McLaren Construction emerged victorious from a three-way tussle to be named Digital Contractor of the Year, sponsored by Construction Management, at the Digital Construction Awards 2026 last night (18 March).
McLaren faced the challenge of integrating, standardising and accelerating its approach to delivery for clients in a way that is compliant with building safety regulations, identifying the right skills for a project, and helping to create a golden thread of information that can be tracked from the beginning to the end of the project.
To overcome these challenges, and as part of an upgrade to its business management systems, McLaren’s digital information management team developed an internal project management application, the Project Control Plan (PCP), to support a drive for improved efficiency via a standardised approach to project delivery.
What the judges said
“A highly impressive and mature digital transformation. A good overall digital strategy, showcasing tangible benefits to business operation and strong senior level endorsement and buy-in. The benefits are particularly compelling.”
The PCP acts as the primary application for the project team, providing a baseline for project delivery through activity schedules, acting as a single source of truth for management of risk, and providing an overview of the project team’s competency.
It also integrates with other core platforms through the data lakehouse (Microsoft Fabric), surfacing key reporting metrics to improve decision-making at all levels of the organisation.
The PCP is a digital project governance system that serves as the principal document for the management of all McLaren projects from tender to handover. It identifies overarching strategies to be adopted and articulated regarding communication, responsibilities, accountability and risk management, ensuring successful and profitable outcomes for McLaren.
Improved project certainty
By deploying the PCP and integrating it with operational software and associated data and insights, McLaren is ultimately looking to deliver improved project certainty – time and cost – and a standardised and digital way of winning new work, including monthly project reporting.
As a result of implementing the PCP, McLaren can now access a group turnover tracker digitally, which includes a live pipeline conversion report. The contractor can also assess skills requirements in a pre-construction workload tracker, which helps plan training or hiring long before the project starts on site, minimising disruption or delays due to lack of skills availability.
When fully deployed across McLaren’s project portfolio, the PCP is expected to provide the company with annual savings of around £1m through refined reporting structures, bringing efficiency and productivity gains.
Other finalists
- McAvoy
- Robertson Group
The Digital Construction Awards are organised by Digital Construction Week, the Chartered Institute of Building, CM and Digital Construction Plus. Read about the rest of the winners.
To find out more about the Awards and enquire about sponsorship or entering next year’s event, visit digitalconstructionawards.co.uk.
