The Digital Construction Awards attracted over 170 entries this year, 85 of which have been shortlisted. Here, we detail the finalists for the Digital Rising Star of the Year award.
This category recognises an individual who has been in the construction industry for five years or less and has used digitalisation, digital methodologies and/or technologies to achieve excellence in their work, and help advance digital transformation on a project or in an organisation.
Five people have made the shortlist.
Isabelle Barron | WSP
Isabelle Barron joined WSP in January 2024 and quickly proved herself to be an invaluable asset.
In her role as a digital construction consultant, she has been instrumental in implementing innovative digital solutions across various projects, showcasing her ambition and commitment to information management best practices and demonstrating exceptional proficiency in leveraging digital technology to enhance project outcomes and organisational success.
By the summer of 2024, she had already become a critical member of the digital services team delivering a large defence project, demonstrating her rapid development of skills and competencies in digital construction.
Barron’s dedication and ability to quickly adapt to new challenges were evident as she took on increasingly complex tasks with confidence and precision. After a year at WSP, she was assigned to lead a project, managing a small team delivering the digital construction requirements for the new Eden Project.
In addition to her regular duties, Barron is also a representative for the WSP Professional Growth Network, a voluntary group of early career professionals who aim to connect, develop and provide a voice for others across the business.
She has also been training with WorldSkills as part of Team GB in the digital construction category. After rounds of examinations, Barron was nominated as the candidate to progress and represent her country. She achieved a gold medal for digital construction in EuroSkills 2023, and the Best in the Nation award and a medallion for excellence at WorldSkills 2024.
Giovanni Bortolin | Cast Consultancy
Giovanni Bortolin is an assistant cost consultant at Cast Consultancy, where he is encouraged to use his passion and enthusiasm for digital innovation within the construction industry.
With a first-class degree in quantity surveying and an outstanding achievement award, Bortolin also received a best dissertation award for his research on developing a novel AR application for aiding valuation processes.
Over the past year, Bortolin has made significant strides in his field by publishing a conference paper at the European Council on computing in construction. The paper, titled An approach to the estimation of digital twin technological components, explores how to measure the cost impact of implementing digital twins technological components using RICS NRM 2 to aid digital transformation processes and account for costs that meet client requirements and objectives.
In his day-to-day role, Bortolin is engaged in advancing digitalisation efforts at Cast. He plays a pivotal role in developing the company’s information database, leveraging cloud computing and organising data with accurate schemas to avoid errors and create new value in the company’s historical data through data science.
He is involved in a forward-thinking project at Cast, where he is developing a bespoke web application focused on cost estimation. This innovative tool blends cost estimation with computational design, allowing users to change the design while having live cost plans simultaneously.
Bortolin is also an active member of the CIOB Tomorrow’s Leaders in the London hub, where he organises events and engages the younger community in discussions about digitalisation.
Daniel Chesson | Bond Bryan Architects
Two weeks after Daniel Chesson joined Bond Bryan in 2023 in his first BIM role, as assistant BIM manager, his line manager left, meaning he had to get up to speed quickly.
His ability to adapt gained him a promotion to BIM manager less than a year later. Originally, BIM support was a two-person team, so Chesson led the recruitment of a BIM apprentice in April 2024. As the company grew to 180 staff, a BIM specialist joined his team in January this year, requiring him to develop management skills and set strategic direction. Managing both an apprentice and an experienced colleague was a great challenge.
Chesson supports the implementation of ArchiCAD and manages Bond Bryan’s BIM clouds, while also leading Revit adoption and supporting the team with CDEs such as Autodesk Construction Cloud.
Chesson’s expertise in these software platforms reflects his commitment to interoperability, reinforced by a strong knowledge of IFC. He also leads COBie and Solibri training, ensuring alignment with openBIM standards. This led to him developing in-house automated IFC checks, enhancing quality assurance processes that have significantly improved the quality of the practice’s outputs.
Alongside his role, Chesson is a judge for the 2024 National Qualifiers and Finals for WorldSkills, and is now set to become an assistant training manager for the UK squad preparing for Shanghai 2026. He is leading the development of automated marking schemes to enhance competition engagement and ensure national competitions align with openBIM workflows by incorporating IFC deliverables, something he’s already implemented successfully within Squad UK’s selection event for EuroSkills 2025, among other feats.
Georgia Eaton | Proicere Digital
Georgia Eaton’s background in architecture from Liverpool John Moores University provided her with a strong foundation in 4D modelling and spatial design, which she has rapidly developed at Proicere Digital.
Soon after joining Proicere Digital, Eaton was chosen to provide digital and 4D planning support for the construction of a facility at a nuclear site in the UK. She was chosen for her combination of architectural qualifications and experience, plus working ability with 3D and 4D digital construction tools, which designers had no experience with.
However, the site’s high-security environment meant that data sharing was severely restricted. Eaton’s goal was to devise a model that included creating classified internal designs, integrated with non-classified external and structural elements such as 3D models provided by other consultants.
Eaton devised a way to differentiate classified internal design information from non-classified external design elements in the model. This approach to data handling created a framework that allowed the project to function efficiently while meeting strict security requirements. Her work has not only benefited this specific project, but provided a framework for the efficient running of future secure-site construction projects.
Eaton’s leadership in developing the data-handling framework and visualisation of the model provided reassurance to the client, who was initially apprehensive about adopting this untested way of working.
Scott Hughes, managing the project on behalf of the client, Urenco, praised Eaton’s talents for collaboration and problem-solving, and described her achievement of the integrated model as being “imperative” to the delivery of the project.
Josephine McGoldrick | Rider Levett Bucknall UK
Josephine McGoldrick joined RLB in September 2024, but her impact in digital transformation extends beyond that through previous roles at Graham Group and contributions to digital construction research.
Since joining RLB, she has been supporting the deployment of Microsoft Dynamics 365 across RLB Europe and quickly identified manual processes in the administrative team that could be automated.
Recognising the time and resource drain, McGoldrick challenged the status quo, raised the issue with her mentor and began testing workflow automation solutions. These solutions, once implemented, could save RLB hundreds of hours by significantly reducing manual tasks.
She has built Power BI reports that track invoice milestones within RLB every month. The report is used to track when users across RLB UK are changing the status of their invoices and understand the variances between regions, increasing visibility and enhancing decision-making for finance teams.
McGoldrick has also been tasked with exploring a digital solution using Microsoft Fabric and Dataflows to replace an outdated SQL-based method. Taking on this challenge enthusiastically, she is investigating how Fabric can modernise data processing, improve scalability and reduce bottlenecks.
Before joining RLB, she played an essential role in digital innovation at Graham, including the management of BIM coordination and digital information workflows on largescale construction projects, improving collaboration and data integrity. She also worked with NHS Boards and private student accommodation projects, ensuring best practices in digital construction were implemented effectively.
Her research on digital workflows for autism-friendly space design was presented at the International Conference on Higher Education Advances. She’s also won the CIAT Student Award for Excellence in Architectural Technology (Report Category), demonstrating her ability to merge digital technology with architectural innovation.
Celebrate with the best
The winners will be revealed at the gala dinner on 1 July at the Brewery in London.
You can join the shortlisted entrants by booking your seats at the awards. There is an early bird discount for those who book tables before 16 May.
The Digital Construction Awards are organised by Digital Construction Week, Construction Management and the Chartered Institute of Building. The first sponsor to be announced is Bluebeam.
To find out more about the Awards, visit digitalconstructionawards.co.uk.
