Major construction clients, including National Highways, Heathrow and Sellafield, have pledged to use the PAS 2080 carbon management standard as a part of five carbon commitments. Alongside that trio of clients are Anglian Water, the Lower Thames Crossing and Northumbrian Water. They have pledged to tackle their biggest contributors to CO2 emissions – diesel, steel, and concrete – as they signed up to the Construction Leadership Council’s (CLC) Five Client Carbon Commitments. The commitments are: procure for low-carbon construction and provide incentives in contracts; set phase-out dat ..read more

Digital Construction Week has unveiled more than 170 educational sessions for this year’s show at London’s ExCel on 5-6 June. The DCW speaker sessions include panel debates, presentations and workshops staged across nine theatres. The topics include: asset management; geospatial; information management exchange; information management; innovation; net zero; people and change; technology; and transformation. The speakers are drawn from across the built environment supply chain, with representatives from the likes of ALEC, BAM Nuttall, BDP, Chapman Taylor, Gleeds, Mace, Mott MacDonald B ..read more

Keepmoat is working with Birmingham City University (BCU) to measure how residents of a Future Homes Standard-ready development in Nottinghamshire use energy and sustainable technologies. The study aims to understand the impact of these technologies and how people will live in their homes in the future. Gedling Green is a net-zero-ready development with 33 houses built to the Future Homes Standard – the building regulations that will come into force in 2025 requiring new homes to produce 75%-80% lower CO2 than those built to current standards. All homes at Gedling Green have air source ..read more

When the Roman Catholic Church needed a digital twin of St Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City, it turned to Italian project management consultancy Italferr. Aude Camus of Bentley Systems reveals how the firm saved modelling time and delivered the twin ahead of schedule. St Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City is one of the holiest sites in the Roman Catholic Church. Designed by Michaelangelo and Gian Lorenzo Bernini and constructed over more than a century, it is one of the Seven Pilgrim Churches of Rome. The Basilica draws tens of thousands of pilgrims and tourists each year. The Fabric of Saint ..read more

The Department for Education (DfE) has endorsed a suite of educational and practical information management resources developed by Galliford Try for use by the former’s wider supply chain. The initial release of video explainers and accompanying digital tools from Galliford Try aims to assist the DfE supply chain in understanding and implementing some of the most comprehensive digital requirements based on IFC and the ISO 19650 standards. Galliford Try digital solutions lead John Ford played a pivotal role in developing these resources. They are designed to help improve data quality and r ..read more

Mercedes-Benz and Siemens have developed a digital energy twin designed to help the automotive giant run all its factories sustainably. Mercedes-Benz wants to run all its fully-owned production sites on 100% renewable energies by 2039. The digital energy twin enhances, simplifies and speeds up the early phase factory energy planning process for both brownfield and greenfield sites, the parties claim. The twin (built on Siemens’ Xcelerator open digital business platform) is based on behavioural models of buildings, technical equipment and energy generation. It was designed and tested at th ..read more

Managing an asset based on as-built data can improve efficiencies in operation – but only if that data is correct. So how do you ensure that? Bill East provides a few pointers. Many companies outsource COBie data production. But there is often too little scrutiny of those contracted to do the work – whether they are qualified to carry it out or their work meets the underlying standard. So says Bill East, the inventor of COBie, or Construction Operations Building information exchange. East, who after a 35-year career with the US Army Corps of Engineers, is now the owner of Prairie Sky Cons ..read more

West Yorkshire-based Airedale General Hospital is saving time monitoring its issues with reinforced autoclaved aerated concrete (RAAC) thanks to a digital twin developed by BIS Consult. Among hospitals affected by the nationwide issue, Airedale has the largest extent of RAAC – 83% of the estate is constructed almost entirely of the material – and has more than 50,000 RAAC panels in its walls, floors and ceilings. Nick Campbell-Voegt, director at BIS Consult, explained how the hospital has been dealing with the issue. “Accurate and reliable information is a critical resource to help the ho ..read more

The April episode of the 21CC podcast is out, featuring a play by Swiss high-tech manufacturer ABB to promote site-based robotic micro-factories for UK affordable housing. High-tech companies through the years have often seen construction as a tantalising frontier, ripe for disruption by new ways of putting things together. Now, the Swiss multinational has entered the fray, with an idea for building affordable housing using robots at site-based micro-factories. It has teamed up with UK architect Automated Architecture to develop the approach. In the April 21CC episode, Global Constructi ..read more

Construction is ripe for transformative change via AI, so embrace the future, says Estimate One’s Simon Herod. In today’s turbo-charged digital arena, AI is the buzzword on everyone’s lips. Whether marvelling at ChatGPT’s feats or fretting over robot overlords, AI dominates the conversation. But here are the facts: AI isn’t just a trend, it’s shaping our future, and we either get on board or get left behind. The good news is that construction, with its balance of precision and process, is ripe for AI’s transformative touch. We must forget the fearmongering about job losses: AI is not here ..read more