"What are the costs to date on the

(Project Name) job?"

"Show me the budget vs costs on the

(Project Name) job?"; or

"Where is the plant item (Asset ID)

located?"

Users can even pose sophisticated

queries, such as, "What is my average

hourly rate on my least profitable job?"

where the AI identifies the job, filters

labour cost codes, and calculates the

average from quantities and values.

RedSky's AI Assistants will augment

human decision-making by surfacing

new insights, allowing users to focus on

higher-value tasks. We are also adding

an AI Match capability to our Invoice

Register Automation. This module uses

Gen AI to automatically suggest

matching invoice lines with order lines,

utilising quantities, descriptions, and

values to achieve high confidence levels.

In the future, predictive capabilities will

be leveraged to enhance CVR

forecasting, meet Payment Performance

requirements, and improve Cash Flow

forecasting.

"Our AI roadmap marks a bold new

chapter for our business. We are

weaving intelligence into the fabric of

how we work - empowering our teams

with tools that elevate the time, quality

and depth of their thinking... By

embedding AI directly into our products,

we are unlocking entirely new sources of

value and delivering predictive

capabilities that help our customers

move confidently into the future." - Phil

Kent, Managing Director.

REDSKY, CRASH AND THE VALUES

BEHIND 50 YEARS

RedSky is also recognised for its

sustained commitment to industry-wide

social impact. For more than a decade,

it has been a proud Corporate Patron of

CRASH, the charity supporting

homelessness and hospice

organisations through life-changing

construction projects.

In 2019, RedSky received an Above and

Beyond Award for 10 years of continuous

support. This year, CRASH named the

company its Corporate Patron of the

Month, acknowledging its ongoing

advocacy and fundraising efforts -

including an £18,000 donation from the

RedSky user group. This involvement

reflects the wider values of the JDM

Technology Group, whose people-first

culture provides the stable foundation

that enables RedSky to innovate while

continuing to give back to the industry it

has served for half a century.

www.redskyit.com


CASEstudy

Scaling with Confidence

How OCU Group Strengthened Governance and

Supply Chain Trust

Rapid growth brings opportunity, but

it also magnifies operational risk.

For organisations operating in

highly regulated, project-driven

environments, scaling without the right

systems can quickly expose inefficiencies,

compliance gaps and pressure points

across the supply chain.

For OCU Group, a utilities and digital

infrastructure specialist delivering work

across electricity, gas, water, rail, telecoms

and directional drilling, growth became the

catalyst for fundamental change.

Founded in 1994 and headquartered in

Stockport, Greater Manchester, OCU

Group reported record revenues of £866

million for the financial year ending April

2025 - a 42% increase on the previous

year. With around 5,000 employees and

an expanding portfolio of projects, the

business faced a challenge common

across the industry: managing a rising

volume of subcontractor applications for

payment efficiently, transparently and

compliantly.

The solution came through the digitisation

and automation of its application for

payment process.

WHEN MANUAL PROCESSES NO

LONGER SCALE

As OCU Group's project

volumes increased, so too

did the number of

subcontractor applications requiring

assessment, certification and payment.

Longstanding manual processes - reliant

on paper, spreadsheets and email - were

increasingly difficult to manage at scale.

Manual administration was creating

bottlenecks, limiting visibility and risking

delays to subcontractor payments. More

critically, inefficiencies in the process

exposed the business to potential noncompliance

with the Construction Act.

Peter Vevers, Commercial Director of

Utility Services, recalls the strain on the

organisation: "Before Payapps, our team

was drowning in paperwork and

spreadsheets, which resulted in constant

inconsistencies and delays." Lack of

transparency compounded the risk. "If

someone was away from the business, we

couldn't see whether an application had

been responded to, which not only

delayed subcontractor payments but put

us at risk under the Housing and Grants

Act," he added.

With recruitment challenges affecting the

wider industry, increasing administrative

headcount was neither desirable

nor sustainable. OCU

Group needed

a system capable of increasing throughput

while reducing risk - not adding to it.

GOVERNANCE UNDER PRESSURE

OCU Group has built its reputation on

strong governance and operational

discipline. However, leadership recognised

that even closely governed manual

processes were vulnerable to error,

inconsistency and inefficiency.

Chris Corrie, Group Commercial Director,

explained, "The process for paying the

supply chain was very manual. While it was

governed closely, it gave us a lot of risks

and exposure to legislation challenges."

Paper-based workflows left room for

human error, inconsistent record-keeping

and delayed responses - all issues

magnified by growth and complexity

across a diverse group of businesses.

The conclusion was clear - digitisation

was essential to protect compliance,

improve visibility and support future

growth.

12


CASEstudy

CREATING A SINGLE SOURCE OF

TRUTH

OCU Group implemented Payapps across

its utilities division to standardise and

automate the application for payment

process. The objective was not just

efficiency, but control - creating a single,

centralised source of truth for both internal

teams and the supply chain.

Payapps replaced spreadsheets and

email chains with structured digital

workflows, giving all stakeholders real-time

visibility of application status, deadlines

and certification outcomes.

A key benefit was improved alignment

between commercial and finance teams.

"When a payment is certified in Payapps,

it moves directly into our accounting

software," said Vevers. "It then goes

through a separate compliance check

before flowing through for payment. This

all happens now without any printing,

scanning or emails - and it's working

really well."

COMPLIANCE EMBEDDED BY

DESIGN

Ensuring legislative compliance was a

central driver behind the adoption of

Payapps. Automated workflows ensure

applications, payment notices and

certifications are actioned within required

timeframes, significantly reducing

compliance risk.

"The protection the software brings by

ensuring our legislative compliance was

certainly a big focus for us," explained

Corrie. "And we're an acquisitive

business, so the intuitive workflows in

Payapps ensure businesses new to us

quickly integrate and adhere to our

robust processes,"

Since going live in November 2024,

adoption has been rapid and extensive -

"We've put £270 million worth of payments

through the system," said Corrie,

highlighting Payapps' flexibility in

supporting different valuation models

across the group's diverse operations.

VISIBILITY THAT TRANSFORMS

DAY-TO-DAY OPERATIONS

For operational teams, the shift from

fragmented communication to a single

platform delivered immediate benefits.

Senior Quantity Surveyor, Josh

Warburton, described the difference: "In

the past, everything came through via

emails which are easy to lose track of.

Whereas, with Payapps, it's all in one

system. You get an email notification when

an application for payment comes in, so

you can't really miss anything, even if

someone is off."

Meanwhile, for finance and payments

teams, improved visibility extended into

reporting, forecasting and cashflow

management has streamlined everything

and provided better visibility.

Payapps has also supported

knowledge development for junior staff.

Apprentice Quantity Surveyor, Amy Witts,

noted, "It's massively helped just with my

general knowledge of the construction

industry and the end-to-end processing

of a payment."

MEASURABLE GAINS IN

ACCURACY AND PRODUCTIVITY

The impact of standardisation has been

significant. By enforcing a consistent

application format, Payapps has reduced

rejection rates from 60-70% to under 5%.

Common issues such as incorrect details,

missing information and formatting errors

have largely been eliminated.

Invoice accuracy has improved in

parallel. "Now the certifications are visible

to our subcontractors in Payapps, there's

no need to send them spreadsheets in

which rounding errors and other minor

inaccuracies often occurred," said Lee

Jones, Energy Commercial Director.

The reduction in rejected invoices,

credits and reissues has removed a major

source of delay and frustration for both

OCU Group and its supply chain, while

productivity gains have been equally

notable. Over a 12-month period, the

finance team more than doubled the

number of certifications processed - from

around 800 to 2,000 - without increasing

headcount.

"That's in no small part down to the

accuracy of data coming through to the

finance team," commented OCU's

Subcontractor Payments Manager. "Using

APIs, the information flows straight from

Payapps into our Microsoft Dynamics ERP

system, so errors are minimal."

STRENGTHENING SUPPLY CHAIN

RELATIONSHIPS

Beyond efficiency and compliance,

Payapps has played a critical role in

strengthening trust across OCU Group's

supply chain. As a signatory of the Fair

Payment Code, the business is committed

to paying subcontractors on time and in

line with agreed terms. Payapps provides

the transparency required to demonstrate

that commitment.

"We generally pay all of our

subcontractors ahead of our clients

paying us," said Vevers. "So they can be

confident the money is flowing through

the supply chain."

For subcontractors, real-time visibility

has removed uncertainty. Imi Hyde,

Director at H&E Telecoms, explained,

"When I submit an application, I get an

email confirming it… You don't have to sit

and wait, or chase people." He added,

"With Payapps, you know exactly when

you're due payment and what you're

due… It gives me full transparency."

Improved visibility has also reduced

disputes and helped move

conversations away from confrontation.

"If we disagree with a value, they can see

which week we disagree with," said

Vevers. "Anything more than two or three

weeks old is fully agreed."

Corrie summarised the impact:

"Dispute levels have fallen and Payapps

really helps us have a cleaner transition

from what can be an adversarial position

at times."

BUILT FOR CONTINUED GROWTH

For OCU Group, implementing Payapps

was a strategic decision aligned with

long-term growth ambitions. "Payapps

offers great peace of mind… along with

its scalability," Corrie concluded. "We

chose software that could be

implemented quickly, because OCU is a

business that moves quickly… we're

hopeful that Payapps will continue with

us on that journey."

With robust governance, scalable

workflows and strengthened supply chain

relationships now embedded, the

business is better positioned for the next

phase of expansion.

https://hubs.ly/Q041WR0b0


TECHNOLOGYfocus

Spatial Intelligence in 2026

Christine Byrne of Looq AI describes the new ground truth for infrastructure

In mid-2024, the Looq Platform,

developed by Looq AI, was described

as a "walk in the park" - a nod to the

simplicity of capturing survey-grade data

just by walking a site. As we open the first

chapters of 2026, that "walk" has led the

industry to a more significant destination.

What began as a breakthrough in groundbased

rapid data collection has matured

into a full-scale framework for spatial

intelligence for the built world.

This represents a fundamental shift:

moving beyond the mere collection of

high-accuracy points toward a future

defined by Semantic Continuity and

Absolute Spatial Integrity.

A TALE OF TWO REGULATORY

CEILINGS

Together, these regulatory shifts are

accelerating a broader re-evaluation of

how spatial data is captured, validated,

and operationalised. The urgency for highfidelity

terrestrial data is being driven by a

global regulatory landscape that reached

a tipping point this month. However, the

challenges for the UK and US markets,

while both restrictive, are fundamentally

different:

In the UK: As of January 1, 2026, the

UK CAA's Remote ID mandates are in

full effect. New drones must now carry

a UK Class Mark (UK0-UK6), and any

camera-equipped drone over 100g

requires a Flyer ID. This shifts the

burden onto the operator for increased

digital accountability.

In the US: The December 22, 2025,

FCC actions have targeted the supply

chain itself. By adding all foreignproduced

UAS and "critical

components" to the FCC "Covered

List," the US has created a sudden

and significant constraint on available

aerial technology options.

For a decade, the sector anchored

itself to the drone as the primary

delivery vehicle. The start of 2026 is

reinforcing that flight is a perspectivenot

a data standard.

NAVIGATING THE SUPPLY CHAIN

VACUUM

The US FCC ruling, as analysed by

Politico, hits 90% of the market currently

utilising foreign-produced technology the

hardest across commercial and utilityscale

deployments. Because the ban

extends to "critical components" - including

sensors, flight controllers, and batteries - it

impacts not just foreign-branded drones,

but even domestically assembled units

that rely on global parts.

For firms tasked with maintaining the

power grid, waiting for a fully independent

domestic aerial supply chain to mature is

not an option.

DECOUPLING DATA FROM

AIRSPACE

At Looq AI, our approach focuses on a

"flightless" workflow that prioritises

high-fidelity spatial intelligence. By

moving reality capture to the ground

with the qCam, we address the

systemic challenges created by both

UK and US regulations:

14


TECHNOLOGYfocus

Hardware Sovereignty: As a handheld

sensor, the qCam operates entirely

outside the scope of the FCC's dronespecific

restrictions. Designed and

assembled in the US, we provide an

NDAA-compliant path for firms

requiring supply chain certainty.

Zero Flight Friction: Moving to the

ground removes the administrative

weight of flight waivers and the

increasing complexity of Remote ID

implementation. It allows teams to

capture data in "no-fly" zones and

dense urban corridors where aerial

methods face physical and

regulatory barriers.

The Detail Gap: To perform a NESCcompliant

structural analysis, an

engineer needs bolt-level detail. Our

proprietary qAI algorithms construct 3D

digital twins with 2-5mm relative

accuracy, reaching the sub-centimeter

detail that aerial platforms often

struggle to resolve consistently,

regardless of their country of origin.

SEMANTIC EXTRACTION: MOVING

FROM "POINTS" TO "OBJECTS"

The true bottleneck in modern CAD

workflows is not capture; it is classification.

A raw point cloud, no matter how accurate,

is still just a collection of X, Y, Z

coordinates. Without classification, much

of that data is effectively unusable in

downstream engineering workflows. The

manual task of "point-picking" - manually

identifying which dots represent a

transformer and which represent a tree

branch - may be one of the single greatest

drains on professional resources in the

AEC industry today.

The maturity of automated semantic

extraction represents a pivot point. The

Looq Platform's algorithms identify,

segment, and georeference distinct

engineering objects automatically. By the

time the data reaches an engineer's desk,

the assets are already classified.

This was validated by the Bentley

Systems 2025 Going Digital Awards, where

AquaWolf (a Qualus company) received

the Founders Honor Award. By integrating

Looq's terrestrial capture with Bentley's

PLS-CADD, AquaWolf achieved a 60%

reduction in modeling time. They didn't just

make a model; they built a structural

analysis workflow that was faster and more

accurate than traditional manual methods.

ENGINEERING UTILITY IN THE

"LAST MILE"

Infrastructure Intelligence is defined by its

performance where traditional GPS or

aerial sensors fail. We are now seeing our

platform solve the "Last Mile" of information

across diverse sectors where those

methods face limitations:

Hazardous Access & Safety: In

electrical undergrounding projects, the

qCam can be mounted on hot-sticks

with integrated strobe lighting. As

demonstrated in Looq's

technical series, this generates highfidelity

as-builts inside manholes and

vaults without requiring human entryremoving

a massive safety liability.

Hybrid Preservation: In Idaho's Soldier

Ghost Town, Accurate Surveying &

Mapping merged DJI Mavic 3E terrain

data with qCam terrestrial capture to

model the 115-year-old Goff's Hall.

While the drone established the site

map, the platform provided the 2-

5mm relative precision required to

model foundation settlement and

masonry decay.

Rapid Recovery: Following the 2024

Jasper wildfire, McElhanney bypassed

restricted post-disaster airspace by

capturing four city blocks on foot in just

4 hours. By extracting building

footprints directly from georeferenced

point clouds, they verified property

boundaries and kickstarted rebuilding

efforts weeks ahead of schedule.

INTEROPERABILITY: THE RISK

MITIGATION STRATEGY

The value is in the data. The true test of

any tech trend is its integration into

existing workstreams. A "closed" system

is a dead system.

The Looq Platform produces classified

.laz point clouds and orthorectified TIFF

imagery designed for native, frictionless

import into AutoCAD Civil 3D, Bentley's

PLS-CADD, and Trimble Business Center

(TBC). This interoperability helps firms to

stay hardware-agnostic, protecting them

from regulatory shifts or hardware bans,

while ensuring their data remains a "living"

asset throughout the infrastructure lifecycle.

FROM DATA CAPTURE TO

INFRASTRUCTURE INTELLIGENCE

In 2024, the breakthrough was the ability to

capture survey-grade data with a "walk in

the park." In 2026, the breakthrough is what

happens after the walk. The sector has

moved beyond the era of just collecting

points to an era of Spatial Intelligence,

where software handles the heavy lifting of

identifying and classifying the world it sees.

The industry is under increasing pressure

because it remains anchored to a specific

delivery vehicle - the drone. But the value is

in the data. As the regulatory landscape for

drones continues to tighten globally, the

transition to ground-based, AI-driven

capture is more than a workaround; it is a

technological upgrade that drives resilience

and grid reliability for the next generation.

https://looq.ai


SOFTWAREfocus

Light My Fire!

Graphisoft releases details about its Smart HVAC solution, MEP Designer, to attendees at its

2025 User Conference

Graphisoft's user conference

attendees in Budapest were

treated to a rich demonstration

of the latest software tools in the hourlong

Ignite presentation. A number of

these were described in the article on

Archicad 29 in the last issue, but there

were plenty of other topics that were

introduced, including the increasingly

rapid trend towards BIM and

digitalisation, the need to share data not

only with fellow users but with other

applications, and the greater use of

cloud technology.

The highlight, though, was the focus on

the Cinderella of the industry, MEP.

HVAC Layout systems for buildings are

very complex, estimated to contribute an

average of 35% to a building's

construction costs. They depend on

collaboration between different

disciplines, many of them inhabiting the

same service spaces within a building,

each with their own methods and

idiosyncrasies when it comes to design

and layout, with data usually held in

different formats and silos.

Reflecting the BIM collaboration

outlined above, Graphisoft has released

a new standalone product called MEP

Designer. Attendees of the Ignite session

were the first to see the new features of

the software in operation, although it is

based on the Archicad MEP software

that many are already familiar with.

MEP Designer adds smart functionality

to HVAC design, basing it on

Graphisoft's BIM engine backed up by

the AI application, Zenesis. Its core

function is to use AI to generate layouts

in a building for all of its MEP systems,

integrating them from the beginning of

the design process. That comes with an

incidental bonus. In the past, MEP

engineers usually got involved after the

building design had been laid out -

leading to costly modifications if the

design needed to be changed to

accommodate their needs.

Using MEP Designer, Zenesis can work

with Archicad to incorporate all heating,

ventilation, and plumbing solutions

within a building's design, ensuring that

the layout of each is consistent with the

design as it develops and keeping them

in step and within budget. With access

to the building's plans, rooms, areas,

heating requirements, and other details,

all are available for use in the

calculations needed to refine a complete

MEP solution. The benefits are

immediate, replacing hours of complex

calculations with a rapid and interactive

solution that allows engineers to work

with architects on developing an

optimum solution to meet a building's

total MEP requirements, and to

automatically produce all of the

supporting plans and documentation.

MEP Designer allows designers to add

fittings to a design to modify or

supplement the original system, access

additional MEP attributes, like insulation,

remove a node from a system and more,

all with a single click. It also includes an

intelligent connection solver, capable of

resolving issues with open connections

using Graphic Overrides, which Archicad

users will already be familiar with, or

handling complex scenarios that include

angles and slopes.

PHYSICAL CALCULATION ENGINE

A physical calculation engine, supported

by Smart Solutions, demonstrated the

rather unique characteristics of

plumbing solutions. Slopes are essential

in gravity, rather than pressure-driven

systems, especially when you need to

keep the wastewater flowing in a large

multi-use building. MEP Designer

enables designers to edit the slope on a

complete floor plan, which would

otherwise be a laborious and timeconsuming

exercise. The new physical

calculation engine allows designers to

define the requirements of a system and

then automatically refine it with all of the

correct slopes and angles using the

software's built-in optimiser solutions.

The cherry on the cake is that once the

MEP Designer has completed its task,

the results are transferred back into

Archicad in native format, and what was

previously a complex process becomes

a clear, intuitive one, saving time, effort,

and costs.

16


SOFTWAREfocus

GOING FURTHER

With the basic layout established, MEP

Designer can then further develop the

design, adding environmental and other

factors to determine how much heating

a building actually needs. Archicad

allows a complete building to be

exported as an IFC file, along with its

spaces, walls, slabs roofs, windows and

doors, the materials used, other

construction requirements - plus its

location and settings, which may be

necessary to establish its zone type. It

then uses the information to create a

thermal model that enables MEP

engineers to check the heating needs of

all of the rooms in a model.

Having established its geographical

location and climatic environment, with

simple clicks, designers can go even

further, focusing on prevailing weather

conditions or deciding whether

insulation is needed to protect piping, or

sunlight and other types of heat can be

added into the calculation - with the aim

of establishing how comfortable each

room would be. The results can then be

configured using a coloured code that

shows which rooms need additional

heating for optimum comfort - all fed

back into the calculation to establish the

core heating requirement.

CONFIGURING A POTABLE

WATER SYSTEM

Water is just as complex as heating in a

building design, requiring detailed

piping systems for potable water,

wastewater, rainwater, heating, and

cooling. MEP Designer allows designers

to size, for instance, a potable water

system, and then to export it to thirdparty

plumbing applications as a basic

3D isometric projection, allowing MEP

engineers to add information about the

building's drinking water requirements,

such as estimated simultaneous water

usage, minimum required, available

water pressure, pipe material, and water

temperature.

This is used to size all the pipes,

which can then be imported back into

MEP Designer and laid out as an

interactive schedule within a table.

Clicking any point or node in the table

opens the 3D plan, showing exactly

where it fits in the model.

And ventilation? It is as critical in HVAC

design as any other component. The AX

3000 add-on provides advanced

analysis to calculate the size of

ventilation systems modelled in MEP

Designer and to visualise the results.

The add-on performs pressure loss

calculations directly in MEP Designer,

showing easy-to-read tables listing air

pressures in each main and side web,

providing accurate hydraulic balancing.

Colour coding, again, enables users to

spot issues and identify where larger

ducts might be needed, taking possible

pressure loss and pipe material friction

into account, to produce another

optimal solution.

DDSCAD

While we’ve mainly focused on the

mechanical and pumping solutions in

MEP Designer here we haven't ignored

DDScad, which has been around for a

number of years and is an established

part of Graphisoft's HVAC solution. The

new features of the updated 2025

DDScad release include improved 3D

models for wall-mounted plugs and

sockets, and the installation of security

cameras cable trailers, and much more.

You can watch a video overview of

Graphisoft MEP Designer here:

https://youtu.be/V3s0CNnRXVY


TECHNOLOGY focus

The Real AI Foundation

Building document intelligence starts with structure, not web-based models, as Zutec's Maria

Hudson explains

Maria Hudson - Group Chief Marketing

Officer, Zutec

The construction and asset

management sectors are entering

what is arguably the third major

technology shift in their digital evolution. The

first wave arrived with the move from paperbased

workflows to web-based systems,

introducing CDEs, online document

repositories and browser-accessible project

environments. The second wave came with

the widespread adoption of mobile

platforms, which moved inspections, data

capture and field coordination away from

the desktop and into the hands of site

teams and facilities managers.

Today, the industry is undergoing its third

major leap: the shift toward AI-driven

building document intelligence. Unlike

previous transitions, this one isn't simply

about digitising processes or improving

access to information. It is about enabling

machines to interpret building data,

understand assets on a deeper scale, and

support operational decisions at a scale

no human team could feasibly match. Yet

despite major advances in model

performance, cloud infrastructure and

automation, one constraint still sits

immovably in the way. AI cannot

compensate for fragmented, inconsistent

or poorly structured building information.

And as organisations push toward

machine-interpretable building document

intelligence, this underlying problem

threatens to undermine any AI initiative

without the right data model behind it.

Digital transformation leaders know that

fragmentation remains one of the industry's

most entrenched challenges. Many asset

owners feel they have already "gone digital,"

but digitisation alone does not deliver

operational intelligence. When O&Ms,

drawings, certificates, warranties,

specifications and inspection records are

scattered across CDEs, shared drives,

USBs, email chains and servers, the

organisation is still operating in a largely

analogue-in-digital-form state.

The inefficiency is significant. Studies show

that facilities staff spend one to two hours

every day searching for building information

(ARC Facilities), and that most

18


TECHNOLOGYfocus

employees (80%) lose up to half an hour

per day retrieving data in environments

where information is poorly organised

(Asset Infinity). Across a large estate, this

drag on productivity compounds quickly

and influences everything from

maintenance response times to safetycase

preparation.

For AI, the problem runs even deeper.

General-purpose models cannot

determine which document is authoritative

when multiple versions could exist without

metadata. They struggle to connect

systems, components and zones when

naming conventions vary wildly. They

cannot identify relationships between

assets when those relationships are not

encoded into the underlying data. In these

environments, an AI system is forced to

guess. Sometimes it guesses well; often it

does not. The result is unreliable

intelligence born out of unreliable data.

It is precisely for this reason that asset

owners across the sector are now

investing not in AI tools first, but in their

data foundations. They are consolidating

information into governed environments,

introducing consistent naming

conventions, validating document sets and

applying metadata frameworks that allow

buildings to be represented in a machinereadable

way.

The benefits of this approach extend far

beyond tidier file structures. When

information is centralised and coherent,

users no longer rely on institutional

memory to locate critical documents. They

gain transparency over where information

comes from, how it has changed and

which version should be used. They can

move faster, with more confidence, and in

ways that support the Golden Thread

requirements now shaping the UK's

building safety regime.

The impact of good information

management becomes even more

apparent once buildings move from

construction into operation. Here, the

quality of the digital handover is often the

single biggest determinant of how easily a

building can be managed over its lifecycle.

For decades, handover has been treated

as an end stage administrative task, often

delivered under pressure and with

inconsistent validation. But as asset

owners with high-risk buildings (HRBs) are

now required to maintain accurate digital

records to meet the obligations of the

Building Safety Act, the handover is no

longer just a procedural output; it is the

point at which long-term safety, traceability

and operational reliability are either

enabled or constrained.

Contractors have a crucial role to play in

this shift. When information is captured,

validated and organised throughout the

project as a digital handover - rather than

assembled in a rush at practical completion

- the resulting handover is significantly

more structured, complete and

operationally relevant. Clear templates,

metadata rules and agreed folder

structures reduce ambiguity and ensure

that documents reflect the building as

actually delivered.

Contractors who take this approach not

only support their clients more effectively

but also differentiate themselves in a

market where digital maturity is becoming a

deciding factor in future work. Asset owners

are increasingly specifying digital handover

solutions as a requirement in their contracts

to ensure information is delivered in a

structured, standardised format. Zutec has

seen a marked rise in this demand as

organisations seek greater consistency and

traceability across their portfolios.

Once information is consolidated in this

way, the next generation of AI tools

purposely trained on building data can

finally operate as intended. These systems

go far beyond keyword matching or basic

search. They can read O&M manuals,

interpret drawings, understand asset

hierarchies and distinguish between

documents that look similar but carry very

different implications in practice.

Because they understand the relationships

between components, systems and

locations, they can answer operational

questions with a level of speed and clarity

that would otherwise require hours of

manual searching. A facilities manager can

ask for the warranty details of a lift or request

all fire-safety certificates expiring in the next

quarter, and the AI can return the correct

records, complete with source references

and version histories, in seconds.

The transformative potential here should

not be understated. Tasks that once

involved navigating multiple platforms,

digging through poorly named folders or

relying on long-serving colleagues'

memories become immediate and reliable.

Decision-making accelerates. Compliance

risk decreases. Visibility across the

lifecycle improves. And rather than merely

storing information, organisations begin to

leverage it, turning passive documentation

into active operational intelligence.

This shift is not restricted to new

buildings. Existing portfolios, often

burdened by decades of inconsistent

record-keeping, can also be brought into

AI-readiness through retrospective data

migration. By consolidating legacy

documentation into a structured

environment and identifying gaps that

need backfilling, asset owners can

transform old, fragmented archives into

comprehensive datasets that support

modern operational needs. Once unified,

AI can enrich these datasets further,

highlighting inconsistencies, surfacing

patterns and improving the reliability of

asset information over time.

As the industry moves deeper into its AI

era, one message is becoming

increasingly clear: the success of AI in

building document intelligence will not

hinge on out-of-the-box models but on the

quality of the information environments

they operate within.

Zutec's latest paper, The Data

Foundations for AI Driven Building

Information, explores this idea in depth -

showing that asset owners who focus on

building coherent, governed, machinereadable

data foundations will be the ones

who unlock meaningful value from AI.

While contractors who deliver structured,

validated handover information will

become essential partners in a lifecycledriven

industry that demands more than

traditional document dumps.

The third technological shift - from mobile

to AI - represents an extraordinary

opportunity for the sector. But that

opportunity can only be realised when the

foundations are solid. The future of AI in

asset management depends not on the

algorithms alone, but on the clarity,

continuity and completeness of the data

that feeds them.

https://zutec.com


SOFTWAREfocus

SketchUp AI

SketchUp provides some welcome modeling, visualisation and help tools based on AI in its

latest release, writes David Chadwick

It was inevitable that Trimble's

SketchUp would take advantage of

AI like other leading architecture and

design applications, but also

interesting, having watched its

development from its initial entry into

the market as a direct 3D concept

design modeller through to its position

now as a sophisticated application

used by many architects and

engineers. The introduction of AI

extends its capabilities further,

providing some unique capabilities that

I have yet to see in other applications.

Trimble recently announced SketchUp

AI, designed to simplify modeling,

visualisation and navigation within its

own SketchUp ecosystem. The

powerful new features are designed to

fit seamlessly into SketchUp workflows,

enabling users to unleash more of their

creative ideas, reduce time-consuming

tasks, and to generally support

informed decision-making at every

stage of the design process. This is

facilitated by two powerful new tools, AI

Render and AI Assistant, that make it

easier for designers to transform ideas

into client-ready visuals in seconds.

AI RENDER

I found AI Render to be

most interesting, not least because of

some of its key features, but also

because of the terms of its use. It's a

generative AI image creation tool that

can speed up the creation of rendered

images using its AI capabilities. Its

simplicity hides the fact that each quick

modification to a rendered image

invokes a substantial amount of data

manipulation by its AI software.

Users' ambitions must therefore be

rationed, hence the use of a credit

system that limits their account to a

specified generation limit, depending

on its type and cost. It is not difficult to

keep track of how much you use, as

the on-screen renders can display the

credits available per month, and the

amount actually used.

As you would expect with SketchUp,

the generative AI image creation tool

allows designers to focus on creative

solutions without having to learn

complex rendering tools or relying on

other applications to refine or render

their 3D models. It was

initially tested within

the SketchUp

Labs

beta program and uses what was

known as SketchUp Diffusion, reflecting

the refinement processes that AI uses

to create digital images. Tidied up for

full release, it now includes a

redesigned interface and enhanced

controls, such as Reference Images,

Inpainting, and Negative Prompts.

As with every AI assisted application,

Designers interact with their SketchUp

model using a text prompt keying in

what they want it to display, or to use

AUTO, which comes with predefined

styles to create images in seconds,

from early concept designs and

inspiration to high-fidelity, realistic

client deliverables.

The text prompt also allows designers

to set the level of influence that each AI

suggestion responds to prompts with,

or to include a negative prompt that

defines what should not be included in

a design. AI will produce three creative

solutions in a gallery, allowing

designers to select the one preferred

for further attention by AI. Images

chosen within the gallery are tied to

the version of AI render. You can see

why the credit system is being

used, as designers could get

quite carried away by the

simplicity of it all, and the

speed of response.

As the rendering process

developers, designers can

compare the

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SOFTWAREfocus

rendered image to the SketchUp

original on which it is based (although it

might be preferable to use two

displays), and the UIs can be displayed

in floating displays and toolbars on top

of the main SketchUp window for quick

and easy access.

Reference images are used by AI

Render to incorporate a designer's own

sketches into the rendering process,

even to the extent of making the

finished renders copy the style of the

designer's own images.

AI Inpainting gives the designer the

ability to play around with the details of

a render. It is a powerful feature that

can improve landscapes or individual

items, such as building components,

furniture, or even people, that require

targeted detailing, Using the Brush/Edit

tool, designers can highlight these

areas and apply prompts to describe

the desired changes, providing instant

realism and detailed interaction with the

rendered design. Red or green

paintbrushes or lassoes highlight the

item within the rendered image, either

to remove it from the render, or to

specify an alternative component.

AI ASSISTANT

SketchUp is well-known for its massive

database of building and component

designs created by SketchUp users -

aptly called 3D Warehouse. These can

be dragged into your designs as they

are, or as a base model for further

design, using the Trimble SketchUp AI

Assistant, or if nothing suitable is found,

to generate a 3D object using photoreal

2D images, or from text prompts.

Besides AI Assistant handling the role

of a chatbot that helps users navigate

and troubleshoot SketchUp 3D designs,

it can be used to create 3D geometry in

SketchUp. Generate Object, one of the

tools within AI Assistant, allows users to

turn 2D images or text prompts into 3D

objects in seconds, directly within

SketchUp. Users simply describe what

they want to create, provide one of their

own sketches as a prompt or drag a

photographic image into the interface,

and AI Assistant will use that to

generate the 3D object with full

parametric capability and BIM

attributes. This process eliminates the

manual steps typically required to

model furniture and other components

from scratch.

Describing the operation of AI

Assistant, Sandra Winstead, senior

director of Product Management at

Trimble said, "The design process

should feel intuitive, not cumbersome.

We are continually pushing the

boundaries of what's possible with AI.

By reducing time-consuming tasks and

lowering the barrier to entry for

modeling and visualisation, SketchUp

AI empowers professionals to explore

creative ideas more freely, work more

efficiently and make informed decisions

at every stage of the design process -

all within SketchUp."

FREE CREDITS FOR SUBSCRIBERS

Trimble SketchUp subscribers can start

using these AI capabilities today with

included free credits. The average

quantity of credits per account per

month is 200. A simple AI request to

render an image takes 1 or 2 credits,

and 5 for a full render. It's a generous

allocation, but designers regularly

hitting the limit will soon learn to

optimise their requests and pay more

attention to planning their designs,

although you can increase the credits

available per month by upgrading your

subscription in-product.

To purchase SketchUp, visit the

SketchUp website or the Apple App Store.

https://sketchup.trimble.com/en/plansand-pricing/sketchup-ai


TECHNOLOGYfocus

A New Way of Operating

Understanding how construction and engineering projects are planned and executed is the key to

bidding for, controlling, and ultimately achieving successful outcomes

Operate is an operational ERP

platform developed by Metam, a

specialist technology and

consulting firm dedicated to the

Architecture, Engineering and

Construction (AEC) industry. While Metam

is often described as an ERP integrator,

Operate goes beyond traditional

integration by providing a purpose-built

operational layer that unifies and extends

leading enterprise systems such as

Microsoft Dynamics 365 Finance &

Operations, Business Central, alongside

other enterprise platforms where relevant.

As its name suggests, Operate focuses

squarely on the operational reality of

construction and engineering projects.

This contrasts with many conventional ERP

systems that tend to prioritise finance and

HR, often leaving operational teams to rely

on spreadsheets, disconnected tools and

manual processes. Operate is designed to

close that gap by placing project

operations, how work is planned,

executed, tracked and controlled, at the

centre of the system.

As Operate covers the full end-to-end

operational lifecycle of a project, it begins

well before execution, at the bid and

opportunity stage. It enables organisations

to manage leads, prospects and

opportunities in a structured way, capturing

not only commercial data but also the

operational context that determines

whether a project is worth pursuing.

Opportunities typically originate from sales

teams, who compile information on

potential projects. This includes why they

represent an opportunity, key contacts,

contractual responsibilities, competitive

context and the organisation's internal

readiness to deliver. Operate centralises

this information, including notes on

relationships, meeting history and

qualification status. Before a bid decision is

made, a comprehensive operational and

commercial picture is already in place,

supported by an AI agent, which helps

users analyse and contextualise the

information rather than simply store it.

Beyond individual projects, Operate

allows companies to analyse patterns

across their entire portfolio. The AI Agent

can identify relationships between projects,

recurring risks, client interactions or the

outcomes of similar bids. This crossproject

intelligence steadily enriches the

system, improving decision-making as

more data is accumulated.

FROM OPPORTUNITY TO BID

Once an opportunity has been qualified, it

can be converted directly into a bid project,

with all previously collected information

carried forward automatically. Images,

documents, client discussions, meeting

notes and historical context remain

attached to the bid, eliminating the

fragmentation that often occurs when

teams move between CRM tools,

spreadsheets and document folders.

Operate provides a single environment

where bid managers and project managers

can collaborate. Information that is typically

scattered across Excel files, emails and

shared drives is consolidated into one

operational CRM, acting as a one-stop

workspace for bid preparation.

Additional activities required to support

the bid, such as soil analysis, site

assessments or preliminary studies, are

recorded directly in Operate. All related

documents are stored in a structured

document registry, continuously feeding an

AI agent with relevant project-specific data.

This enables the generation of structured

RFP responses, deliverables and scope

definitions that are operationally grounded

rather than purely commercial.

Users can begin building the Work

Breakdown Structure and cost estimates

directly within the bid. Multiple quote

scenarios can be created for the same

opportunity, allowing teams to compare

alternatives. The AI agent learns from these

iterations, gradually refining its

recommendations. Over time, it can

support decisions such as identifying which

bid managers are best suited to specific

types of projects, for example

distinguishing between public-sector bids

and complex infrastructure work.

PROMPTING THE AGENT

A critical element of any AI-driven process

is asking the right questions. Operate

addresses this by using structured,

implementation-specific prompts that

combine predefined variables and criteria

aligned with the client's industry segment,

geography and operating model.

Construction projects are not only industryspecific

but also highly regional, with

22


TECHNOLOGYfocus

differing regulations, labour practices and

risk profiles.

This structured prompting ensures that

once a bid is approved, the information it

contains can be converted directly into an

operational project without rework. From

there, the WBS is refined, breaking down

activities, assigning teams and establishing

the planning framework.

The WBS can be structured in a tabular,

Excel-like format or represented in a more

traditional Gantt view, depending on client

preference. Phases, sub-phases,

mobilisation, site activities, construction

stages and handover can all be configured

to match how the organisation actually

delivers projects, rather than forcing teams

into a rigid template.

All data collected during the bid phase

remains available during execution. A

central document repository stores files and

images down to task level, with previews

and metadata indicating document type,

such as health and safety, delivery methods,

materials or compliance requirements.

Given the diversity of subcontractor

practices, Operate's subcontractor portal

allows project managers to correlate and

validate information provided by each

partner in a consistent way.

RISK MANAGEMENT

Every construction project carries risk,

including environmental, physical, financial,

contractual and operational risk. Operate

enables these risks to be assessed at both

project and task level, linking them to

required certifications, competencies and

controls. Environmental risks can be

flagged to support the selection of more

sustainable materials or to account for realtime

conditions such as weather extremes

or delivery constraints. Operational risks

can be embedded directly into tasks, such

as specifying machinery that carries

insurance limitations if used beyond

defined thresholds.

Metam's approach recognises that no AI

can account for every possible variable in a

complex construction environment.

Instead, the company embeds industryspecific

risk intelligence directly into

Operate, informed by the practical

experience of its consultants. This allows

stakeholders, including executives and

shareholders, to answer a critical question

at any time, namely 'what are we exposed

to on this project, and why?'.

CLIENT AND PROJECT PORTALS

From a project manager's perspective,

Operate provides immediate visibility into

active projects, margin performance and

operational status, with the ability to drill

down to any required level of detail. The

platform functions as a true end-to-end

operational system rather than a reporting

layer detached from day-to-day execution.

Clients and subcontractors also benefit

from dedicated portals. Subcontractors can

receive purchase orders on a tablet, phone

or laptop, with clear details on scope,

timing and payment. Timesheets and

progress updates can be submitted

directly, reducing delays between work

performed and invoicing.

For organisations operating on tight

margins, this real-time operational visibility

is critical. Operate reduces the lag between

activity, validation and financial recognition,

helping both contractors and

subcontractors manage cash flow and

performance more effectively.

WHO ARE METAM?

Metam is a Canadian company with a

global footprint. Headquartered in

Montreal, it also operates in Ireland, the UK,

the United States and most recently

Morocco and Tunisia. The company

specialises in business and operational

architecture for the AEC industry,

combining consulting, technology and

implementation services.

Led by CEO Houcine Jeljeli, Metam

positions itself as a consulting-led

technology partner rather than a traditional

software vendor. Its strength lies in the

industry backgrounds of its teams, many of

whom have firsthand experience with the

realities of construction, engineering and

project-based businesses. This allows

Metam to address persistent challenges

such as margin pressure, resource

constraints and workforce shortages with

practical, operationally grounded solutions.

Lead Consultant Guillaume St-Amour

acknowledges that no single system can

meet 100 percent of a client's needs out of

the box. That is precisely where Metam's

value lies, working alongside clients to

adapt processes, introduce new ways of

operating and tailor solutions like Operate

to match evolving business demands,

ensuring technology supports the business

rather than the other way around.

www.metam.tech/operate


CASEstudy

Synchronised in 4D

Images courtesy of Mortenson | McCarthy Joint Venture

Mortenson & McCarthy leverage SYNCHRO to deliver a landmark luxury resort for Chula Vista's

bayfront area, using time-saving and advanced 4D construction planning

When the city of Chula Vista and

the Port of San Diego set out to

transform Chula Vista's bayfront

area into a world-class destination and

economic engine for the region, they

envisioned more than a hotel - they

envisioned a legacy.

Sitting on 36 acres of waterfront

property, the 2-million-square-foot

Gaylord Pacific Resort and Convention

Center is the cornerstone of that vision,

estimated to provide a USD 500 million

boost to the local economy. Mortenson

and McCarthy (M&M) partnered to

deliver the massive, resort-style hotel

and convention center, serving as the

centerpiece and catalyst for the Chula

Vista Bayfront Master Plan.

"The Gaylord Pacific Resort &

Convention Center will put Chula Vista

on the map and help it become a

destination point for everyone," said

Andrew Gibson, senior integrated

construction manager at Mortenson.

At the heart of this effort is a highly

motivated team of building professionals

committed to a jobsite culture that values

safety, teamwork, innovation, and

meticulous planning - crucial to meeting

the 36-month delivery schedule for this

mega hospitality initiative. The USD 1.3

billion resort features 1,600 premium

guest rooms, a 4.25-acre outdoor water

park with wave pool and lazy river,

unobstructed ocean views, 12 culinary

venues, and more than 477,000 square

feet of meeting and event space.

Designed and built on reclaimed property,

protecting wildlife and natural sanctuaries,

with over 80% of the workforce sourced

locally, and estimated to generate 4,000

permanent jobs, the project demonstrates

its commitment to environmental and

social sustainability. "This project will be a

beacon for tourism in Chula Vista for

decades to come," said Andrew Corson,

project executive for M&M.

TRICKY SEQUENCING, COMPLEX

LOGISTICS, EARLY TURNOVER

Located on brownfield land amid

industrial areas, demanding sensitive,

eco-friendly design and construction

solutions to reduce the development's

footprint, the project presented planning,

coordination, and logistics challenges to

meet the tight delivery timeline.

"Planning the construction sequence of

both the hotel tower and the convention

center was tricky," explained Gibson.

M&M needed to coordinate two distinct

structures - a concrete hotel tower and a

steel convention center - linked by an

expansion joint. It was critical that the

team create a detailed schedule and

robust 4D model to communicate and

visualise the sheer size and integration

of the building structures, so that craft

partners could better understand the

resources and plans required within the

project footprint.

"The other challenge was being able to

turn over the first three floors four

months prior to project completion in

order to allow the hotel staff and team to

start honing operations so processes

were running smoothly by the time the

hotel opened," emphasised Gibson.

24


CASEstudy

This requirement introduced additional

sequencing and site coordination

difficulties. M&M needed to determine

how to provide safe access to the

customer while construction was

ongoing on the upper floors and

convention center.

Managing a project of this scale - while

meeting the early turnover requirement

and maintaining on-site safety - required

deep involvement from all teams and

clear visibility into how each trade's work

impacted others. M&M was challenged

to think differently. They knew that for a

project of this complexity, an advanced

digital construction solution would be

imperative for a successful outcome.

LEVERAGING SYNCHRO FOR 4D

PLANNING, COLLABORATION,

AND SAFETY

M&M selected SYNCHRO to manage

their planning and execution strategy,

developing a proactive, collaborative

scheduling approach and robust 4D

model to visualise construction

sequencing, coordinate between the

concrete tower and steel convention

center, and communicate logistics to

craft partners. They made SYNCHRO

mandatory across all project teams and

provided training to ensure consistent,

effective use. This fostered deeper

engagement and improved

understanding of how each trade

impacted others.

"This proved to really create a team

mentality, as we were able to showcase

the work in 4D to confirm or poke holes

in the logic and then work together to

figure out the best possible solution for

both the trade and the project as a

whole," explained Gibson.

The team added to the overall 4D

model by developing a specific model

for the interior space, including framing

and mechanical and electrical

equipment. This provided visual insight

for craft workers to understand their

working space and facilitated planning

of the interior logistics, including

sequencing of works and material

staging, to know when, and if it was

conducive for, multiple craft workers to

be working in the same area.

"After participating in the pull plans and

utilising the 4D [model], it was crystal

clear what the expectations were and

what they agreed to," stated Gibson.

Together, the models supported

hundreds of meetings, including more

than 800 plan-of-the-day sessions, to

guide decisions and track progress.

Finally, with an unwavering dedication

to avoiding workplace danger, M&M

implemented a variety of safety

initiatives, including utilising SYNCHRO

to model scaffolding and fall protection

systems to identify and mitigate risks

early. "We also had a breakthrough in

getting our safety professionals involved

with the 4D model," said Gibson.

This enabled the entire team and craft

workers to visualise and collaborate

virtually to ensure all works were safely

coordinated.

A NEW BENCHMARK IN DIGITAL

CONSTRUCTION DELIVERY

Over the course of the project, more

than 32 companies and 200 people were

introduced to and benefited from

SYNCHRO. The 4D models facilitated

collaboration among team members,

reducing misunderstandings and

conflicts, which promoted a unified and

cohesive approach to construction.

Working in Bentley's 4D digital

construction environment improved

planning and coordination by linking 32

million geometry pieces to over 36,000

activities. M&M's entire team, and all

outside parties and stakeholders, were

able to realistically and tangibly visualize

the construction process. This

streamlined workflows and improved risk

management, enabling the team to

deliver the large-scale resort in 34

months, two months ahead of the 36-

month budgeted timeline.

"We were not only able to hit a majority of

our scheduled activity dates, but, in a lot

of cases, were able to speed up the work

and beat the durations," emphasised

Gibson. "Spending the time on taking the

overall 4D and interior 4D to such levels of

detail proved to be a winning combination

for our team," he added.

By doing monthly schedule updates,

the team was able to track and validate

planned-vs-actual progress,

demonstrating not only the efficiency

and productivity gains of 4D planning in

SYNCHRO, but also award-winning

safety performance on a project with

nearly 4 million hours logged and over

7,000 craft workers involved.

"We beat the schedule on enclosure by

one floor, concrete decks by two floors,

prefab panel install by two floors, and

safety net and scaffolding logistics were

planned and executed two floors ahead,"

concluded Gibson.

The software is now standard practice

for M&M's sports operating group and

was critical to completing the west

coast's largest hotel project six weeks

early, setting a new benchmark for digital

construction delivery and better

coordination and visibility within large

project teams.

www.bentley.com


CASEstudy

AI needs your help!

Kenny Ingram, VP of C&E, IFS, and Chris Knight, Global Industry Director, C&E, IFS explain why AI

requires a solid digital foundation if it is to succeed

Kenny Ingram

While some industries have spent

recent years sprinting toward

digital maturity, construction and

engineering is only just crossing the

threshold as the benefits of automation

and Industrial Artificial Intelligence

become impossible to ignore.

Faced with tightening margins and

complex global pressures on materials

and labour constraints, construction &

engineering firms are having to overhaul

their traditional value propositions to stay

competitive. This is pushing construction

and engineering organisations to look to

Chris Knight

AI-enabled technology to work more

effectively within these constraints.

Statistics from the Royal Institution of

Chartered Surveyors found that, in 2025

"Despite the increasing attention on AI

within the construction sector, actual

adoption remains limited. Approximately

45% of respondents reported no AI

implementation in their organisations, while

another 34% are in early pilot phases,

highlighting cautious experimentation rather

than widespread operational use. This

tentative approach suggests the industry

recognises AI's potential benefits but

remains uncertain about scalability,

integration or business value."

As 2026 unfolds, the construction sector

is reaching a critical tipping point where AI

and connected data move from the

periphery to the core of business

operations. But clearly, as these

innovations are scaled, a fundamental

issue remains - AI is only as powerful as

the digital foundation it sits on.

To move from a pilot programme to

enterprise-wide success, leaders must

first master the essential building blocks of

digital transformation. AI just cannot reach

its transformative potential to reshape

construction workflows, scale project

management, and empower intelligent

decision-making, without a resilient digital

backbone, and the construction industry is

waking up to the fact.

THE BUILDING BLOCKS OF DIGITAL

CONSTRUCTION

One of the biggest trends we saw

throughout this past year was the rapid

adoption of modern Enterprise Resource

Planning (ERP) platforms that serve as

digital backbones across organisations. Our

Censuswide industry research study found

that 63% of construction and engineering

companies planned to adopt a new ERP

system in the next one to two years.

26


CASEstudy

A key motivation for the search for a new

ERP system is the need for greater agility,

allowing companies to better expand and

develop. This aligns with the survey

respondent short-term and long-term

priorities: 39% see business growth and

market value as key long-term goals, while

30% focus on improving digital maturity

and using data more effectively.

Interesting, this modernisation statistic

has proven to be underestimated. In terms

of how many companies are embarking

on digital transformation projects, nearly a

year after making these predictions, we

realise that the optimism around the role

of AI being able to reshape workflows,

project management, and intelligent

decision-making, is fueling a greater

desire to adopt a future-proof ERP

platform. ERP software helps to streamline

processes, from the planning stage to

completion. It allows for better

communication between stakeholders and

offers improved project management

capabilities. It is seen as the springboard

for scalable, trusted AI deployments.

AI IS HIGH ON THE PRIORITY LIST

The latest IFS research study "The

Invisible Revolution", which surveyed

more than 300 senior executives from

leading construction & engineering firms

in May and June of last year, found that

the sector is expected to become one of

the most AI-first industries in 2026.

Momentum is clearly building, with 91%

of firms expecting to increase AI

investment in 2026.

One of the greatest benefits of AI that we

discuss is its ability to analyse and collate

data in a much faster way. This gives all

their employees - from workers on the

construction site to senior management in

the back office - more accurate,

predictable and reliable information.

RECLAIMING CAPACITY - AI

AUTOMATES THE ADMINISTRATIVE

BURDEN

The most practical example of how this

enhanced and automated information

gathering and analysis can benefit

construction industry organisations is

related to the enormous amount of time it

takes to prepare their regular board

presentations on project performance.

Most companies host interdepartmental

meetings monthly with all the senior

leaders from each of their divisions.

Typically, each team of people takes days,

if not weeks, to prepare their data by

gathering information across multiple

software solutions.

Industrial AI gives construction &

engineering organisations more trusted

control of their business by removing the

unreliability and inconsistency of human

guesswork, making it faster and easier to

gather, analyse, and report on every

dimension of project performanceincluding

profitability, timeline delays,

budget overruns, cost forecasting, safety

incidents, quality, and more.

Ultimately, leveraging Industrial AI to

enhance reporting and data sharing

across the organisation reduces business

risk and delivers greater control over

project results.

This is reflected by the key findings in the

RCIS study, where professionals surveyed

believe AI could significantly improve

several aspects of construction projects.

The top five ranked project functions

where AI could have high positive

significance were: progress monitoring

and project scheduling (both 36%),

resource optimisation (30%) and reviewing

contracts and project documents (30%)

and risk management (29%).

THE KEY METRICS BEHIND AI

SUCCESS

These benefits are clearly resonating

across the industry. The latest IFS

research study found that the biggest

applications of current AI deployments

across construction & engineering firms

were project delivery (62%) and business

intelligence (59%). Out of these early

adopters who are currently deploying AI,

companies are already seeing these

benefits: 89% report profitability gains, and

44% outperform the cross-sector average

in operational efficiency, 42% in supply

cost reduction, and 36% in lowering

project expenditures.

With the growing economic uncertainty

across the globe, the most impactful

benefit of Industrial AI for this industry is

giving companies greater control over

project management. Out of all other

industries, the project-centric nature of

construction & engineering businesses

makes them most at risk of diminishing

and/or unpredictable profit margins in

volatile and disruptive markets.

Perhaps this is why the latest AI research

shows that construction & engineering

firms anticipate AI's greatest benefits in

project delivery (41%) and increased

profitability (36%).

DIGITALLY DESIGNING THE

INDUSTRY OF TOMORROW

It is clear to see over the last 12 months

the construction sector digital evolution

has outpaced even the most optimistic

forecasts. AI is here to provide tangible

advantages, but the sector reached a

point where the modernisation of aging

ERP systems is no longer a luxury, but a

strategic prerequisite for deploying

Industrial AI.

There is a huge opportunity for this

sector to integrate industrial AI into

construction and engineering operations,

but organisations need to take the

necessary steps in modernising their

technology stacks. The construction

industry often has a wait-and-see attitude

towards technology, hoping that others

will take the first step. This makes

strategy a crucial element when

implementing new technologies.

Companies that are more advanced in

their digital transformation have an

edge, but it is not just about the right

tools. It's about implementing, using

and making the most of the data flowing

through the business. No wonder RCIS

stresses that "meaningful adoption will

require companies to take coordinated,

well-communicated and intentional

action supported by a clear,

coordinated roadmap."

By clearing away technical hurdles,

construction & engineering firms are

securing the level of project oversight,

efficiency, and productivity necessary to

thrive. The ultimate result of this shift is an

industry that is more agile, dataconnected,

and durable - ready to

fundamentally transform the way global

infrastructure is designed and delivered.

www.ifs.com


CASEstudy

Going Live

The University of Liverpool enhances its operational performance and energy management

with IES Live

IES Live was installed on a University

of Liverpool campus building to

improve operational energy

performance and assess the impact of

an implemented HVAC refurbishment.

The University of Liverpool is the first

project to use the new IES Live

tool, which connects live data

from a building's BMS,

energy meters and

sensors to a

performance

digital twin

of the building, and gives the facilities

management team a single pane view

of operational performance metrics via

the cloud. It enables both advanced

energy and carbon management of the

building and live tracking and

verification of savings made from a

recent HVAC refurbishment undertaken

on the building.

In order to set up IES Live, a

calibrated energy model that had been

created in an earlier phase of the

project using historic monthly

measured data was upgraded into a

digital twin using live hourly BMS and

metered data from the building post

refurbishment.

In this earlier phase 1, the IES Virtual

Environment (IESVE) building

performance modelling software was

used to create an initial energy model

representing energy flow across

spaces and rooms within the building.

The model was then calibrated against

monthly measured data for 2019 (precovid)

to create a performance digital

twin, allowing the prediction of the

baseline energy use and testing of

28


CASEstudy

refurbishment options. After testing a

number of refurbishment options on

the model the digital twin predicted

14% estimated energy savings from the

chosen HVAC refurbishment.

Once phase 1 was complete and the

building was reopened after

refurbishment, the University appointed

IES to upgrade the Performance digital

twin to make it even more accurate by

including operational insights gathered

from the newly reopened building. This

was done by connecting live data from

the BMS and energy meters to the

digital twin, which enabled the model

to be recalibrated to match current

measured data on an hourly basis.

This upgraded digital twin was also

used to look at further potential

interventions to improve the operational

performance of the building and move

towards decarbonisation, helping to

create a long-term roadmap view and

plan of decarbonisation interventions.

The university's facilities management

team is also now using this operational

performance digital twin, accessed via

IES Live, to continually monitor and

improve the building. Benchmarking

against the simulated baseline, the

university can track performance and

gain improvement insights for energy,

carbon, and comfort. Additionally, the

ongoing impact of the refurbishment is

being measured and verified.

Using the IES Live "Implemented

Projects" tracking page, it was possible

to assess and verify in real time the

impact of the HVAC refurbishment:

between February 2023 and May 2025,

it has led to a 20.95% reduction in

energy consumption and £50k saving

in operational cost. The difference from

the predicted savings in Phase 1 can

be ascribed to the improved accuracy

of the latest model used to evaluate the

actual savings.

IES Live is also helping to prevent

operational drift on the building,

whereby the performance of building

systems degrades over time, as any

issues will be flagged and can be fixed

before they begin to have an impact.

Replicable across the campus, the

university is creating digital twins for

another part of the Foundation Building

- the Wing - as well as three other

facilities: the Central Teaching Hub, the

Materials Innovation Factory (MIF) and

the Yoko Ono Lennon Centre.

Energy audits have been carried out,

with suggested interventions, and

digital twins will be used to model

interventions. The university is using

IES Live to assess the effectiveness of

interventions already taken and to

predict the impact of potential

changes. At MIF, the software shows

that a photovoltaic (PV) installation

has cut energy use by 1.09% and

saved £20,850 for the two years up to

13 May 2025.

An exciting development is the

scenario modelling being done at the

university's district heating system. IES

has simulated six energy-conservation

measures and potential energy saving,

including fabric upgrades, distribution

loss improvements and boiler

replacements.

The savings - which range from 3.3%

from thermal storage to 43.1% for

boiler replacement without combined

heat and power - represent significant

opportunities for the university.

Ruth Kerrigan, Chief Operating Officer

at IES, said: "Improving the operation

of buildings is key to mitigating energy

and climate risk, cutting costs and

emissions, meeting sustainability

objectives and increasing resilience,

not to mention being a vital part of a

successful net zero strategy.

"However, you can't improve what you

can't measure and there was a gap in

the market for a tool that can connect

live operational data, providing

continuous insights and giving energy

management teams a holistic view of

how their building is performing.

"IES Live is a real game-changer,

maximising the impact of a digital twin

which leverages a world-class

simulation engine and placing this

power in the hands of those who need it.

"It's been a pleasure to work with the

University of Liverpool to pilot IES Live

and enable them to evaluate the

effectiveness of their retrofit measures,

verify predicted results and allow

informed decisions to be made on

building improvements. We look

forward to replicating the work across

the campus."

Tony Small, Head of Engineering

Services at the University of Liverpool,

said: "Working with IES on this project

has given us detailed insight into the

impact of our refurbishment work and

will enable us to continually monitor

and update our operational systems

to ensure that the building is

operating efficiently.

"With building use, occupants and

settings altering frequently, having

access to this level of data means we

can make informed decisions on

improvements and ensure optimum

performance doesn't come at the

expense of occupant comfort."

www.iesve.com


CASEstudy

Immersive Technology

An interactive learning environment which houses an advanced learning space within a living

laboratory is planned for Stowe School in Buckingham

The DTE building at Stowe School is

an inspiring and sustainable

educational facility located within

the historic, Grade 1-listed grounds of

Stowe House in Buckingham. Designed

to support advanced robotics,

manufacturing, and engineering

education, the £5.9 million project is

redefining how a building itself can

actively support curriculum delivery.

On behalf of Beard Construction, BKHS

were selected to deliver an innovative

timber solution, combining 108.237m³ of

glulam beams, 2,042m² of Cross

Laminated Timber (CLT) panels, and 46

tonnes of ground-floor steel grillage. The

expert project team included architects

Design Engine, structural engineers

Buro Happold, specialist timber

engineers Engenuiti, and CLT

manufacturer Stora Enso.

The collaborative result is a visually

expressive, low-carbon, two-storey

facility that functions not only as a highquality

learning space but also as a

living laboratory; with visual elements

allowing students to explore and

engage with the building's engineering

principles first-hand.

Aligning with Stowe's vision to become a

leader in STEM education, the DTE

building celebrates construction

transparency. Exposed CLT and glulam

structural elements are left purposefully

exposed and visible throughout, with

mechanical and electrical systems

(including ductwork, pipework and cabling)

colour-coded and surface-mounted,

enabling students to observe and explore

the inner workings of the building.

The highly aesthetic quality of visualgrade

timber, afforded by precision

manufacturing, has been embraced as

part of a broader biophilic approach that

30


CASEstudy

elevates both the learning environment

and student wellbeing. The exposed

elements left no margin for error,

meaning that detailing, fabrication,

installation sequencing and coordination

had to be rigorously aligned and

precisely executed.

Lee Roberts, Pre-Construction Director

at BKHS, said: "We are delighted to have

delivered Stowe School's new DTE

building in collaboration with our project

partners. Every detail, from structural

timber connections to sequencing

logistics, was carefully considered to

meet the highest environmental and

aesthetic aspirations for the client.

BKHS and Beard Construction worked

closely to minimise disruption for staff

and students and align with school term

times. All components were delivered to

site via dedicated routes to help protect

sensitive infrastructure within the

grounds while streamlining the overall

construction phase."

Precision was critical to the project's

success. For the timber elements, a

frozen IFC model ensured that all

service penetrations were pre-cut to

millimetre tolerances in the factory,

improving installation accuracy while

reducing material waste. Each element

was coordinated for sequential delivery

and erected quickly via designated

access routes.

Environmental performance was a

guiding principle throughout the design

stages, and the building was conceived

with its entire lifecycle in mind. At RIBA

Stage 2, Buro Happold assessed four

structural options and identified that an

all-timber solution would reduce

embodied carbon by approximately 75%

compared to a concrete-based frame.

In total, the 476m3 of PEFC-certified

timber delivered for the project ultimately

sequestered 360 tonnes of CO2e, and

through sustainable harvesting and

responsible management of European

forests, the timber will have been

replaced by new growth in just 1 minute

and 44 seconds. The structural timber

elements are also fully demountable,

supported by helical steel screw piles

and dry screed systems, which allow the

building to be dismantled at end of life

or reconfigured as the school's

educational needs evolve.

Alex Brock, Pre-Construction Manager

at BKHS, said: "Timber is increasingly

shaping the future of educational

environments, not just for its sustainable

credentials, but for the way it actively

enhances the learning experience. At

Stowe School's new DTE building, the

exposed glulam and CLT structure

doesn't just support the building, it

supports the curriculum, turning the

space itself into an interactive

educational tool.

"This kind of transparent construction

invites curiosity, encourages

engagement with engineering principles,

and fosters wellbeing through natural

materials. It's a compelling example of

how timber can deliver highperformance,

low-carbon solutions that

educate and inspire."

As a flagship facility for the school, the

DTE building has already received

enthusiastic feedback from staff and

students alike. Martin Quinn, Head of

Design & Technology at Stowe School,

said: "The new DTE building has

transformed the way our students learn.

The workshops are brighter, more

vibrant, and provide an inspiring space

where students can create and

showcase their work. With this facility,

Stowe is now firmly positioned as the

'go-to' destination for future engineers,

designers, and architects."

Stowe School's new DTE building sets

a precedent for low-carbon, educational

architecture - where timber technology,

offsite manufacture and circular

economy principles have combined to

shape not only the building's design,

but its function as an evolving

educational tool.

As timber continues to redefine how

educational spaces are conceived and

constructed, B&K Hybrid Solutions

stand at the forefront of this movement.

Their expertise in timber and hybrid

solutions, precision offsite manufacture,

and seamless project coordination has

not only delivered an architecturally

striking and environmentally

responsible building, but one that

reinvents how students learn and

interact with their surroundings.

The DTE building at Stowe School

exemplifies BKHS' commitment to

pushing the boundaries of low-carbon

design, showcasing how timber

construction can support a school's

vision, curriculum, and sustainability

goals, while setting a new benchmark for

what educational buildings can achieve.

To learn more about B&K Hybrid

Solutions, visit:

www.bkhybridsolutions.co.uk


YOUR GUIDE TO

5

7

3

1

2

21

22

23

24 20 25 26

27

29

SCOTLAND

FIFE 1

GlenCo Development

Solutions

Contact: Jack Meldrum

Tel: 01592 223330

Fax: 01592 223301

jackm@glenco.org

www.glenco.org

ACMK

ABERDEENSHIRE* 2

Symetri Ltd.

Tel: 0345 370 1500

info@symetri.co.uk

www.symetri.co.uk

ABCDEGHIJKLMNOPQSTX

Larbert 3

30 28

19

15 11/16

6

13

17

9/10

18

12/14

*Location guide

not 100% accurate

TMS CADCentre

7 Central Park Avenue

Central Park

Larbert

FK5 4RX

Tel: 01324 550 760

info@tms-scotland.com

www.tms-scotland.com/autodesk

ACELHNO

IRELAND

DUBLIN 5

Paradigm Technology Ltd

Contact: Des McGrane

Tel: +353-1-2960155

Fax: +353-1-2960080

dmcgrane@paradigm.ie

www.paradign.it

ACMGKL

SOUTHWEST

NEWBURY 6

RWTC Ltd

Contact: Richard Willis

Tel: 01488 689005

Fax: 01635 32718

richard@rwtc.co.uk

www.rwtc.co.uk

A M

N.I

BELFAST 7

Pentagon Solutions Ltd

Contact: Tony Dalton - Training

Services Manager

Tel: +44 (0) 2890 455 355

Fax: +44 (0) 2890 456 355

tony@pentagonsolutions.com

www.pentagonsolutions.com

ACDEGKL

TRAINING COURSES OFFERED KEY:

AUTOCAD AND LT:

AUTOCAD P&ID TRAINING:

AEC/BUILDING SOLUTIONS:

3D MODELLING $ ANIMATION

AUTOCAD ARCHITECTURE:

FM DESKTOP:

GIS/MAPPING:

REVIT:

VAULT FUNDAMENTALS

AUTODESK VAULT FOR INVENTOR USERS

A

B

C

D

E

F

G

H

I

J

VISUALISATION:

AUTIDESK CIVIL:

INVENTOR SERIES/MECHANICAL:

NAVISWORKS TRAINING:

PRODUCT UPDATE COURSES:

INVENTOR PUBLISHER:

GOOGLE SKETCHUP:

CHARACTER ANIMATION:

AUTODESK SIMULATION:

FACTORY DESIGN SUITE:

AUTOCAD ELECTRICAL:

K

L

M

N

O

P

Q

R

S

T

X

For further information about authorised CAD training or to advertise on these pages please contact:

Josh Boulton on 01689 616 000 or email: josh.boulton@btc.co.uk

SOUTH/EAST

HERTFORDSHIRE 9

Computer Aided

Business Systems Ltd

Contact: Gillian Haynes

Tel: 01707 258 338

Fax: 01707 258 339

training@cabs-cad.com

A C D E K H

BUCKINGHAMSHIRE 10

Causeway

Technologies Ltd

Contact: Sue Farnfield

Tel: +44 (0)1628 552134

Sue.Farnfield@causeway.com

www.causeway.com

A C D E K

BERKSHIRE 11

Cadpoint

Contact: Clare Keston

Tel: 01344 751300

Fax: 01344 779700

sales@cadpoint.co.uk

www.cadpoint.co.uk

A C D E K

ENFIELD* 12

TRAINING

BERKSHIRE 16

Mass Systems Ltd

Contact: Luke Bolt

Tel: 01344 304 000

Fax: 01344 304 010

info@mass-plc.com

www.mass-plc.com

A E F

HAMPSHIRE 17

Universal CAD Ltd

Contact: Nick Lambden

Tel: [44] 01256 352700

Fax: [44] 01256 352927

sales@universalcad.co.uk

www.universalcad.co.uk

A C M E K H

MILTON KEYNES 18

Graitec - Milton Keynes

Contact: David Huke

Tel: 01908 410026

david.huke@graitec.co.uk

www.graitec.co.uk

ABCDEGHIJKLMNOPQSTX

CAMBRIDGE 19

THE NORTH

MANCHESTER* 20

Symetri Ltd.

Tel: 0345 370 1500

info@symetri.co.uk

www.symetri.co.uk

ABCDEGHIJKLMNOPQSTX

NEWCASTLE* 21

Symetri Ltd.

Tel: 0345 370 1500

info@symetri.co.uk

www.symetri.co.uk

ABCDEGHIJKLMNOPQSTX

YORKSHIRE 22

Graitec Bradford

Contact: Isobel Gillon

Tel: 01274 532919

training@graitec.co.uk

www.graitec.co.uk

ABCDEGHIJKLMNOPQSTX

NORTH EAST 23

Graitec - Durham


Tel: 0191 374 2020


www.graitec.co.uk

ABCDEGHIJKLMNOPQSTX

LANCASHIRE 24

QUADRA SOLUTIONS

Contact: Simon Dobson

Tel: 01254 301 888

Fax: 01254 301 323

training@quadrasol.co.uk

www.quadrasol.co.uk

A C M K

YORKSHIRE* 25

Symetri Ltd.

Tel: 0345 370 1500

info@symetri.co.uk

www.symetri.co.uk

ABCDEGHIJKLMNOPQSTX

SOUTH YORKSHIRE 26

THE JUICE GROUP LTD

Contact: Sarah Thorpe

Tel: 0800 018 1501

Fax: 0114 275 5888

training@thejuice.co.uk

www.thejuicetraining.com

A C D E K R

Symetri Ltd.

Tel: 0345 370 1500

info@symetri.co.uk

www.symetri.co.uk

ABCDEGHIJKLMNOPQSTX

Symetri Ltd.

Tel: 0345 370 1500

info@symetri.co.uk

www.symetri.co.uk

ABCDEGHIJKLMNOPQSTX

SOUTHHAMPTON 13

Riverside House, Brunel Road

Southampton, Hants. SO40 3WX


Tel: 02380 868 947


www.graitec.co.uk

ABCDEGHIJKLMNOPQSTX

CONTRAL LONDON* 14

Symetri Ltd.

Tel: 0345 370 1500

info@symetri.co.uk

www.symetri.co.uk

ABCDEGHIJKLMNOPQSTX

OXFORDSHIRE 15

MIDLANDS

NOTTINGHAM 27

MicroCAD - Nottingham


Tel: 0115 969 1114


www.graitec.co.uk

ABCDEGHIJKLMNOPQSTX

NORTHAMPTONSHIRE 28

AIT Spatial Ltd

Contact: Philip Madeley

Tel: 01933 303034

Fax: 01933 303001

training@aitspatial.co.uk

www.aitspatial.co.uk

A C D E F G K L

BIRMINGHAM 29

CHESHIRE 30

Excelat CAD Ltd

Contact: Vaughn Markey

Tel: 0161 926 3609

Fax: 0870 051 1537

Vaughn.markey@ExcelatCAD.com

www.ExcelatCAD.com

B N

Man and Machine

Contact: Robert Kenny

Tel: 01844 263700

Fax: 01844 216761

training@manandmachine.co.uk

www.manandmachine.co.uk

A D I J M N O P Q X

Armada Autodesk

Training Centre

Contact: Steven Smith

Tel: 01527 834783

Fax: 01527 834785

training@armadaonline.co.uk

www.armadaonline.co.uk

A D E M K H

CASE study

Building for the future

Sensational and sustainable - how BIM builds a lasting legacy

Legacy is perhaps an overused word

when it comes to the Games. Many

cities are still feeling the after-effects

of hosting them, with accusations of 'white

elephant' stadia, in particular, a stark

reminder of the financial and

environmental cost of poor planning. Even

after 20 years, reports indicate that Athens

is still struggling with abandoned

buildings, while in Rio de Janeiro it has

taken eight years to finally start delivering

on some of its legacy promises.

In 2022, London came under some

criticism for its legacy efforts to regenerate

the area around the Queen Elizabeth

Olympic Park. The point is that hosting the

Games is expensive and challenging,

especially when it comes to stadia and

infrastructure. But, with Milano Cortina 2026

due to start soon, it's worth reflecting on

how BIM technology can help realise a

more sustainable Games, using the

Athletes' Village at Paris 2024 as a positive

example of what can be accomplished.

PLANNING FOR THE FUTURE

Large international events often require fast,

temporary infrastructure with limited longterm

value. For the Paris Athletes' Village,

for example, the challenge was to deliver

facilities for the Games while ensuring the

site could transition smoothly into a

permanent residential and mixed-use

neighbourhood afterward.

Supported by Nemetschek Group's

Graphisoft Archicad, the design teams

planned both phases in parallel from the

earliest stages. By embedding future use

into initial design decisions, the project

avoided short-term solutions and reduced

the need for major reconstruction once the

event concluded.

BETTER WITH BIM

In this case, the BIM-based workflows

enabled architects to develop and

compare multiple design scenarios across

different project phases. Renovation filters

helped clearly identify which elements

would remain, be adapted, or be removed,

supporting precise planning and efficient

material use. Coordinated digital models

allowed teams to align design,

construction, and long-term operational

needs throughout the lifecycle.

That all points to the essence of

digitisation; as the construction of stadia

has moved into a new era, where

sustainability demands vie with cost

constraints to produce venues that meet

multiple challenges, the need for

digitisation and automation is increasingly

apparent. Managing complex supply

chains, from materials through to project

timing, and focusing on meeting those

challenges demands accuracy,

transparency, and flexibility.

Through BIM's ability to organise and

standardise data, digital twins become

possible, enabling developers to enhance

visibility, increase efficiencies and deliver

data-driven insights for all stakeholders in

the stadium development process. As Paris

2024 was committed to being a model for

low-carbon Games, the ability to visualise

stadia digitally and develop a lifecycle plan

became even more crucial.

HEARING ALL VOICES

But while technology can now play an

essential role in pointing to and then finetuning

how to make buildings more

sustainable, it only has a partial role in

ensuring a building's legacy. That can only

be assured from designing the building

with legacy in mind from the outset, and

with valuable input from all stakeholders -

local authorities, private and public sector

organisation as well as citizens - who will

have to 'live' with the resulting building on

their doorstep for years to come. What they

want or need from the building post-event

must be considered if a meaningful legacy

is to be assured.

WINNING WITH WISDOM

The Paris Athletes' Village serves as a

sustainability showcase because it was

designed from the outset for both the

Games and long-term residential use, thus

avoiding temporary construction with no

future purpose. The early alignment with

Paris planning and sustainability frameworks

ensured compliance was built into design

decisions rather than addressed later.

Parallel design scenarios enabled early

evaluation of design choices, supporting

informed trade-offs before construction

began, while precise planning and scenario

testing limited overbuilding and reduced

the need for demolition after the event,

resulting in a reduction in the consumption

of materials. The use of durable,

prefabricated materials was selected to

support adaptability and long-term use

beyond the Games, while low-carbon

energy systems were integrated to support

efficient operation in the project's

permanent phase.

By integrating future use into the design

process, the project minimised material

waste and avoided large-scale post-event

demolition. Buildings were delivered on

schedule and transitioned efficiently into

their legacy phase, providing lasting value

for the city beyond the Games.

The Athletes' Village demonstrates how

early, data-driven design decisions can

transform event infrastructure into long-term

urban assets, shaping tomorrow by making

the right choices today. That focus on longterm

sustainability carries over to Milano

Cortina 2026, ensuring a legacy that

extends beyond the buildings it informs.

www.nemetschek.com

34


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