Digital Construction

Your Digital Construction Week to-do list

What can you achieve in two days of concentrated digital construction? CM previews next week’s Digital Construction Week (DCW).

More than 9,000 professionals are expected to attend the show at London’s Excel on 3-4 June. There are 230-plus seminars across 10 stages and more than 150 exhibitors.

Among the seminars on day one of DCW, here are some that caught CM's attention:

Asset intelligence: the missing discipline in the built environment by Nick Hutchinson, founder and managing partner of Glider, on the Digital Operations Stage.
Would I AI to you? by Vicki Reynolds, technical director of digital estates at ONE Creative Environments, and Dan Rossiter, built environment sector lead at BSI, on the Inspire Stage.
The hidden cost of digital innovation by Skanska digital construction manager Donatella Fiorella in the People & Change Theatre.
Why digital tools fail when decisions matter most by Luis Javier Berraco, digital construction and innovation lead at King’s College London, in the People & Change Theatre.
Inside the $1bn AI alliance: how WSP and Microsoft will rewire AEC by WSP head of digital services Johnathan Munkley at the Transformation Hub.

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And here are some of the seminars on day two:

Digital Twins or expensive mirrors? How to stop building theatre and start building intelligence by RLB Digital software development consultant Scott Pilgrim on the Digital Operations Stage.
BIM: ten years later (or “what’s changed from 2016 to 2026?”) – a retrospective journey through the same old same old by Nigel Davies, founding director at Evolve Consultancy, and Craig Hardingham, digital technical director at Sweco, on the Information Management Exchange stage.
What if your BIM model could say no? Automating compliance with data and AI by Dr Mohammad Mayof, associate professor in digital construction at Birmingham City University, on the Information Management Stage.
Why is BIM not intuitive, responsive or user-friendly like an AI tool? by Bentley Systems chief value officer David Philp on the Inspire Stage.
The MIH is coming – why are policymakers backing it? Alex Small from Tata Steel UK, Fergus Harradence from the Department for Business & Trade, and Dr Anne Kemp OBE, chair of nima, will detail the progress of the Manufacturers’ Information Hub.

New technology, more interaction

While many of the major software developers will exhibit at DCW (Bluebeam will showcase Bluebeam Max, for example), the show also features a Start-Up Village. In the village, there are nearly a dozen small businesses, including the likes of Scopey Onsite (a platform that captures site communication and turns it into structured commercial records), SmartStruct (a single platform where the office, site, subs, and clients are all connected in real-time) and Trakpro (a cloud-based platform that helps contractors manage the full subcontractor commercial process in one place).

Those looking for more informal networking can target the happy hour at the end of day one, while those looking to work off that networking can join the 3km and 5km runs before the show opens on day two.

Show visitors can engage with two interactive features: the Digital Construction Lab and the DCW World Map. The lab follows the success of the Crystal Wall at last year’s show – an interactive feature where nearly 140 digital construction professionals wrote their answers to three key questions on the wall. This year, DCW visitors can answer the questions posed by the Digital Construction Lab:

What digital skill are you trying to build, and why does it matter to you?
What’s the biggest thing holding back digital adoption on your projects? And how are you dealing with it?
Where is AI actually delivering value for you right now?

The DCW World Map invites visitors to drop a pin and mark where they’ve travelled from, “creating a live snapshot of the people, projects and organisations shaping construction across the globe”, according to the organisers.

Possibly the easiest way to navigate the show is to download the app.

DCW runs alongside Geo Business, which features more than 150 speaker sessions and more than 120 exhibitors.

Register to attend DCW.