If you have visited this blog recently, you my have noticed a lack of updates. Due to pressure of other work, I was struggling to write regular posts. And a growing voluntary commitment to the …
Former UK BIM Task Group head Mark Bew, also co-founder of the PCSG consultancy business acquired by Bentley Systems in 2020, has stepped down as CEO of Bentley’s Cohesive group. The opening day of Bentley …
At an in-person London event, UK-based collaboration technology Revizto gave insights on efficiently implementing technologies. Today, Extranet Evolution is at the Institution of Civil Engineers in London, attending a briefing to learn more about Revizto, …
Thanks to mobile apps such as Buildiro, Skrap and now TeekIt, London streets are increasingly busy with deliveries of equipment and materials to construction sites, large and small. In late 2020, amid the COVID-19 pandemic, …
UK Government is aiming to make open, standardised data drive an improved local plans system. Legislation will ensure data is delivered in consistent formats, and make some data publicly available and reusable. In June, I …
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To help companies capture potential sales leads, they normally ask users to enter some contact details before they can view or download some sales materials from their websites. UK-based construction collaboration technology vendor Asite is no exception when it comes to its Asite Workspace application – except that it is now possible to view the Flash animation and listen to the electro soundtrack, without entering any identifying details – on YouTube [removed].
(I like the hero’s hair-raising realisation [above] that he’s forgotten some vital information – is it just me, or is this well-dressed jet-setter modelled on Asite CEO Tony Ryan?)
Permanent link to this article: https://extranetevolution.com/2007/11/asite-workspace/
I talked last month about the problems of websites suddenly becoming unavailable. After BIW, 4Projects and ePIN, the latest UK collaboration vendor to suffer a website outage is Sarcophagus.
[Update (27 November): Site back live again.]
Permanent link to this article: https://extranetevolution.com/2007/11/more-website-wo/
An article in US journal Building Design & Construction reports that US adoption of building information modelling (BIM) applications is accelerating (thanks to Mel at the Elemental blog for the link).
More than a third of roughly 200 owners (collectively representing c.$115 billion in annual construction spending) responding to the 8th Annual Construction Management Association of America/FMI Survey of Owners say they have used BIM on one or more projects. The rate at which BIM is being adopted in the industry is also accelerating, the survey reports.
About 35% of the respondents said they have used BIM on one or more projects. The rate at which newcomers embrace BIM has been increasing: BIM usage grew by three percent in 2003, six percent in 2005 and 11 percent in 2006.
Detailing the benefits reported by BIM users, FMI said: “Highest ranked by both non-BIM and BIM users is improved communication followed by higher quality project execution and decision making.”
However, significant impediments still remain: “Lack of expertise and industry standards are two of the greatest hurdles to collaborative construction processes and BIM adoption,” the survey concluded.
Recent related posts: Integrated Project Delivery – US guide; Software incompatibility bar to interoperability
Permanent link to this article: https://extranetevolution.com/2007/11/take-up-of-bim/
Earlier this year, the NCCTP became a membership forum within Constructing Excellence. Chief Executive Don Ward was enthusiastic about the move at the time, and has since started to preach the virtues of IT in supporting collaborative working. He recently wrote an article “The common touch” in the November/December issue of RICS’ Construction Journal, where he talked about six critical success factors, including:
Common processes and tools, eg: interoperability of IT systems or co-location of a project team in the same office. But for those who like disputes, beware – by using the same IT system to share information, eg: a project extranet, it is much harder to have a dispute over information delivered late.
Permanent link to this article: https://extranetevolution.com/2007/11/it-at-the-heart/
The Construction Computing no-Show at least saw me meet up with a few friends gathered over a decade of involvement with construction IT (among them, one of the pioneers of online collaboration, Ray Crotty of C3 Systems, and Marek Suchocki, formerly at Atkins, now at Mouchel).
Mervyn Richards also strolled by, and gave me an update on progress since the completion of the Avanti project (see posts here and here). He told me that the British Standards committee had finished its work on coding the Avanti Standard Method and Procedure (SMP) to update BS1192:Part 5, and the new standard should be published shortly.
Permanent link to this article: https://extranetevolution.com/2007/11/avanti-smp-in-n/
If anything, day two of the Construction Computing 2007 show was worse than day one. Thankfully, the day was shorter – 10am to 3pm – but several exhibitors voted with their feet long before the end. Indeed, my BIW colleague and I were packed up and ready to leave by 3pm, and we walked past stands already vacated by other exhibitors (including our fellow NCCTP members and ITCF IT Partners 4Projects and Asite). I doubt there were even 100 visitors today; only a few seminars were run (I didn’t bother with mine); and most exhibitors I spoke to had no intention of returning next year.
Construction Computing Awards 2007
Those who went to the Construction Computing Awards dinner (see previous post) last night tell me that this year’s comedian was good …. (Update (23 November): I see 4Projects is quite happy about its award for e-commerce product of the year. Other successful diners include Causeway, RedSky IT and IFS.)
[Update (28 November) – After a heated debate through the comments area of this blog with Awards organiser Stuart Leigh, I have removed a personal perspective – the “….” – (albeit one shared by several other people) about the awards and made some minor amendments to a couple of other posts. I had wanted to stimulate a debate about the merits of online voting versus judges in deciding industry awards, but Stuart regarded my comments as defamatory. To terminate an increasingly acrimonious correspondence, I reluctantly decided to make the changes he requested.]
Permanent link to this article: https://extranetevolution.com/2007/11/no-show-day-two/
I stood on the BIW Technologies stand today, and I waited … and I waited…. And people on neighbouring stands waited … and waited…. Then we started muttering to each other…. And then some started muttering discontentedly to the event organisers, BTC….
Yes, the first day of the Construction Computing Show 2007 – despite its new home at Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium – has been remarkable only for the low number of visitors. There was a table covered with badges for pre-registered visitors but precious few of them turned up today. I reckon my colleague and I spoke to only half a dozen genuine visitors (as opposed to people wandering round the stands trying to sell their services to exhibitors) during the day.
As a result, the ITCF-managed seminar programme has also been equally poorly attended. Just nine visitors attended my seminar (excluding 4Projects’ MD Richard Vertigan – who had to disappear for a client meeting after just a few minutes), but I did better than most (marginally beating Asite and 4Projects, I think) – some didn’t even get a single attendee!
Where are all the visitors? As I wondered two days ago, have all the industry gone to the Civils show at Earl’s Court? Or were they all heading home (or to their chosen pub) for the England v Croatia game tonight? I moaned about last year’s event, the organisation and marketing this year hasn’t noticeably improved, and the new venue – while better than the Barbican – is not as ideally situated in central London.
I heard one exhibitor say that the second day of last year’s event turned out to be a bit busier, hoping that the same would be true again. However, on today’s experience, I won’t be bringing BIW back for 2008, and I doubt many others will be returning either.
Permanent link to this article: https://extranetevolution.com/2007/11/the-great-const/
The number of exhibitors for this year’s event (see previous post) has now reached 36. This is not bad, particularly considering that the event also suffers from an unfortunate date clash with the much bigger Civils 2007 show, also in London but at Earl’s Court. It should only take about half an hour to cross London on the tube from one to the other – so, if in London, why not take in both!?
Talking of date clashes, it is also unfortunate that the Construction Computing Awards dinner is being held on the same evening as the vital England v Croatia Euro 2008 qualification game. I know a few people who would rather watch the game live than spend the time networking at an industry dinner! Will the organisers be making any special arrangements to show the game?
Permanent link to this article: https://extranetevolution.com/2007/11/construction-1/
Project extranets (a term often used synonymously with ‘construction collaboration technologies’) are not usually something you see discussed in your average local evening newspaper in the UK. However, I see that a Davis Langdon employee, Simon Burke, has just won a special award for his masters dissertation on the subject of extranets – an achievement reported in the Peterborough Evening Telegraph earlier this month. Well done, Simon.
(I spoke to Simon a couple of times during the preparation of his paper, and BIW [my employer] has been working with Davis Langdon on a number of projects – indeed, we recently completed a case study with them regarding use of BIW to manage NEC2 contract processes on a scheme in Cambridge.)
Permanent link to this article: https://extranetevolution.com/2007/11/project-extrane/
After my post on the new AIA guide last week, a couple of people have been in touch.
First, Graham Robinson (who I met earlier this year on a Collaborative Working Champions visit to Magal in Reading) observes:
“… the USA lags behind UK to some extent, although they do some things better, particularly standardisation. It used to be that the AIA prefer and recommend the use of Design Build procurement, which is a form of integrated working [although it is only a partial answer]. There is also a useful organization called DBIA [Design Build Institute of America]. They also publish some useful guides.”
Second, Martin Brown at isite wasn’t put off by my deliberate focus on the ICT elements of the IPD guide. With hindsight, I should have made it clearer that the document covers far more than ICT and BIM; indeed, as I wrote, technology is just one of nine IPD themes.
Permanent link to this article: https://extranetevolution.com/2007/11/integrated-prod/
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