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Digital Construction Awards 2024: Queenswood wins Digital Consultancy of the Year

Queenswood wins Digital Consultancy of the Year at the Digital Construction Awards 2024 — The Queenswood team collect their trophy from Ollie Hughes of Digital Construction Week (left), Henry Fenby-Taylor (second right) for Women in BIM, and Tom Allen (right) (Photo © 2024 - ASV Photography Ltd. www.ASVphotos.com).

Queenswood won the Digital Consultancy of the Year, sponsored by Women in BIM, at the Digital Construction Awards last night (2 July).

Queenswood played a key role in minimising project delays on HS2 by improving engagement with local councils and communities affected by the megaproject’s construction.

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Queenswood’s key objective was to pull detailed works, logistics and programme information from contractors impacting the council areas and collate and repackage that information into a single, easily understood source of truth.

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The consultancy’s approach aided councils’ understanding of the cumulative impacts from the multiple contract areas, including elements such as multiple road closures on parallel routes, or HGV movements related to works. This demonstrated to the consenting authorities that works were coordinated with community impacts in mind – a key contention in many disputes that arise between a major project and local stakeholders.

To achieve this, Queenswood staff embedded themselves within the works and logistics teams to fully understand the key construction and delivery challenges, and convert such dry, complex and difficult-to-understand information (eg P6 programmes, traffic management plans, construction methods) into digital visualisations.

Drone videography

The visualisations had to be understood at the simplest levels. They had to facilitate two-way conversations with the consenting authorities and the communities they represent so impacts could be discussed and mitigated to minimise the impact on the project and the public, building trust and reducing resistance to the project.

Drone videography was augmented with clear labelling, colour coding, and animations to demonstrate planned and in-progress activities. This was presented to the consenting authorities and used as a discussion tool to quickly identify concerns and issues, which could be communicated back to the work teams so they can remedy or tweak them where necessary.

“A brilliant example of putting humans first and translating information into plain English. Nice use of digital capabilities to make information available and accessible. An unexpected example of digital success, with clear benefits for all parties.”

What the judges said

To outline various construction impacts or logistics in the local areas, Queenswood employed explainer videos/animations or high-contrast, single-page programmes or plans that are colour-coded to the expected disruption or impact. For the public, videos can be accessed via a QR code in letters posted to the impacted areas. After scanning the QR code with a mobile phone, the video explains the proposed works or road disruption.

Queenswood’s work was embraced by Buckinghamshire Council and Hillingdon Council with key consents unlocked for HS2.

Queenswood is now contracted across more than 100km of HS2, working for four main works consortia, from London into Buckinghamshire.

David Eve, development director at Queenswood, said: "What sets us apart from the other consultancies and makes us unique is that we come from the construction delivery side of the business, so we really understand the industry.

"The award is such a wonderful surprise, especially because we’re such a young business. However, since launching in 2015, we have been disrupting the market and making a big difference for our clients, so it’s fantastic that our work is being recognised."