CULATEST

CAD User

JULY/AUGUST 2026

VOL 39 NO 04

WWW.CADUSER.COM

FOCUS ON AI IN CONSTRUCTION

Redshift for

Vectorworks

The Paradigm Shift of Real-time

rendering in Architecture

Nemetschek and AI

Developing Diverse AI solutions

for the Industry

Automating MEP

How Automation is transforming

HVAC and MEP Design at Trimble

Managing the Change

Autodesk explains how to build

confidence in companies facing a

digital transformation.

INDUSTRY NEWS • CASE STUDIES • HARDWARE & SOFTWARE FOCUS • PRODUCT REVIEWS • FEATURES

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CONTENTS

JULY/AUGUST 2026

CONTENTS

NODES AND LINKS 8

Building with foresight: reducing project

overruns through AI decision intelligence.

Greg Lawton argues that UK construction

projects need vertical AI decision intelligence -

rather than simple reporting

MANAGING THE CHANGE 16

Kristina Poluyanova, Construction Industry

Specialist, UK&I, Autodesk, explains how to

build confidence in companies facing digital

transformation in the construction industry

REDSHIFT FOR VECTORWORKS 20

Real-time rendering is transforming

architectural visualisation from a late-stage

presentation deliverable into an everyday

design tool that enhances iteration, clarity and

client collaboration.

STANDARDISING WORKFLOWS 28

Workplace specialist Oktra has extended its use

of Bluebeam from internal drawing review into

structured client feedback helping its design team

centralise comments, reduce duplication and

maintain clearer control before work reaches site.

AWARDS...........................................NEW TRENDS AND TROPHIES FOR THE HAMMERS 2026....................................6

• WE'RE INTRODUCING SOME NEW CATEGORIES TO THIS YEAR'S CONSTRUCTION COMPUTING AWARDS

TECHNOLOGY FOCUS.....................HIDDEN COSTS...............................................................................................10

• IMPROVED PLANNING MATURITY, USING ELECOSOFT'S POWERPROJECT AND ASTA VISION

SOFTWARE REVIEW.........................AUTOMATING MEP...............................................................................................12

• HOW AUTOMATION IS TRANSFORMING HVAC AND MEP DESIGN

TECHNOLOGY FOCUS.....................BETWEEN INTENTION AND REALITY................................................................14

• THE FINANCE FUNCTION HAS CHANGED. HAS YOUR TECHNOLOGY KEPT UP?

TECHNOLOGY FOCUS.....................INTEGRATED DATA MANAGEMENT..................................................................18

• REAL AI BREAKTHROUGH BEGINS BY LAYING SOLID BACK-OFFICE DATA FOUNDATIONS

TECHNOLOGY FOCUS.....................LEVERAGING CORPORATE DATA......................................................................22

• CONSTRUCTION’S AI FUTURE RELIES STRICTLY ON INTERNAL PROJECT DATA, NOT WEB SEARCHES

TECHNOLOGY FOCUS.....................NEMETSCHEK AND AI..........................................................................................24

• DAVID CHADWICK WRITES ABOUT THE INTERESTING CONVERSATION HE HAD WITH JULIAN GEIGER.

TECHNOLOGY FOCUS.....................LIKE BARNACLES ON A SHIP'S HULL!................................................................26

• CRAIG WHEATLEY, CEO OF IES: AIR CONDITIONING ALONE CANNOT SOLVE THE UK'S CLIMATE CRISIS.

CASE STUDY.....................................STANDARDISING CLIENT FEEDBACK WORKFLOWS.........................................28

• OKTRA USES BLUEBEAM TO CENTRALISE CLIENT FEEDBACK, REDUCING DUPLICATION BEFORE CONSTRUCTION

TRAINING MAP..................................AUTODESK TRAINING............................................................................................30

• YOUR GUIDE TO AUTODESK TRAINING

TECHNOLOGY FOCUS....................THE KEY TO AFFORDABLE HOUSING................................................................32

• ALLPLAN’S SUNIL PANDITA EXPLAINS HOW DIGITAL TOOLS CAN CLOSE BRITAIN’S HOUSING GAP

July/August 2026 3

COMMENT

Editor:

David Chadwick

(cad.user@btc.co.uk)

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Comment

An outbreak of Common Sense

by David Chadwick

Notwithstanding the current issues

with Artificial Intelligence - the fact

that it is widely overvalued with the AI

companies haemorrhaging money, the

conflicts between the different versions with

reports of one hacking another, the massive

requirement for data centres, energy and

water resources, the recent report that one

of them has its own agenda, and so on -

there are two welcome new pieces of news

worth focusing on instead.

With apologies to our new Prime Minister,

whom I initially perceived as just more of the

same, he has laid bare the huge fraud

committed against our young people which

persuaded them to attend universities to

earn worthless degrees and, in the process,

saddle them with enormous debts that

hamstrung them over the most important

course of their lives when they should be

developing a career, buying a house and

starting a family.

The corollary is that they are forced to rent -

galvanising an explosion in the availability

and cost of renting accommodation - and a

possibly fatal postponement of starting a

family until it becomes too late.

Emphasising the need to balance

vocational with academic learning, the new

PM has focused attention on the value of

acquiring technical as well as mental skills,

highlighting that a career in construction,

engineering and other manual industries is

as valid as any other - and should be

rewarded with recognised qualifications and

appropriate status.

The other outbreak of common sense

comes from Tom Collins in the Irish News, in

his article on ''Why there is no such thing as

a Climate Crisis.'' Collins lists the many

issues affecting the planet relating to global

warming etc. such as record heatwaves,

huge forest fires, failing crops, even bees

dying in their millions, repeating the phrase

''There is no such thing as a climate crisis''.

The punchline comes at the end. It is not a

climate crisis, but a ''human crisis''. The

climate is merely reacting and adjusting

itself to man's impact on the planet. When

we have succeeded in wiping our invasive

species off the face of the earth, it will adjust

itself back to the sustainable levels it has

evolved over millions of years.

This echoes the sentiments from Craig

Wheatley of IES in this issue, in an article

that focuses on the role of air conditioning in

the UK's climate resilience plan, describing it

as an ''easy fix'' used by 4 million households

in the UK. Craig states that ''mass reliance

on air conditioning risks turning an

adaptation problem into a larger energy,

cost and carbon problem''. It's a bigger issue

globally, and he argues that we should be

putting our digital resources into making

buildings more adaptable and capable of

dealing with the rolling heatwaves and the

other extreme - colder winters - which could

follow as part of the global climate cycle.

Outbreaks of common sense?

Remarkable in the current political climate,

but we have an opportunity to piggy-back

on the restructuring of education by getting

more involved in the new system. It would

solve the lack of suitable recruits coming

into construction.

These refreshing attitudes are mirrored in

the AI articles in this issue, which focus on

its practical applications and how they

benefit the industry without the usual

heavy demand on data centres and the

adverse impact (and reactions) that they

are getting from proposed developments

around the country.

Finally a quick reminder that nominations

for the 2026 Construction Computing

Awards are now open, so please do visit

https://constructioncomputingawards.co.uk

to submit yours.

4 July/August 2026

NOMINATIONS NOW OPEN!

The Construction Computing awards or "The Hammers" as they are affectionately known are back

for 2026 and the 20th running of our annual event. As ever, we are looking to showcase and

reward the technology, tools and solutions for the effective design, construction, maintenance

and modification of commercial buildings, residential and social housing and civil engineering

projects of all sizes. Nominate now at:

WWW.CONSTRUCTIONCOMPUTINGAWARDS.CO.UK

AWARDS EVENING

12TH NOVEMBER 2026

@CCMagAndAwards

Sponsored by:

Our Chosen Charity:

AWARDS

New trends and trophies for The Hammers 2026

This year has raced past, perhaps

pushed along a bit by global events,

and the construction industry is going

to be faced with numerous challenges over

the next couple of months. We always like

to think positively at Construction

Computing though, and believe that It's an

ideal time to consolidate our resources and

to celebrate our achievements. The

Construction Computing awards - The

Hammers - gives us the opportunity to

acknowledge the achievements of

companies who have done well over the

past year, and showcase projects within the

industry that have best demonstrated

excellence and innovation.

The date for The Hammers 2026 is

Thursday 12th November, but the

nominations and project submissions will

open on 7th July, closing on September

10th. The main categories remain constant,

but each year we aim to introduce new

ones that reflect the latest and most

important trends in the industry. There is no

escaping the fact the artificial intelligence is

becoming dominant in all parts of the

industry, from project management and

delivery to design and visualisation, and we

want to recognise the fact that, at this point,

there must be many projects that can now

demonstrate the benefits of using AI.

If you are involved in such a project then

please do consider submitting it for our AI

Project of the Year Award.

In a spirit of consolidation, we have also

included an awards category for projects

that incorporate training and digital skills

acquisition, helping to counter the

projected shortfalls in skilled workers and

their replacements. We have incorporated

this within the Training, Site Safety or

Security Project category, which focuses on

the human aspects of construction

projects. We would be delighted to hear

from companies that show a high level of

commitment in any of these areas.

Another new category for 2026 recognises

the increasing importance of geoinformation

and its integration in

construction projects, either for initial

visualisations and context creation or in the

use of geophysical resources and data to

supplement planning decisions.

As always, though, the awards remain a

high point of the construction social

calendar, providing a welcome opportunity

to catch up with friends and industry

colleagues and chat about the way the

industry is developing. There is, perhaps,

no other industry that involves so much of

the latest technologies, is at the forefront of

the main issues affecting the planet, like

sustainability and climate change, and that

offers those within it the chance to make

their mark. Be part of that opportunity.

www.constructioncomputingawards.co.uk

The Construction Computing Awards 2026 Categories

INNOVATION OF THE YEAR 2026

ONE TO WATCH COMPANY 2026

CONSTRUCTION PROJECT OF THE YEAR 2026

COLLABORATION PROJECT OF THE YEAR 2026

ASSET MANAGEMENT PROJECT OF THE YEAR 2026

CLOUD BASED TECHNOLOGY OF THE YEAR 2026

GEOSPATIAL/MAPPING PROJECT OF THE YEAR 2026

AI PROJECT OF THE YEAR 2026

SUSTAINABILITY PROJECT OF THE YEAR 2026

TEAM OF THE YEAR 2026

CONSTRUCTION MANAGEMENT SOFTWARE OF THE YEAR 2026

TRAINING, SITE SAFETY OR SECURITY PROJECT OF 2026

BIM SOFTWARE OF THE YEAR 2026

ARCHITECTURAL DESIGN SOFTWARE OF THE YEAR 2026

COLLABORATION PRODUCT OF THE YEAR 2026

DOCUMENT AND CONTENT PRODUCT OF THE YEAR 2026

ERP SOFTWARE OF THE YEAR 2026

CONSTRUCTION ACCOUNTING SOFTWARE OF THE YEAR 2026

ESTIMATION AND VALUATION PRODUCT OF THE YEAR 2026

STRUCTURAL ENGINEERING APPLICATION OF THE YEAR 2026

MOBILE TECHNOLOGY OF THE YEAR 2026

CHANNEL PARTNER OF THE YEAR 2026

CONSTRUCTION SOFTWARE PRODUCT OF THE YEAR 2026

EDITOR'S CHOICE OF 2026

PRODUCT OF THE YEAR 2026

T H E H A M M E R S 2 0 2 6

Sponsored by:

Our Chosen Charity:

6

July/August 2026

From fragmented

data to confident

decisions.

Create a trusted view of your programme, identify

risks earlier, and improve delivery performance

with connected planning intelligence.

www.eleco.com

TECHNOLOGYfocus

Nodes and Links

Greg Lawton at Nodes & Links assesses why traditional project controls approaches are no

longer sufficient for managing the complexity of modern construction projects

Reports suggest up to 90% of

large UK infrastructure projects

experience cost overruns, while

91% of construction projects face

delays, often driven by poor decisionmaking,

ineffective coordination,

fragmented workflows and design

changes. The industry's next step is not

simply adopting AI but leveraging it as

the decision intelligence layer at the

heart of project delivery.

Regardless of the efforts of project

stakeholders, most UK infrastructure

and construction projects are late,

under-delivered and over-budget. In

fact, research by McKinsey & Company

revealed large construction projects

typically take 20% longer to complete

than planned and can often run up to

80% over budget.

This is perhaps no surprise given the

fragmented nature of traditional project

controls systems, which often result in

essential data being outdated by the

time it reaches decision-makers -

meaning it is too late to correct the

course of action.

Furthermore, with modern projects

often operating in highly volatile and

changeable environments and the

amount of critical data required on

such projects substantially increasing,

manual systems are often too slow and

inflexible to manage such risks and

complexity.

There is also a lack of real-time

integration associated with the use of

traditional project controls systems,

with project-critical data often locked in

fragmented documents and static

spreadsheets.

However, with the success of modern

and complex projects requiring a whole

host of data-driven conclusions,

ranging from change management and

delay recovery through to risk and

mitigation, claims and disputes and

acceleration decisions, integrated

solutions that provide vital real-time

intelligence, rather than retrospective

dashboards, are imperative.

TRANSITIONING FROM SIMPLE

REPORTING TO DECISION

INTELLIGENCE

Manual project controls processes can

make it difficult to standardise data and

maintain schedule integrity - risking

delays and misinformed decisionmaking.

Indeed, the flawed data can

create a domino effect where unreliable

information leads to inaccurate

analysis.

Conversely, vertical AI platforms, such

as Nodes & Links, take projects from

raw schedule data to decision-ready

intelligence. From the initial raw data

through to insight, analysis,

recommendations and then decisionmaking

stages, the outputs are truly

auditable and defensible.

Unlike generic large language models

(LLMs) that generate responses from

statistical pattern-matching, vertical AI

systems are grounded in schedule

logic and utilise industry-accepted

methodology. Consequently, they

derive every answer from project data,

ensuring truly auditable decision

intelligence.

Operating on verified, 'real world'

information, these innovative systems

quickly and accurately identify potential

risks, safety hazards, budget overruns

and scheduling conflicts before they

occur.

The analysis of grounded project

data, with an assurance layer of

extensive research and development

and years of building algorithms,

enables the delivery of trusted

recommendations to ensure proactive

decision-making, expedited delivery

and streamlined project management.

MINIMISING COST OVERRUNS

THROUGH DECISION

INTELLIGENCE

Machine learning models can analyse

current spending trends, historical

performance on similar projects,

committed costs, remaining scope, RFI

volume and change order frequency to

efficiently optimise schedule planning

and identify potential delays, and make

more data-driven and accurate

decisions earlier in the project.

While offering the opportunity to

assess the impact of external factors,

such as skills shortages and market

volatility, it also drives the early

identification of financial deviations -

long before they cause project delays.

LEVERAGING PROJECT-SPECIFIC

DATA TO IMPROVE PROGRAMME

CLARITY

Following years of research and

development of algorithms that are

grounded in trusted, industry-accepted

project controls methodology, AI can

accurately simulate thousands of

potential futures, rather than simply

reporting on past delays.

By applying that analytical foundation

to live project data, AI can detect

hidden bottlenecks, such as scheduling

conflicts or supply chain delays, and

surface emerging risks before they

become delivery problems.

Shifting project delivery from an

administrative-heavy, reactive process

to a more proactive data-driven

method, AI provides project controls

teams, schedulers and planners with

the vital information and data-led

recommendations they need.

DYNAMIC ALLOCATION OF

OPERATIVES

On complex construction projects,

equipment and industry professionals

8

July/August 2026

TECHNOLOGYfocus

can often sit idle, significantly impacting

the project's bottom line.

By assessing the project's own

schedule data and identifying emerging

conflicts against the critical path, AI

enables teams to reposition available

machinery and workers before idle time

becomes a delay event.

MORE STRATEGIC AND INFORMED

DECISION-MAKING

Continuously monitoring live data,

simulating scenarios and investigating

why deviations are happening, AI

technology can trace the root causes of

cost or schedule variances, provide

multiple parallel response options and

forecast potential delays or budget

overruns - putting critical information in

the hands of those who need it most

before it's too late.

Project controls teams, schedulers and

planners aren't simply given more data;

they are given outputs they can defend

and trust, with every insight derived from

algorithms built on industry-accepted

methodology where the logic is known,

the behaviour is predictable and nothing

is left to guesswork. It is that auditability

that makes the difference between a

recommendation and a defensible

decision. Consequently, they can make

informed, data-driven decisions and

approve the most optimal strategy for

their specific project.

Nowhere was this reflected better than

in the case of an alliance in charge of a

multi-billion-pound rail upgrade

programme. In an industry where

delivering upgrades carries substantial

risk, missed deadlines can damage

reputations and lost revenue.

Consequently, the alliance sought the

ability to quickly turn information into

trusted, actionable insights without losing

days in processing spreadsheet data,

which could otherwise limit their ability to

mitigate risk before it occurs.

By utilising AI project controls

technology, they had immediate access

to the same information, analytics and

predictive insights. As a result, they

improved the project's predictability,

ensuring project delivery was 480 times

faster and more than 360 hours were

saved monthly on average.

EMPOWERING, NOT REPLACING

The future of project controls is not AI

replacing planners and schedulers; it is

AI giving them the clarity to do what only

they can do.

Indeed, the ability of a senior

programme planner to understand

contractual contexts and programme

history is irreplaceable. AI simply

removes the burden that currently limits

how much of that expertise reaches the

decisions that actually matter.

However, this is only effective when AI is

connected to disciplined project controls.

When introduced into a poorly controlled

project, it will accelerate confusion, not

create control. Weak baselines,

disconnected cost and schedule data

and a performative risk register aren't

overcome just because AI is processing

them faster.

The value comes when AI is grounded

in clean data, structured workflows and

clear accountabilities.

Vertical AI provides a premium decision

intelligence layer sitting above the project

controls environment, surfacing the right

data and information at the right time, in

a form that is auditable and defensible.

THE IMPORTANCE OF TRUST

The rush to adopt AI in project controls is

typically outpacing the questions being

asked about it, potentially introducing

invisible - and ultimately costly - risk. As a

result, it is imperative that project controls

teams and planners ask the right

questions to determine the most suitable

model for the project.

Many AI systems can often make

compelling arguments and give detailed

assessments of projects while identifying

potential scheduling issues and risks.

However, without the AI leveraging

current and previous project-specific

data, there is a significant chance that

these responses can be fiction dressed

as fact.

In complex projects, if the intelligence is

not auditable, it does not qualify as

decision intelligence. The result is a new

software category; auditable decision

intelligence, built for an industry where

the consequences of a missed or poorlymade

decision are measured in months

of delay and hundreds of millions of

pounds.

For the UK construction and

infrastructure sector, it is no longer a

question of whether to adopt AI; it is

whether to adopt the right type. Platforms

that produce outputs without auditable

reasoning will not survive boardroom or

claims scrutiny. The ones that will are

those that ensure every decision is

grounded in verified project data,

traceable in its logic and defensible in its

outputs.

https://nodeslinks.com/

July/August 2026 9

TECHNOLOGYfocus

Hidden Costs

Contractors are not measuring the impact of hidden costs on projects. Improved planning maturity,

using Eleco’s Asta Powerproject and Asta Vision, will help to unlock profit, commercial certainty and

AI-ready insight

Most contractors carry a hidden

cost that rarely appears clearly

in reports, yet eats into margins

on almost every project: time-related

cost risk created by inconsistent

planning practices.

Project costs can be influenced by timerelated

factors, including labour,

equipment, overheads, financing,

contractual exposure and the knock-on

impact of delayed decisions across the

supply chain. Yet many organisations still

lack a clear understanding of how schedule

decisions translate into financial risk, where

delays originate, and how effectively timerelated

costs are being managed.

The issue is not simply whether a project

has a schedule. Most projects do. The

challenge is whether planning information

is reliable, connected and valuable

enough to support better decisions across

the business.

For contractors operating in increasingly

complex markets, planning maturity is

becoming a commercial differentiator.

Businesses that can turn fragmented

project information into structured insight

are better positioned to protect margins,

reduce risk and prepare for the next

generation of data-driven decision making.

PLANNING MATURITY IS A PROFIT

LEVER

Construction projects are becoming more

complex, with greater numbers of

stakeholders, tighter margins, changing

requirements and increasing pressure to

deliver certainty.

In this environment, planning cannot be

viewed as a passive reporting function. A

mature planning approach provides the

foundation for improved forecasting,

stronger risk management and more

confident decisions around bids, delivery

strategies and commercial negotiations.

Planning maturity is not just about

software. It combines processes, skills,

governance, collaboration and technology

to create a consistent way of managing

project information.

When maturity is low, the symptoms are

familiar:

Different projects use different planning

approaches.

Programme information is stored

across spreadsheets, emails and

disconnected systems.

Revision histories are incomplete or

difficult to trace.

Change events are poorly recorded and

impacts not fully scoped.

Teams spend time managing

information rather than managing risk.

Valuable lessons remain within individual

projects instead of becoming

organisational knowledge.

The result is often avoidable schedule

creep, higher time-related costs and

weaker commercial positions when change

events or delays occur. By contrast, mature

planning environments allow organisations

to understand what is happening, why it is

happening and what action should be

taken next.

THE VALUE OF TRANSFORMING

PLANNING DATA

Construction businesses generate

significant volumes of valuable information

throughout the project lifecycle.

Programme revisions, construction

methodologies, resource assumptions,

progress updates and delivery strategies

all contain insights that could improve

future performance.

However, much of this information remains

trapped in disconnected files and systems.

A completed programme may show what

happened, but it does not always explain

why decisions were made. Without

context, historical data has limited value.

Organisations cannot easily identify which

approaches worked, which risks

repeatedly affected delivery or how

previous experience can improve future

projects. Transforming inconsistent data

into structured planning intelligence

changes this.

Instead of treating programmes as

standalone documents, businesses can

create a connected environment where

schedules, revisions, approvals and

supporting records remain accessible

and traceable.

This creates a trusted centralised source

of project information and allows

organisations to build a valuable

knowledge base over time.

The benefit extends beyond individual

projects. At portfolio level, structured

planning data enables businesses to

identify trends, compare performance and

answer questions using evidence rather

than opinion:

Which types of projects consistently

perform well?

Where are delays most frequently

introduced?

Which delivery strategies reduce risk?

How can future tenders be planned

more accurately?

AI READINESS STARTS WITH

BETTER FOUNDATIONS

Artificial intelligence is transforming

construction, with organisations exploring

predictive analytics, automated reporting

and smarter decision-making.

But AI is only as strong as the information

10

July/August 2026

TECHNOLOGYfocus

behind it. It doesn't replace good

processes - it amplifies them. If project

data is inconsistent, incomplete or

disconnected from the decisions being

made, AI will inherit those weaknesses.

Becoming AI-ready starts with getting the

fundamentals right: consistent planning

approaches, controlled data management,

reliable revision histories, clear ownership

of information and accessible project

knowledge. The organisations that benefit

most from AI will be those that have

already invested in building trusted,

structured planning data.

FROM DISCONNECTED SCHEDULES

TO CONNECTED PLANNING

ECOSYSTEMS

Many contractors still manage

programmes as individual files. Schedules

may be exchanged through email, stored

across different locations and updated

using processes that vary from project to

project. This creates significant challenges.

Teams may work from different versions

of information. Commercial teams may

struggle to reconstruct the history behind a

programme change. Senior leaders may

receive reports without the context needed

to understand the underlying delivery risk.

A connected planning ecosystem provides

a different approach.

By bringing programmes, revisions,

workflows and supporting records

together, organisations can improve

collaboration, transparency and control

across projects.

Technology such as Asta Powerproject

and Asta Vision supports this transition by

combining construction-specific planning

capability with a governed environment for

managing project information.

Asta Powerproject enables planners to

develop detailed, realistic programmes

that reflect complex construction delivery

strategies. Asta Vision extends this by

providing a central environment where

programmes, revisions and associated

records can be managed consistently

across projects.

This helps organisations maintain context

around planning decisions rather than

allowing important information to

disappear into emails, spreadsheets or

individual knowledge.

STRONGER PLANNING CREATES

STRONGER COMMERCIAL

POSITIONS

The commercial benefits of planning

maturity extend far beyond schedule

control.

A structured approach can help contractors:

Improve recovery of time-related costs

Accurate baselines, revision histories

and supporting records provide

stronger evidence when managing

client changes, extensions of time and

commercial negotiations.

Reduce avoidable delay costs

Earlier visibility of emerging risks allows

teams to explore options before

problems become expensive.

Strengthen contractual governance

Reliable records and transparent

change management support better

compliance, dispute avoidance and

defensible project positions.

Improve tender competitiveness

Historical project knowledge can help

teams create faster, more accurate and

lower-risk bids, reducing reliance on

individual experience alone.

Build organisational intelligence

Every project becomes an opportunity

to improve future delivery rather than a

standalone exercise.

One of the largest hidden costs in

construction is unmanaged schedule

overruns. When projects begin to fall

behind, teams often accelerate activities,

increase resources or accept additional

costs to protect completion dates.

Without structured planning

information, these decisions are difficult

to measure. Businesses may know that

a project finished late, but not

understand when the risk emerged,

what caused it or how similar issues

could be prevented.

A mature planning approach makes

these patterns visible and allows leaders

to ask better questions: What is the

financial impact of this delay? How often

are projects relying on acceleration?

Which delivery approaches consistently

reduce risk?

These answers create the foundation

for better decisions.

CREATING THE ROADMAP FROM

FRAGMENTED DATA TO

STRATEGIC INSIGHT

Improving planning maturity requires

more than implementing new

technology. It requires alignment across

people, processes and systems.

Successful organisations typically

begin by understanding their current

information landscape: where planning

data is created, how it moves through

the business and where opportunities

exist to improve consistency.

The next step is stakeholder alignment.

Planning teams, commercial functions,

operational leaders and executives all

need to understand the value of creating

a more connected approach.

Pilot projects can then demonstrate

quick wins, helping organisations refine

processes before scaling across the

wider business.

Over time, standardised workflows,

controlled information management and

continuous improvement create a

stronger foundation for both project

delivery and future innovation.

PLANNING DATA IS THE

FOUNDATION FOR FUTURE

ADVANTAGE

The future of construction will not be

defined by who has the most data. It will

be defined by who can turn data into

trusted insight.

Contractors that continue to treat

planning as a collection of disconnected

files will find it harder to manage risk,

improve performance and benefit from

emerging technologies.

Those that invest in planning maturity

can create a stronger foundation for

profitability, commercial resilience and

AI-enabled decision making.

By transforming fragmented planning

information into structured, connected

intelligence, organisations can turn every

project into a source of strategic insight.

The result is more predictable delivery,

stronger commercial control and a

planning capability that continues to create

value long after a project is complete.

Discover how Asta can help transform

planning data into strategic insight:

www.eleco.com

July/August 2026 11

TECHNOLOGYfocus

Automating MEP

How automation is transforming HVAC (heating, ventilation, and air conditioning) and MEP

(mechanical, electrical and plumbing) design

For mechanical engineers, the

question is no longer whether to

embrace automation but instead

how to make it work hardest for them.

Brad Freeman, MEP Solutions Specialist

at Trimble outlined some of the digital

tools available to help engineers design

faster, eliminate manual errors and

improve efficiency. ''Ask any mechanical

engineer where the majority of their time

goes,' Brad says, ''and the response will

often be all too familiar, with a significant

portion of a working week likely taken up

by repetitive and manual tasks, crossreferencing

calculations, updating

drawings and correcting clashes.

''Combine this with tighter project

timelines, increasingly complex building

systems and a persistent squeeze on

margins and it's clear that working

smarter has become an imperative. For

many engineering firms, this begins with

automation.''

Describing the transformation further,

Brad explained how digital tools and

platforms are increasingly offering

intelligent features and functionalities that

allow mechanical engineers to design

better and work smarter. Tasks that once

consumed hours of manual effort - from

pipework routing and equipment

selection to calculations and drawing

production - can now be completed in a

fraction of the time, with greater

consistency and fewer errors.

These productivity gains free up time for

engineers to spend on the more complex

or creative design work, as well as

improving consistency and quality.

With buildings and their service systems

increasing in complexity, traditional CAD

drafting in isolation increasingly falls

short. Designing and considering

complex interfaces between pipework,

ductwork, beams and steel pillars can be

incredibly challenging on a 2D plan.

Combine this with frequent client

changes, contractor-driven requests and

time-consuming redesigns and it's no

surprise that rework continues to be a

costly and ever-present problem, with

avoidable errors reported to cost around

£5 billion per year in the UK. The closer a

project gets to site, the more costly and

time-consuming drawing errors can be to

rectify, making it critical that any mistakes

or clashes are caught early.

STABICAD FOR MECHANICAL

DESIGN

This is precisely where design

automation solutions can deliver real,

quantifiable value. Trimble's Stabicad for

CAD modelling provides a powerful,

standalone mechanical design solution,

delivering a built-in CAD platform

alongside specialist BIM modules.

Mechanical Designers and Engineers

can focus on the development of

traditional MEP designs and

components, integrating their results

directly within BIM projects.

With intelligent, parametric components

that automatically adjust when changes

are made to the wider scheme design,

drawing errors can be a thing of the past.

Automatic clash detection, for instance,

can support early-stage problem solving,

flagging issues such as pipes clashing

with beams, making it easier for teams to

fix them before they become costly

problems further down the road.

Connection design can also present its

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July/August 2026

TECHNOLOGYfocus

own set of challenges - while providing

another opportunity for automation. The

Nodesolver tool (available within all

Stabicad products) delivers rapid,

accurate solutions to complex

connection nodes. During drawing and

clash detection, various options for

connecting pipes and ductwork are

automatically shown, with one-click

routing and connections, saving the

designer valuable time.

Supported by manufacturer-specific

content and detailed system

schematics, Stabicad gives designers

the tools they need to deliver

constructible designs from initial

concept through to final installation.

Bridging the gap between

collaboration and compliance,

incorporating built-in CIBSE verified

calculations, backed by access to

extensive libraries and accurate, up-todate

manufacturers components and

systems, to ensure designs are precise

and meet UN specifications, Stabicad

bridges the gap between collaboration

and compliance. By automating timeconsuming

tasks, such as modelling

complex connections, users can

drastically reduce drawing errors,

freeing up time, and improving overall

design quality.

STABICAD AND COMPLIANCE

The integrated calculations within

Stabicad cover electrical, HVAC, and

plumbing directly within Revit or

AutoCAD and support standards such

as IEC 60364, BS 7671 and NEN1010.

BIM and clash detection can be

identified between MEP systems and

architectural or structural elements,

generating openings, and resolving

conflicts. Stabicad can also be used for

prefab and modular design, enabling

designers to create highly accurate

prefabricated sets and generate tags

for installation, reducing on-site

assembly time.

The extensive component libraries give

designers access to thousands of

manufacturer-specific families of

components, ensuring designs are upto-date

and compliant with local and

European standards.

As regulations and standards appear

to resolve over time, Stabicad provides

users with the ability to update

parameters in bulk via Excel, seamlessly

integrating the results within Revit,

AutoCAD, ProDesign and cloud-based

project data management to facilitate

version control and collaboration.

STABICAD FOR INTELLICAD

The latest release of Stabicad came

alongside the announcement of the

launch of Stabicad for IntelliCAD.

Speaking about the launch, Johan

Schlingmann, Senior Director of Product

Management at Trimble said, ''The new

Stabicad for IntelliCAD is perfect for

engineers looking for a single software

package that bridges the gap between

2D drafting and modern 3D design. By

eliminating the need for separate CAD

licenses, it provides a highly costeffective

way for customers to easily

participate in modern BIM projects

without the usual overhead costs.

''It's all about providing users with the

tools they need to deliver better

projects, with a host of intelligent and

intuitive features designed to automate

tasks, improve speed and accuracy,

and enhance quality.''

Positioned alongside Stabicad for

AutoCAD and Stabicad for Revit, Trimble

is now able to offer MEP designers,

engineers and contractors a

comprehensive modelling workflow

regardless of their preferred platform.

Access to tools like these represent a

meaningful shift in how mechanical

engineers approach their work, helping

them to reduce error, improve

productivity and deliver greater quality

out on site. It's not just an efficiency

gain; it's a competitive advantage.

To learn more about Stabicad for CAD

modelling, click here.

July/August 2026 13

TECHNOLOGYfocus

Between Intention and Reality

The finance function has changed. Has your technology kept up?

There is a quiet crisis unfolding inside

the finance departments of our

construction firms, and unusually,

perhaps even uniquely, it has little to do

with the economy, and is not related to

interest rates or the cost of materials. In

many ways it is more fundamental than any

of those things: it is a crisis of capacity,

visibility and, if we are honest, a stubborn

reluctance to let go of familiar yet imperfect

tools that have been in use for decades.

A new research report from Payapps,

conducted in partnership with Censuswide

and drawing on the views of 162 senior

financial decision-makers across

construction firms with revenues of £75

million and above, sets out the scale of

the challenge with unarguable clarity.

Some of the findings may stop you in your

tracks, while others will feel immediately

familiar, because they describe, with

uncomfortable precision, the daily reality

for finance professionals working in

construction right now.

A TEAM OF FIVE, MANAGING 210

SUBCONTRACTORS

We will start with what the report calls 'The

capacity crisis', because it is the thread that

runs through almost everything else. The

average construction organisation in this

survey manages 210 subcontractors, yet

the average finance or subcontractor

ledger team responsible for managing

those relationships numbers just five

people. Even at firms turning over between

£100 million and £499 million, that figure

rises only to six.

So five or six people managing up to half

a billion pounds in contracts and dozens of

subcontractors, at a time when the

regulatory environment has expanded,

ESG reporting obligations have arrived and

payment compliance requirements have

tightened, all while finance team headcount

has remained essentially flat.

The teams tasked with navigating this

growing complexity are, in many cases, no

larger than they were a decade ago and,

just as importantly, the tools they are using

are in many cases no newer either. Half of

the organisations surveyed still rely on

spreadsheets to manage subcontractor

payments, almost half (46%) use email and

more than one in four (27%) still use pen

and paper. These are not exactly tools

designed for the pace or the precision that

modern construction finance demands.

THE HOURS THAT DISAPPEAR

What does the capacity crisis look like in

practice? The report quantifies it with

sobering precision. UK finance teams

spend an average of 20 hours every week

processing subcontractor payment

applications, with a further 18 hours

managing and chasing self-billing

agreements. Furthermore, another 17-18

hours are consumed by inbound payment

enquiries from subcontractors wanting to

know where their money is as well as on

insurance administration. That is an

extraordinary proportion of a working week

absorbed by tasks that technology is wellplaced

to handle, and that human

expertise is poorly deployed in performing.

Three in five UK respondents (60%) say

they are concerned about the time their

teams spend on this kind of administration,

and it is easy to see why. When finance

professionals are spending the majority of

their working hours chasing paperwork and

answering payment queries, there is

precious little time left for the work that

actually matters: forecasting, risk analysis

and strategic planning.

VISIBILITY, COMPLIANCE AND THE

COST OF GETTING IT WRONG

The visibility picture is equally troubling.

Only a fifth (20%) of organisations surveyed

have total visibility over subcontractor

payment applications before approval, with

more than one in five reporting little or no

visibility at all. In an industry where

cashflow is everything, where the

difference between a project that delivers

margin and one that destroys it can come

down to the timing of a single payment,

that is a significant exposure to carry.

The compliance risks compound things

further. Six in ten (62%) of respondents are

concerned about incorrect VAT and CIS tax

treatment, more than half (54%) worry

about their ability to produce accurate Duty

to Report data, and almost two thirds

(64%) are concerned about the financial

implications of 'smash and grab'

adjudications; the costly disputes that arise

when payment processes are not properly

documented and administered.

The average organisation in this survey

has faced seven such adjudications in the

past three years, at an average legal cost

of £2.1 million. A King's College London

report found that inadequate contract

administration was the lead cause of

disputes in half of all adjudication cases.

Poor process and expensive litigation, it

turns out, go hand in hand.

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July/August 2026

TECHNOLOGYfocus

THE GAP BETWEEN INTENTION

AND REALITY

Perhaps the most striking finding in the

entire report concerns the Fair Payment

Code. Almost all respondents (98%) say

that paying subcontractors promptly is a

business priority, and almost three

quarters (71%) say their company is a

signatory of the Code.

However, when the report examines

actual payment performance, not a single

UK organisation surveyed would qualify

for Gold, Silver or Bronze status under the

Code's criteria, with only 15% of

respondents paying more than half of their

invoices within 30 days.

Organisations want to pay promptly and

many are genuinely committed to doing

so, but without the systems to manage,

track and automate the payment

process, aspiration and reality remain

stubbornly misaligned.

WHAT TECHNOLOGY ACTUALLY

DELIVERS

The report also shows what changes when

organisations invest in the right technology.

Payapps software offers a centralised

platform for managing the submission and

approval of applications for payment, and

the contrast between Payapps users and

those relying on legacy tools is instructive.

The majority of Payapps users (88%) say

they find it easy to produce accurate

reporting, compared with just over half

(52%) of those without dedicated software.

Users of dedicated payment

technology are more likely to prioritise

profit margins, more likely to treat ESG

governance as a strategic priority, and

more likely to regard prompt payment as

a consistent commitment rather than an

occasional aspiration.

Nine in ten respondents (91%) believe that

technology and software implementation is

important to improving construction

processes, eight in ten (81%) say dedicated

payment software would make their

business more efficient, and almost two

thirds (63%) of UK firms not yet using

dedicated software plan to adopt it within

the next six months. The direction of travel is

clear enough.

THE STRATEGIC IMPERATIVE

The finance function in construction has

evolved well beyond its origins as a backoffice

operation concerned primarily with

processing transactions. Today, it carries

numerous responsibilities, including

controlling productivity, managing costs,

mitigating risk, ensuring compliance,

supporting ESG reporting and protecting

the stability of the supply chain. The tools

used by the finance team need to reflect

that reality.

The organisations best placed to navigate

what lies ahead (whether it's margin

compression, regulatory change or supply

chain volatility), will be those that equip their

finance teams with the visibility, automation

and control they need to operate at a

genuinely strategic level. This means

investing in technology built for the specific

demands of construction finance, as

opposed to adapting something designed

for a different industry entirely.

The full research report into construction

finance teams sets out the evidence in

detail: the data, the comparisons, the case

for change. If you work in construction

finance, or lead an organisation that

depends on it, it is well worth your time.

Download the full report at payapps.com

and see what the numbers are telling us.

July/August 2026 15

TECHNOLOGYfocus

Managing the Change

Kristina Poluyanova, Construction Industry Specialist, UK&I, Autodesk explains how to build

confidence in companies facing the digital transformation of the construction industry

Change is a constant in today's

business environment, with

organisations under increasing

pressure to reduce project costs,

improve efficiency and minimise

manual data entry.

Construction companies are acutely

feeling this pressure and as a result,

are accelerating digital transformation

efforts through the adoption of industry

clouds, connected data environments

and AI-powered tools to improve

collaboration and efficiencies.

This shift reflects the clear value of

digital investments, with organisations

reporting 50%+ returns from digital

transformation through

improvements in productivity,

innovation and other business

outcomes, according to

Autodesk's Design & Make

survey. As AI-powered tools

become more embedded

across construction

workflows, demand for

specialist skills is also

growing. Nearly half (46%)

of leaders say AI expertise

will be a top hiring priority

over the coming years,

reflecting the industry's

move towards AI-enabled

workflows.

While many construction

firms are curious and

optimistic about the

potential benefits,

the reality of

implementing large-scale technological

change can be daunting. Moving from

established processes and

disconnected systems to fully

integrated, cloud-based solutions

require more than simply introducing

new technology. It can affect workflows,

responsibilities, skills and longstanding

ways of working.

I see this challenge come up regularly

in conversations with clients across the

industry. Concerns about disruption,

migration risk, legacy-system

integration, data security and workforce

adoption can all create resistance to

change. In some cases, firms may also

struggle to identify clear ownership of

the transformation or demonstrate how

investment will translate into

measurable business value. Now, it's

more crucial than ever that we

challenge the status quo and adapt

change management approaches for

greater success.

START BY ASSESSING DIGITAL

MATURITY

Questions of where to begin, how to

manage change and how to ensure

technology investments deliver

business value are central to any

transformation programme. Equally

important is the realisation that change

doesn't need to happen all at once. The

most successful digital transformations

happen in phases.

A crucial first step for any digital

transformation project is to understand

the digital maturity of the customer by

asking questions. Where does their

business want to go this year? What are

their immediate project needs? Which

processes are creating the greatest

inefficiencies? Where does the business

want to be in three to five years?

16

July/August 2026

TECHNOLOGYfocus

These assessments can help uncover

which one project, business vertical or

department is in most need of

transformation. Once that is

established, change management

happens in a much more manageable

way and reduces the risk of

overwhelming teams with broad,

organisation-wide implementation. It

also gives the business internal proof

that the approach works. This internal

success story can then support a wider

business case for further investment.

Technology partners have an

important role to play here, particularly

as customers are not simply looking

for a new tool. They want a stable,

reliable adviser that understands where

they are in their digital journey, their

immediate priorities and their longterm

vision.

Partners that can break down change

management from a major undertaking

into manageable steps - tying it to a

single project to begin with, then building

a business case internally with the

support from the vendor - will be better

equipped to drive change at scale.

GUIDANCE THROUGH

REGULATION AND INDUSTRY

STANDARDS

Regulation is often a catalyst for

change. In the construction industry, it

can be the trigger that moves digital

transformation from a nice-to-have to a

business priority. In the UK, the

Building Safety Act 2022 has increased

the focus on accountability,

transparency and the quality and

traceability of building information.

Alongside this, informationmanagement

standards such as ISO

19650 provide a framework for

managing information consistently

throughout the project lifecycle.

However, many firms still face the

practical challenge of translating these

requirements and standards into dayto-day

workflows. Legacy systems,

disconnected data and inconsistent

processes make it difficult to

demonstrate compliance or produce a

complete audit trail. The pace of

regulatory change is only going to

make this harder for firms that don't

modernise their information

management processes. As

regulations continue to evolve,

organisations need flexible digital

platforms that can evolve with them

rather than requiring costly system

overhauls each time.

Technology should help make

compliance part of normal project

delivery, rather than a separate

administrative burden.

Technology partners should act as

trusted advisors, helping customers

interpret regulatory requirements and

translate them into practical

workflows. Technology should reduce

complexity but beyond the digital tools

and software, best-practice guidance

and implementation support is sought

by many firms when working with a

new partner.

INTEGRATION WITH THE WIDER

ECOSYSTEM

Successful digital transformation

projects involve a whole ecosystem,

bringing together partners from across

the industry to handle enablement,

training and ongoing support to build

trust and confidence across the

project team.

When it comes to adopting AI in

digital construction workflows, for

example, it's important that firms can

lean on experts that can address

concerns around data ownership and

governance. It is this trusted

partnership that ensures buy-in for

change across organisations.

A lot of construction firms are now

looking to embrace one common data

environment, but the complexity of

supply chains using disparate tools and

systems means technology vendors

play an important connecting role.

Integration is therefore a big part of

the change management strategy.

Industry clouds need to remain an

open ecosystem for the supply chain

to tap into. With one connected thread

of data across projects and the supply

chain, firms are better equipped to

make more informed and smarter

decisions.

CHOOSING THE RIGHT

TECHNOLOGY PARTNER

As construction firms undergo change,

many are actively looking to simplify

their technology stacks by

consolidating applications and creating

more connected workflows. As a result,

the relationship between a firm and its

technology vendor has changed

substantially. It's not a transactional

service, but a long-term partnership -

one which can offer support needed to

guide them through their digital change

management journey, provide an easy

route to consolidate tech stacks and

implement the right approach specific

to business need.

Construction firms no longer want just

another piece of software which adds

complex integration requirements; they

want a partner in their digital journey

that fits in seamlessly with their current

technology ecosystem. The right

partner will help firms co-design the

path to digital transaction, rather than

providing the tools and leaving the

client to figure out adoption and

integration solo. That partnership

should include post-sales services,

training and ongoing support,

especially around big regulatory or

legislative changes.

MAKING TRANSFORMATION

MANAGEABLE

Digital transformation in construction

isn't about replacing every system

overnight. Organisations need the

confidence to modernise at a pace that

suits their business, while taking the

business on a journey with buy-in from

stakeholders. By starting with focused

priorities, connecting data across the

ecosystem and combining technology

with practical guidance, construction

firms can turn change from a source of

uncertainty into a platform for long-term

improvement.

The firms that succeed will be the

ones that lean on technology partners

to understand the digital maturity

journey, provide the expertise to

navigate regulatory hurdles and

manage change across supply chains.

www.autodesk.com

July/August 2026 17

TECHNOLOGY focus

(35%) as their primary operational

differentiators. It's in these areas where

there is substantial opportunity for

construction companies to integrate

Industrial AI and specialised digital

agents into their day-to-day workflows as

they undertake long overdue

modernisations of their core IT

infrastructure.

Integrated Data Management

Under the surface: Why C&E's real AI breakthrough begins by

building the right foundation - starting in the back-office!

Digital transformation in

construction and engineering

often evokes images of

autonomous robots and futuristic site

equipment. However, the most urgent

priority for modernising the industry lies

in automating back-office processes to

keep large-scale projects on schedule

and within budget. To unlock the real

capabilities of Industrial AI, organisations

must eliminate disjointed software tools

and establish a unified Enterprise

Resource Planning (ERP) platform as

their single source of truth - because

effective AI cannot exist without building

the right foundation, according to Kenny

Ingram, VP of C&E and Chris Knight,

Global Industry Director, C&E, IFS.

Flashy jobsite gadgets, such as robot

bricklayers or augmented reality safety

goggles, offer high visual appeal,

but they do little to solve the core

operational bottlenecks plaguing

construction and engineering (C&E) firms

at larger scale. Current market research

from Censuswide highlights

a stark reality: 41% of industry projects

suffer from simultaneous budget

overruns and missed deadlines, while

over half (54%) fail to achieve their

projected profit margins.

In a sector historically burdened by

razor-thin margins, these inefficiencies

pose severe risks. Minor unexpected

challenges - from inflationary pressures

and supply chain delays to workforce

shortages or severe weather - can rapidly

erode profitability and, in critical cases,

jeopardise an enterprise's financial

stability.

No surprise, then, survey data reveals

that, to maintain a competitive edge,

C&E leaders view rapid project delivery

(35%) and strict budget management

CONSTRUCTION RAMPS-UP

AI INVESTMENT

Navigating these operational hurdles

requires a stable digital foundation. The

industry outlook from Deloitte suggests

that forward-thinking organisations are

increasingly adopting advanced digital

platforms to lift productivity, defend

margins and maintain agility, amid

shifting market conditions - leveraging

predictive analytics and unified project

platforms to streamline operations and

sharpen their competitive posture.

The tide is already turning. While C&E

organisations have historically reported

lower adoption rates of Industrial AI,

compared to other sectors, recent IFS

Research into the ‘Invisible Revolution’ of

AI in industrial settings reveals that 91%

of C&E firms expect to increase their AI

investment in 2025 and beyond - a figure

that ties for the highest among all

industries surveyed. The optimism

is backed by early results, with 89%

of early adopters already reporting

profitability gains and 83% citing

improved product and service quality.

AI NEEDS ACCURATE DATA

However, a critical gap remains between

ambition and execution. Valuable

bricklaying robots, automated design

tools or smart glasses for site safety are

isolated tools and only add

to the problems, because they do not

address the fundamental business

process issues that are dragging down

profitability. Moreover, many C&E

organisations don't have the digital

foundation in place to commence AI

projects.

To exploit the true benefits of AI,

construction companies must first

address their data landscape. Currently,

many firms operate on fragmented

18

July/August 2026

TECHNOLOGYfocus

Chris Knight, Global Industry

Director, C&E, IFS.

systems, trying to manage complex

global projects using a complex web of

spreadsheets locking away key data in a

siloed manner. But AI models are only as

effective as the data that feeds them. If a

company lacks a single version of the

truth when it comes to projects,

materials, workforces and

subcontractors, AI cannot function

effectively. A strong Enterprise Resource

Planning (ERP) system is not just a

system of record -

it is the prerequisite foundation for AI.

The industry recognises this need for

structural modernisation. The Censuwide

study found that more than 63% of

construction and engineering businesses

state they are looking to replace their

ERP systems within the next two years.

They understand that, to deploy AI to

make their operations smarter and faster,

they first need consistent business

processes and a robust digital

backbone.

HIGH-IMPACT AI APPLICATIONS

POWERED BY DIGITAL AGENTS

Once the data foundation is in place, the

most transformative initial AI use cases

likely won't be found on the physical job

site, but in the back office. These

‘unsexy’ processes are the gears that

drive productivity and labour usage, and

there is a new breed of digital workers

willing and able to lend support. Unlike

traditional automation, robotics and

generative AI, digital workers powered by

Kenny Ingram, VP of C&E.

agentic AI manage complex workflows,

make context-driven decisions and

continuously improve operational

performance, while working right

alongside employees to reduce manual

tasks and amplify their impact. Whether

embedded in core ERP or even running

alongside legacy systems, these digital

workers provide immediate ROI and

operational impact.

1. Modernising Commercial Cost Control

& Financial Forecasting

The most critical control process for any

construction business is project cost

control - predicting where a project will

end up financially. Currently, this is an

extremely manual process done monthto-month,

where many staff spend weeks

manually compiling data to re-forecast

costs and revenue. AI agents can

revolutionise this by continuously

analysing real-time data to predict endof-project

outcomes autonomously.

Here's where AI can make a huge

difference. Instead of looking in the rearview

mirror once a month, AI can provide

a forward-looking prediction, allowing

project managers to mitigate margin

fade before it happens.

2. Eliminating Bottlenecks with Intelligent

Spend Authorisation

Controlling spend often involves a

bureaucratic nightmare where a

purchase order or subcontract might

require ten different signatures to get out

the door. This often leads to ‘rubber

stamping’: where busy managers sign off

on requests without proper review, just to

keep the project moving. AI agents can

introduce rigorous, non-emotional logic

to this process. But this is to undervalue

the power of AI. An agent can review a

request against budgets, contracts and

project requirements instantly, ensuring

strict compliance without the bottleneck

of human fatigue or time constraints.

3. Streamlining the Procure-to-Pay

Lifecycle

Construction is a high-volume and highvalue

procurement environment. The

perfect scenario for AI. AI agents can

drastically reduce the friction in the

procure-to-pay cycle by automating

invoice matching and payment

processing. This not only reduces

administrative overhead, but ensures

better supply chain relationships and

cash flow management.

ESTABLISHING THE BASELINE FOR

CONSTRUCTION GROWTH

Artificial intelligence can only generate

meaningful returns in construction when

connected to a centralised ERP

infrastructure. Fragmented tools and

isolated spreadsheets hinder AI

efficiency, making core system upgrades

an essential requirement. With nearly

two-thirds of C&E organisations

preparing to refresh their ERP

environments over the next 24 months,

the market is actively shifting toward

standardised workflows and integrated

data management.

STRATEGIC OUTLOOK

The future of modern construction

extends far beyond jobsite robotics -

it relies on intelligent AI agents

streamlining enterprise administration. By

pairing a robust ERP system with

Industrial AI capabilities, construction

and engineering leaders can move away

from fragile, spreadsheet-heavy

workflows toward an agile, data-driven

framework. This dual strategy protects

profit margins, improves operational

visibility and builds lasting resilience in a

volatile business environment.

July/August 2026 19

SOFTWAREfocus

Redshift for Vectorworks

The paradigm shift of real-time rendering in architecture

Architecture has always been a

discipline of translation. You

translate complex ideas, site

constraints, client needs, technical

requirements, and emotional ambitions

into spaces people can understand and

inhabit. But for much of the industry's

history, the tools used to communicate

those ideas have lagged behind the speed

of design itself.

Drawings, models, sketches, mood

boards, and still renderings have each

played an important role in helping clients

and collaborators understand a project. Yet

as expectations around visual

communication continue to rise, you're

being asked to do more than execute on a

design; you're expected to help people

experience it before it's built.

That's where real-time rendering is

changing the conversation.

Today, architectural visualisation is no

longer limited to the final stages of

presentation. It's becoming part of the

design process itself - a way to test ideas,

evaluate atmosphere, improve

collaboration, and communicate intent with

greater clarity. Archviz translates technical

information such as CAD drawings, BIM

models, measurements, and construction

data into human perception, including

emotional impact, atmosphere, client

understanding, and decision-making.

FROM FINAL OUTPUT TO EVERYDAY

DESIGN TOOL

Traditionally, a high-quality rendering may

have been treated as a late-stage

deliverable. Once a design was largely

worked out, a visualisation specialist

might create a polished image for a

competition board, a marketing

campaign, a presentation, or a client

approval meeting. And while this

process remains relevant, real-time

rendering introduces something entirely

new: the ability to visualise decisions as

they're being made.

For architects, this means spending

less time waiting and more time

exploring. Rather than exporting files,

preparing scenes, adjusting settings,

and waiting for results, you can

evaluate lighting, materials, scale,

composition, and atmosphere while the

model continues to evolve. With

Redshift for Vectorworks, Maxon and

Vectorworks bring real-time visualisation

directly into the Vectorworks workflow,

allowing architects to instantly preview,

refine, and render architectural models

as they work.

Design is iterative by nature, and

architects rarely arrive at the right

answer in a single pass. They compare

options, respond to feedback, test

alternatives, and refine details over

time. Real-time rendering supports that

process by making visual feedback

immediate. When light, shadow,

materials, and atmosphere update as

the design changes, visualisation

becomes a working tool rather than a

separate, removed production step.

BETTER COLLABORATION

THROUGH SHARED

UNDERSTANDING

One of the most powerful benefits of realtime

rendering is its ability to improve

collaboration. Design teams are often

made up of people with different roles:

designers, project managers, consultants,

engineers, clients, developers, contractors,

and end users. Not everyone reads

drawings the same way. Not everyone can

look at a plan or section and immediately

envision the finished space.

Real-time visualisation helps bridge

that gap.

A rendered view can make design intent

more accessible, helping teams discuss

the same idea from the same visual

reference point. Lighting quality, spatial

relationships, circulation, material

choices, furniture layouts, landscape

context, and atmosphere become easier

to evaluate together. This can lead to

more productive conversations and more

confident decisions.

The value lies not only in photorealism but

in clarity. Strong architectural rendering is

about guiding the viewer's attention and

communicating the purpose of an image,

whether that purpose is technical review,

client approval, marketing, or storytelling.

The most effective architectural images

begin with composition, camera choice,

lighting hierarchy, material discipline, and a

clear visual purpose, not simply higher

render settings.

For design teams, this means real-time

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SOFTWAREfocus

rendering can support both creative

exploration and practical review. A project

can be experienced from multiple angles.

Materials can be compared in context.

Daylight and artificial lighting can be

evaluated more intuitively. Small design

changes can be understood visually

before they become costly or timeconsuming

to revise later.

HELPING CLIENTS SEE, FEEL, AND

BELIEVE IN THE DESIGN

For clients, architectural decisions can feel

abstract until they can see how a space

might actually work. A plan may explain

the layout, a section may explain the

structure, a schedule may explain the

materials - but a compelling visualisation

can show how all those decisions come

together as an experience.

This is especially important when

architects are presenting ideas to

clients, boards, developers, donors,

community members, or future

occupants. Real-time rendering makes

presentations more dynamic and

interactive. Instead of flipping through a

fixed set of static images, your team can

explore options, move through a design,

adjust views, and respond to questions

with greater immediacy.

That can help build trust. When clients

can better understand the design, they

can give more informed feedback. When

they can see the quality of light in a lobby,

the atmosphere of a hospitality space, the

relationship between indoor and outdoor

areas, or the impact of a material palette,

they're better equipped to make decisions.

It can also help you win more work.

In a competitive environment, presentation

quality matters. The ability to communicate

a project's emotional and experiential value

can be just as important as demonstrating

technical competency. Richly detailed

interior visualisations can help transform a

product or space into a more emotionally

resonant brand experience, with

photorealistic materials and atmospheric

lighting that bring final renders to life.

That same principle applies broadly

across architecture and design: strong

visualisation helps people understand not

only what a project is, but why it matters.

THE RISE OF HYBRID

VISUALISATION WORKFLOWS

The future of architectural rendering is not

a choice between speed and quality.

Increasingly, it's about connecting both.

Real-time tools allow teams to stay close

to the design model and make decisions

quickly. High-end rendering workflows

allow teams to push further into cinematic

lighting, advanced materials, animation,

and polished final deliverables. Many

studios are moving toward hybrid

pipelines, using real-time visualisation for

rapid iteration and tools such as Cinema

4D and Redshift for marketing-grade stills,

animation, and high-end final output.

Redshift for Vectorworks represents an

important step in that direction. It brings

Redshift rendering into the Vectorworks

environment and connects to Maxon's

broader creative ecosystem. The solution

enables users to move from real-time

design previews to high-end photorealistic

renders within a unified ecosystem, with

projects able to move to Cinema 4D for

advanced modelling, animation,

simulation, fly-throughs, and rendering.

For architects, that means visualisation

can scale with the project. Early in the

design process, your team can use realtime

previews to evaluate options and

communicate direction. As the project

develops, you can refine scenes, improve

materials, shape lighting, and create more

polished imagery. For final presentations,

marketing campaigns, competitions, or

approvals, you can aim for more

cinematic, highly art-directed results.

A MORE VISUAL FUTURE FOR AEC

Real-time rendering is more than a

technology upgrade. It reflects a broader

change in how architecture is

communicated.

The AEC industry is moving toward more

connected, visual, and collaborative

workflows. BIM and CAD models are no

longer only repositories of technical

information. They're becoming the

foundation for immersive review, design

storytelling, client engagement, and final

marketing content. Redshift for

Vectorworks establishes a synchronised

connection that instantly syncs changes

and helps transform drawings into

photorealistic renderings.

As these workflows mature, you'll be able

to spend less time managing

disconnected visualisation steps and

more time making design decisions.

Visualisation will become more accessible

across teams. Clients will gain a clearer

understanding of design intent earlier in

the process. And architectural

presentations will become more

experiential, persuasive, and aligned with

how people actually perceive space.

The paradigm shift is not simply that

rendering is faster. It's that rendering is

becoming part of how architecture is

designed, reviewed, refined, and shared.

For architects, that opens new creative

possibilities. For clients, it creates greater

confidence. For the AEC industry, it points

to a future in which the distance between

idea, model, image, and experience

becomes smaller than ever.

www.vectorworks.net

July/August 2026 21

TECHNOLOGYfocus

Leveraging Corporate Data

Construction's AI future depends on project data, not internet searches, according to Brett King,

Director of Industry Transformation, EMEA, Procore

Much of the conversation around AI

focuses on generating new

content. Construction has a

different challenge - extracting value from

the information projects already produce.

Over the last twenty years, the industry

has digitised almost every part of project

delivery. ERP systems, BIM platforms,

document management tools, field apps,

dashboards, digital twins and

increasingly connected workflows. And

through all of that, a great deal of data

has been collected.

Every drawing revision, RFI, quality

inspection, programme update, site

record, commercial notice and design

change has added to an evergrowing pool

of project information. The problem is

clarity, not volume.

The industry has become better at

capturing information, but not always

better at connecting it,

understanding it, or using it

to make faster decisions.

That is why productivity

remains one of

construction's biggest

unresolved

problems. The issue

was never that the technology failed. It

often digitised activity without reducing the

effort needed to manage it.

AI now arrives at a point where

construction is already carrying that heavy

digital load. If the construction industry is

not careful, it risks becoming just another

layer of complexity. But this moment is

different. For the first time, AI can reduce

the effort required to understand a task,

rather than simply digitising it.

THE DISTINCTION THAT ACTUALLY

MATTERS

Most of the public conversation about AI

centres on tools that generate content or

search vast amounts of information online.

These have their uses. In construction,

however, AI's greatest value comes from

making sense of the information already

contained within a project.

A general AI tool can explain what a

contract clause means. What it cannot

do is understand why that clause now

matters because a delayed design

approval, linked to an unresolved

RFI and a failed inspection, has

just pushed a package off

programme and put the next

valuation at risk. That is project

intelligence. And the two are not

the same thing.

In practice, reviewing specifications

against design information is timeconsuming

and detail intensive. People

miss things, because the sheer volume

of information is difficult to manage. AI

can support that first pass by flagging

inconsistencies between specifications

and submissions, cross referencing

RFI responses against design intent,

and highlighting the areas that need

human review.

The goal is to make sure the right

information is in front of the right person

before the decision gets made, rather than

removing the decision outright.

WHEN PROBLEMS COMPOUND

Take a quality issue as a simple example.

A failed inspection often looks isolated. A

snag. Some rework. A minor delay. But

construction problems rarely stay isolated.

If that issue affects a critical area, the

next trade cannot start. The programme

moves. Labour stands idle. Productivity

drops. Commercial assumptions begin

to shift. Payment milestones move. What

started as a quality issue quickly

becomes a programme issue, a cost

issue and eventually a cash issue.

That is how projects really work.

Everything is connected. The problem is

most teams only connect those dots

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July/August 2026

TECHNOLOGYfocus

once the impact is already visible, often

when it is already expensive.

AI changes that. It can stitch those

signals together earlier, giving teams the

clarity to act before the issue compounds -

but only if the data feeding it is connected,

consistent and accessible in the first place.

THE KNOWLEDGE PROBLEM

NOBODY TALKS ABOUT

There is another dimension to AI in

construction that rarely gets enough

attention, however. Most construction

organisations are sitting on an enormous

amount of knowledge they cannot easily

access or transfer. It lives in the heads of

experienced people, in closed project

files, old RFI logs, defect records and

lessons learned documents sitting on

SharePoint that nobody reads. And when

those people leave, that knowledge often

leaves with them.

The real opportunity - and challenge -

with AI is to move beyond merely making

knowledge searchable, ensuring instead

that it is visible at the point it matters.

Imagine a site manager completing a

quality inspection. As the issue is being

logged, AI recognises a similar defect

from a previous project, surfaces how it

was resolved, highlights the downstream

impact it had on programme and cost,

and flags that it later contributed to a

commercial claim. That changes how

experience is applied. Instead of relying

on someone in the room having seen it

before, the project can access that

learning in real time.

The questions themselves are not new.

Why did this package slip on previous

projects? What types of design information

triggered the most RFIs? Where do we

typically lose time on fit out packages?

The difference is that AI can answer

those questions while the work is still

happening, not six months later in a

lessons learned workshop. That is when

institutional knowledge stops being

something an organisation relies on

individuals to carry, and starts becoming

part of delivery itself.

BETTER CONTROL, NOT LESS

ACCOUNTABILITY

Project delivery is a constant cycle of

decisions. Project managers, commercial

leads and design teams make dozens of

decisions every day, often based on

fragmented information spread across

multiple systems. That creates noise,

delay and risk.

Today, a project manager might make

thirty fragmented decisions based on

incomplete information. AI increasingly

does the first pass by reviewing records,

connecting events, identifying patterns

and reducing those thirty decisions to the

two that genuinely need human

judgement. That is the real shift. Better

control, rather than less accountability.

Construction is still a human business,

so human in the loop remains essential.

Accountability for safety, quality, cost

and compliance rightly stays with

people. AI's role is to strengthen that

control, not replace it.

Disputes is one final area where this

becomes particularly commercially

significant. Anyone who has been through

a major claim knows how much effort

goes into reconstructing what happened.

Months of instructions, design changes,

delays, site records and correspondence

are pieced together under pressure, often

with incomplete records and fragmented

timelines. And too often, part of that story

has already left the business.

Construction still relies heavily on

individuals holding critical project

knowledge in their inboxes, folders and

personal ways of working. When those

people move on, organisations are often

left trying to recover key decisions,

approvals or commercial conversations

from old email accounts or disconnected

records, sometimes creating a whole new

set of data governance and GDPR issues

in the process. That is not a sustainable

way to manage project knowledge.

When project data is connected properly,

AI can help build the chronology of events

as the project unfolds, preserving

sequence, strengthening the evidence trail

and capturing context before it disappears

with the people who created it.

This matters because in construction, it

is not always the party who is right that

wins -it is usually the party who can prove

it. And the stronger the records, the

stronger the commercial position.

THE FOUNDATION STILL MATTERS

AI is only as useful as the project data it

can see. If information is fragmented,

inconsistent or siloed across systems, the

output will reflect that. Better connected

data makes better decisions possible,

earlier, with greater confidence and less

wasted effort. That is why the AI challenge

in construction is still fundamentally a

project data challenge. While data itself is

rarely exciting, without it, AI has nothing

real to work with.

The measure of AI is much simpler -

does it help people make better

decisions? In construction, that means

giving teams the information they need

early enough to change the outcome.

When it can do that consistently,

reducing noise and improving judgement,

it stops being a technology story and

starts becoming a productivity story.

www.procore.com/en-gb

July/August 2026 23

TECHNOLOGY focus

Nemetschek and AI

David Chadwick discusses AI in the AECO industry with Julian

Geiger, Chief AI Officer at Nemetschek Group

Keeping up to date with the latest AI

developments, and the ramifications

they have for the construction

industry, is quite a task. I was delighted,

then, to recently catch up with Julian Geiger

at Nemetschek Group about the role of his

group of experts within the company.

Nemetschek is, as you know, a company

that has been providing software solutions

for the AEC/O industry and Media &

Entertainment professionals for more than

60 years now, and has under its wing

some of the most widely-used and

respected companies in the industry -

Graphisoft, Allplan, Vectorworks, Solibri,

Bluebeam, Maxon - and several smaller

companies, some of whom have been

featured in this magazine.

Over the last couple of years there have

been numerous AI applications for each of

these companies, notably AI Assistant, and

other design tools in various formats. As

the release and focus of the different

solutions varied between the different

companies, I was intrigued how

Nemetschek handled their development,

integration with the applications, and

release schedules.

Looking into the topic further, the answers

necessarily had to include the wider use of

AI tools within the industry, the evolution of

the software and its impact on both the use

of AI within each of the disciplines within

construction, its impact on workflows, skill

gaps and jobs, and fears of security issues

regarding proprietary data.

THE RIGHT AI FOR THE TASK

Julian explained that the company's

dedicated central AI team and platform is

complemented by embedded specialists

in each brand. The brands 'own' their

product roadmaps and domain

knowledge, while the central team 'owns'

the shared intelligence platform (data,

models, verification, agent infrastructure).

This has created a powerful, mutually

beneficial, two-way operating model,

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July/August 2026

TECHNOLOGY focus

allowing knowledge and information to flow

freely between all brands and the central AI

team stakeholders.

Model routing is one layer of the

multifaceted Nemetschek Intelligence

Platform, but that is far from its sole

purpose. In addition to generating raw data

when useful, it has the advantage of

ensuring verified outcomes, providing users

with added reassurance about the validity

of the output. Notably, the platform is

model-agnostic, with specialised AEC/O

capabilities (like knowledge graph,

verification, agent harness, domain data

foundation, etc.) built on top of frontier

models from OpenAI, Anthropic, Google

and open-source providers.

SEPARATE AI TASKS

For internal productivity at Nemetschek,

Julian explained that there is no defined

core AI application utilised, rather the ones

that best fulfil the specific task, instead. One

that can handle multiple foundation models,

and which has been rolled out across the

Nemetschek Group, is Perplexity, chosen

for its grounded, source-cited answers from

across the web and internal knowledge.

Gemini Enterprise is also used, providing

an AI platform where people can develop

their own agents and, of course, Microsoft

365 Copilot within the company's Microsoft

environment. I asked Julian about an aspect

that interests me, related to where some AI

applications require massive amounts of

'training' to be able to provide a variety of

solutions for architects - such as the stable

diffusion processes used for Vectorworks' AI

Visualizer, and AI used for analysing and

refining schedules in construction planning

using information already available within

the project's own resources.

He differentiated the two in terms of

resources required. The latter, using AI

functionality embedded within the local

hardware, has no per-query cloud costs,

whilst AI that relies on searching through

huge amounts of data, has to reside within

data centres, using AI tools like OpenAI

and Anthropic. This can see unmanaged

cloud-inference costs escalate very quickly,

which is exactly why routing and cost

governance matter. He added that there

are, however, a number of new opensource

models that can run some of their

functionality on local devices. His group is

working on some of these, aiming to

provide more AI capabilities for local

machines; but the main issue is producing

a stable solution that will work on a variety

of end-user machine sizes and OS/s,

including macOS or Windows devices.

The choice between using cloud-vs-local

environments is typically determined by

task-size, with larger frontier models mostly

conducted in the cloud, and smaller, taskspecific

models conducted either via the

cloud or on-device. Julian explained that,

while Bluebeam Max is capable of

supporting both scenarios, it is

predominantly used in the cloud.

That led to an interesting discussion about

how to balance the cost of development of

a project with the use of the AI resources

available. On a reasoning-intensive task,

software like Claude will spin up different

instances of the model creating, for

instance, 'X' different agents that will multiply

the cost of the query by a factor of 'X'

working together as a virtual agent team.

Within the construction industry, the queries

that predominate are more logically based -

such as looking for issues within a number

of documents and so on - and the cost of

handling such queries is not massive.

The 'cost per intelligence unit' is a factor in

the overall cost of the service. Can this be

calculated and used within project

budgets? Julian said that it's a complex

issue that construction companies shouldn't

have to worry about. They have their own

businesses to run and shouldn't have to

build their own IT departments. He

explained that it's in Nemetschek's interest

to link the client's demand to the model that

will solve it, without the client knowing - or

caring about - what AI was used.

AI DEVELOPMENT FOCI

Julian's group is responsible for developing

AI solutions for all of the main applications

within the group: Graphisoft, Vectorworks,

Solibri, Allplan, Bluebeam and others. He

explained that, while each has their own

agendas, the role of Nemetschek is to

develop unifying solutions for the whole

group, rather than siloed models for each of

them. It wasn't realistic to create an AI that

edits BIM for each, instead each facility is

created once, then used across the brands.

Each of the companies, though,

collaborates with the AI development

group, providing them with the knowledge

of the core software and the 'fingerprints'

that will allow them to hone the AI solution

to maintain the end user's experiences. It

also enables the group to tune in to the

schedule of releases and AI focus that the

different companies have based their

marketing and brand identity on.

There is a group-wide intelligence layer,

but as different user groups have different

ideas about what they want, the

development of AI at different levels may

require several development paths rather

than relying on one generalised AI solution.

THE IMPACT OF AI

With far more in the discussion than I could

compress down to one article, two major

issues remain: will AI take our jobs, and

what impact will it have on our data

security? The response to the first won't

surprise anybody in the industry. Asking

attendees on training courses what they

think they could be doing, and what they

actually do on a daily basis, usually ends

with the dream of consulting with clients on

major projects; whereas the reality is more

like a Monday inbox with hundreds of RFIs,

and doing triage on hundreds of issues that

all need immediate attention.

The complexity of the job is overtaking

creative ambitions or management flexibility,

and this is where AI is best suited for

intervention. With 90% of projects expected

to end up over budget or time, 40% of

global CO2 emissions coming from the

industry and 20% from material wastage, we

are not capable of handling the metrics of

the problem without AI assistance.

As for subcontractor data security, whilst

99% of data used by AI is not proprietary

data, some subcontractors have stated that

they don't wish to divulge how they

structure their contacts with their suppliers,

and what sort of discounts they give.

More interestingly, though, Nemetschek is

working on the separation of different types

of intelligence on the whole network

intelligence platform. As our conversation

revealed, the journey towards the ideal

solution is just another one of the steps that

Nemetschek is taking.

www.nemetschek.com

July/August 2026 25

TECHNOLOGYfocus

Like Barnacles on a ship's hull!

Craig Wheatley, CEO of IES, explains why Air conditioning cannot be the UK's climate resilience plan

Every year when a heatwave hits

the UK, the same question

returns: are our buildings ready

for a hotter climate?

Too often, the answer is no. Much of

the UK's building stock was designed

around historic weather patterns, with

mild summers, colder winters and a

lower expectation of prolonged

extreme heat. That climate baseline

has shifted, with offices, schools,

hospitals, public buildings and homes

now being asked to perform under

conditions many were never designed

to withstand.

The response cannot simply be to

install more air conditioning. With

around 4 million UK households now

using air conditioning, many deem it a

necessary response to uncomfortable

indoor temperatures. But, for the built

environment as a whole, mass reliance

on air conditioning risks turning an

adaptation problem into a larger

energy, cost and carbon problem.

For new buildings, future weather

prediction data should be used to

model overheating risk at design

stage, and make decisions about

orientation, glazing, shading,

ventilation, thermal mass and internal

heat gains at the design stage. A

building designed today will still be

operating decades from now, so it

needs to be resilient to the conditions it

will face throughout its life, not only the

conditions on the day it is approved.

However, better new-build standards

will only solve part of the problem.

Around 80% of the buildings that will

exist in 2050 are already standing

today. The real test for climate

resilience will therefore be how

intelligently we adapt the buildings we

already have.

AIR CONDITIONING COMES WITH

TRADE-OFFS

While air conditioning brings obvious

immediate benefits for occupants, it

doesn't address the underlying

performance of a building. If a building

overheats because of poor airflow,

excessive solar gain, inadequate

shading, inefficient controls or

inappropriate fabric choices, air

conditioning may mask the problem

while increasing energy demand.

For households, businesses and

public organisations already facing

pressure on costs, increased

prevalence of air conditioning will

26

July/August 2026

TECHNOLOGYfocus

significantly drive up electricity bills

and place additional strain on the grid

during hot periods, when demand may

already be elevated. At scale, this is a

poor resilience strategy.

We must therefore resist the

temptation to treat air conditioning as

an easy fix. The priority should be to

reduce the need for active cooling

wherever possible, then use efficient

systems only where they are genuinely

required.

RETROFIT IS THE PRACTICAL

ROUTE TO RESILIENCE

Retrofitting existing buildings offers a

more durable answer. It allows owners

and operators to improve comfort,

reduce overheating risk and cut energy

use without mechanical cooling and

the energy and cost demands that

come with it.

The right measures will vary

significantly by asset. In some

buildings, the answer may be improved

natural or mixed-mode ventilation,

while others may benefit more from

external shading, roof insulation, better

zoning or upgraded controls. Options

like heat pumps and on-site

renewables should also be

implemented on a case-by-case basis

The strongest retrofit strategies look

at the building as a whole system. They

consider energy, carbon, cost, comfort

and resilience together. They also

recognise that buildings are used by

people, and that operational patterns

change. Occupancy levels, working

hours, equipment loads and user

behaviour can all affect how a building

performs in reality.

This is where the built environment

needs better evidence before it

spends.

DIGITAL MODELLING CAN SHOW

WHAT WILL WORK BEFORE

MONEY IS COMMITTED

Building performance technology gives

owners, designers and facilities teams

a clearer way to decide which retrofit

measures will deliver the best results.

By creating a digital model of a

building, teams can simulate how it

currently performs and test different

interventions before work begins. That

might include modelling improved

airflow, shading, insulation, ventilation

upgrades or changes to heating,

ventilation and air conditioning

systems. It can also include future

weather scenarios, allowing owners to

see how the building may respond to

hotter summers over time.

Ongoing performance modelling

technology can then take this further.

By connecting a digital model to live

building data, facilities teams can

monitor how the building is performing

in use, spot drift, and verify that

implemented measures are delivering

the expected savings. This is

particularly important because many

buildings do not perform exactly as

intended once occupied. Controls are

overridden, schedules change,

equipment ages and spaces are used

differently over time.

Digital modelling is therefore not just

a design tool. Used properly, it

becomes a resilience tool, helping

building owners understand risk, test

options, prioritise investment and avoid

costly mistakes.

BUILDING FOR THE CLIMATE WE

ARE ENTERING

The UK doesn't need a future in which

every overheated building is simply

fitted with more air conditioning. That

path is expensive, energy-intensive and

ultimately a source of the problem it is

trying to fix. The more credible route is

to design new buildings for a changing

climate and retrofit existing buildings

using readily available data.

If the UK is serious about making its

built environment resilient and reducing

the sector's impact on the environment,

the focus must move beyond shortterm

cooling fixes. We need buildings

that are designed, retrofitted and

operated to stay comfortable and

efficient in the hotter years ahead.

July/August 2026 27

CASEstudy

Standardising client feedback workflows

Workplace specialist Oktra has

extended its use of Bluebeam

from internal drawing review

into structured client feedback,

helping its design team

centralise comments, reduce

duplication and maintain

clearer control before work

reaches site

For workplace design teams, the

review stage can quickly become

one of the most exposed parts of

a project. Drawings move between

designers, clients, consultants, cost

managers and suppliers. Comments

arrive through different channels and

decisions are made under time

pressure. Unless that process is tightly

controlled, design intent can become

blurred before information reaches site.

Oktra, the workplace specialist, has

sought to bring more structure to that

process by extending its use of

Bluebeam beyond internal drawing

markups and into client-facing review

sessions. The aim isn't to make PDF

commenting faster. It's to make

feedback clearer, attributable and

easier to act on, particularly when

projects involve multiple client

stakeholders or intentional teams with

limited availability.

CLEAR PROCESSES FOR CLIENT

FEEDBACK

Client comments introduce a different

kind of complexity from internal design

reviews. They often involve several

decision-makers, differing priorities and

short windows for approval. Feedback

may be technically simple, but difficult

to manage if it arrives through emails,

meetings, and separate marked-up files.

To control that stage, Oktra uses

Bluebeam Studio Sessions to run timebound,

colour-controlled drawing

reviews. The design team uploads the

relevant drawing set, sets the review

window and asks clients to use a

designated markup colour.

That gives the project team a single

record of comments, with each note

date-stamped and attributed. It also

means designers can see which

comments have been made, when they

were added and how they relate to the

drawing set being reviewed.

"Studio gave us a clear line in the

sand," said Brad Smart, senior designer

at Oktra. "We could see every comment,

by colour and date, before we did the

page-turn."

For the design team, the benefit is

particularly apparent before page-turn

meetings. Rather than collating emails

or reconciling separate PDFs, the team

can go into the review with a

consolidated record of client feedback.

That helps reduce duplicated comments

and makes it clearer which decisions

have been agreed. Only confirmed

28

July/August 2026

CASEstudy

changes move into the next revision.

REDUCING FRICTION ACROSS

LOCATION

The process also supports where

stakeholders are not all in the same place.

On international programmes, where client

availability may be limited, structured

digital review can reduce the need for

travel and help decisions move faster.

The value here is practical rather than

dramatic. Oktra is not claiming that

technology removes the need for

discussion. Instead, Studio gives those

discussions a firmer base. Comments

are already visible, organised and

traceable before the meeting begins.

For a design team working at pace,

that matters. It reduces the risk that a

point raised in one forum is missed in

another, or that a design decision is

advanced without a clear record of how

it was reached.

CHOOSING THE RIGHT TOOL FOR

EACH STAGE

Oktra does not treat one platform as the

answer to every coordination challenge.

As projects move from early design into

more detailed technical coordination the

business uses different tools for different

tasks. For daily multi-disciplinary

collaboration, Autodesk Construction

Cloud's markup tools help centralise

coordination across consultants.

Bluebeam remains the preferred tool for

designer-led instructions, especially

where information is being issued

externally to suppliers.

This is particularly useful when

reviewing joinery or specialist

packages. Designers can sketch

directly on an iPad in Bluebeam, add

dimensions and make clear what needs

to be priced or reviewed. That

combination allows the team to work

efficiently internally, while preserving a

controlled and legible communication

route for external packages.

"Technology works best when you can

find the best tool for the task at hand,

and then easily integrate it throughout

your workflow," said Jenny Edwards,

creative director at Oktra.

The point is less about the software

stack itself than the discipline behind it.

Oktra's process depends on clear

standards for how comments are made,

how approvals are recorded and how

information is carried forward.

FROM RED PEN TO DIGITAL

DISCIPLINE

The move to structured digital review

has also changed the expectations

placed on designers. Bluebeam has

become a staple tool for Oktra's design

team. New designers are given basic

training so they have a consistent

foundation, then develop their use of the

platform as projects require.

The wider cultural shift is about clarity at

the point of review. Instead of relying on

verbal explanations, follow-up emails or

individual memory, instructions are

documented on the drawing. That creates

a more consistent record of design

decisions. It also reduces the risk that

knowledge sits with one person rather

than in the project information itself. Over

time, the effect is cumulative: fewer

duplicated markups, fewer reissued

drawing sets and fewer clarification loops.

Oktra does not currently quantify time

savings from the process. But the team

describes Bluebeam as essential to dayto-day

approvals and pre-construction

coordination. "It's simply faster and more

precise for drawing review than a

general PDF reader," Brad said.

www.bluebeam.com/uk/

July/August 2026 29

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

TECHNOLOGYfocus

The Key to Affordable Housing

Sunil Pandita, CEO ALLPLAN, explains how digital tools

can help Britain to close its affordable housing gap

Britain's housing crisis is not a new

story. But the scale of the UK

government's ambition is. The £39

billion committed to social and affordable

housing marks one of the most significant

public investments in a generation, a signal

that policymakers recognise what

communities across England, Wales,

Scotland and Northern Ireland have long

known: the shortage of safe, affordable

homes is a national emergency.

And yet, even with funding in place, the

delivery challenge remains formidable.

Construction costs are rising, labour

shortages persist and supply chains

remain fragile. Add to this the current

global economic uncertainty, compounded

by geopolitical instability and inflationary

pressures, and the margin for error in

housing delivery has never been thinner.

Can the industry build them efficiently,

sustainably and at scale? The answer will

depend largely on how quickly the sector

embraces digital transformation.

HEART OF THE CRISIS

Affordable housing is, at its core, a

productivity challenge. For too long, the

construction industry has operated in silos,

with architects, engineers, contractors and

manufacturers working from their own data

sets and systems, often duplicating effort

or relying on outdated information.

The consequences are measurable and

costly. Rework, the result of errors, clashes

and miscommunication, eats into budgets

and schedules on virtually every project.

Manual processes and fragmented data

compound the problem, consuming

engineering time that could be spent on

productive work. And coordination failures

that could be caught in a BIM model are

instead caught on site, where fixing them is

far more expensive.

In a market where every pound counts,

a housing programme constrained by cost

overruns and schedule slippage will fall

short of its targets, regardless of the

funding that lies behind it.

THE CASE FOR A NEW MODEL

By shifting manufacturing offsite, designing

elements in controlled factory

environments before assembling them on

location, developers and contractors can

compress timelines, reduce waste and

achieve consistency of quality that is

difficult to replicate on a traditional building

site.

This approach, often described as Design

for Manufacturing and Assembly (DfMA), is

not a future aspiration. Projects in Germany

are already demonstrating what is

possible. The Freiham development in

Munich, a large-scale affordable housing

scheme, has shown how prefabricated and

precast components, designed and

engineered digitally, can dramatically

reduce construction time, while maintaining

rigorous quality standards. The principles

are directly transferable to the UK context.

The enabling technology for industrialised

construction is an integrated digital

workflow - a 'design-to-build' model. Rather

than treating design, engineering and

construction as sequential phases with

handoffs between them, this approach

creates a continuous data thread that

connects every stage of a project. Building

Information Modelling (BIM) is central to

this approach. A 2025 peer-reviewed study

published by Springer Nature found that

integrated BIM workflows can reduce

coordination clashes by 40% and rework

costs by up to 50%.

For a social housing programme

operating under tight budgets and public

scrutiny, those numbers translate directly

into value for money and homes delivered.

AI AND THE NEXT FRONTIER

Beyond BIM and automation, artificial

intelligence (AI) is beginning to reshape

what is possible at the early stages of

design. AI tools can now evaluate design

options against performance criteria, like

energy efficiency, structural integrity and

cost, far earlier in the process than was

previously feasible.

For affordable housing, this is especially

important, as cost certainty is critical.

Schemes that overrun their budgets or

fail to meet planning requirements are

commercially damaging and represent real

homes that are not built for the people who

need them. AI-driven design validation,

concept optimisation and performance

simulation can help teams identify and

resolve problems before they become

expensive, ensuring that the investment

reaches its intended destination.

THE ECONOMIC IMPERATIVE

The current economic environment makes

the case for digital transformation more

urgent, not less. When material costs are

volatile, when borrowing is expensive and

when every project is being scrutinised for

value, the ability to model costs accurately,

reduce waste and avoid rework is a basic

requirement for viability.

For affordable housing, there is no safety

net; schemes that cannot absorb cost

increases will stall. Programmes that

cannot demonstrate efficiency to funders

and planners will struggle to secure

approval. The industry's ability to meet the

government's housing ambitions will

depend on its capacity to operate with

greater precision and resilience than it has

historically managed.

FROM AMBITION TO ACTION

Investment alone will not deliver the homes

people need. The industry must match

ambition with a new approach to

designing, planning and building homes.

Modular and industrialised construction,

enabled by integrated digital workflows,

BIM and AI, offers a credible path to

housing at scale.

32

July/August 2026

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