Skanska has been awarded £680,000 by Innovate UK for a project that aims to collate and visualise data to ensure more efficient project delivery.
A consortium led by Skanska was awarded the sum for “Visualise”, an initiative that will collate and overlay information from buildings and systems, and combine it with community-based data – from environmental to social media information.
This overall data will then be used to analyse the best way in which resources are used and how projects are completed, saving both time and cost.
The total project cost is just over £1m, with £680,000 coming from Innovate UK – the UK’s innovation agency – and the rest from the project partners.
The partners include: Building Research Establishment – the building science centre that works to improve the built environment through research and knowledge generation; cloud collaboration start-up 3D Repo; geospatial technology expert CartoConsult; and production studio Unit9, a specialist in virtual reality, digital services and gaming.
Sam Stacey, director of innovation and business improvement at Skanska UK, said: “Across all of our projects, we hold a rich source of data. If we can find a way to collate and share it in an appropriate way, we could support our customers in reducing risks and finding ways to deliver projects more efficiently and effectively.
“Through seeing the bigger picture, we could work better together so project delivery is more coordinated. This will optimise the use of equipment and resources, while minimising disruption to local people.
“We’re looking forward to working with our customers to see what data can be shared. It will help support more informed decision-making and delivery of the targets in the Construction 2025 industrial strategy – 50% faster delivery, 50% lower emissions and 33% lower costs.”
Speaking to CM at the beginning of the year, Stacey said he saw data collection as well as digital engineering and collating geographic information as one of its main focuses for 2017.
The project starts in March 2017 and will run for 18 months.
