Digital innovations for construction error reduction

Collaboration platforms and data are the foundations of digital within the construction industry, said Garry Fannon, business partner for digital product solutions with BAM UK & Ireland, at GIRI’s members’ meeting in February, which focused on the role of innovation in error reduction.

Garry leads a team that delivers digital services to all BAM’s construction projects. He explained that one of the key digital initiatives at BAM is the creation of its own Common Data Environment, BAM Source, which is a software application designed for the seamless integration of SharePoint and Autodesk Construction Cloud (ACC) platform. This CDE establishes standardised folder structures to create a unified working environment and improves information management by enforcing consistent standards and automated naming conventions.

Not only has this saved the business a significant amount of money, but because BAM Source operates as a backend application and is not directly accessible by personnel, staff continue to use the systems they are familiar with.

Reality capture

“The CDE is the foundation, making sure we have quality information to allow us to deliver better products, and reduce waste and errors. Then other technologies we use include reality capture. We have an enterprise account with Holobuilder or Shere XG, which is a web-based platform that captures a complete digital view of your project over time using 360° photos. We have been trialling it on several projects and realised it is adding great value, so it will be deployed on all projects in 2025 onwards.”

Using Holobuilder, users walk around the site with a 360° camera and pin their location to a site map, explained Garry. Over time, as regular images are captured, a complete digital audit trail of site progress is captured, which has benefits for both quality assurance and safety compliance. 

“It protects us from claims. We’ve had schemes where tradesmen have claimed to have had accidents because of incorrect light levels, and we’ve used this technology to go back into the rooms in question and clearly show the light levels were correct. It also allows us to validate what we are building against the model and prove we have installed it as per the model and drawings.”

He added that Holobuilder also protects from spurious claims for building errors. “It shows we are building to the specification and that we are building it safely, and it protects the product we hand over to the client.”

Drones

Another area BAM’s digital team exploring is drones, and Garry said the business is seeing increasing value from these because drones enable access to areas that would otherwise be inaccessible. “For example, we tendered on a Grade 2-listed college building against a set of drawings. During pre-construction, we sent up the drone and found structures and features that no one knew were there and weren’t included in the scope. This allowed us to price the job and understand the building better.”

Digital simulations and 4D modelling

BAM has a team of digital production engineers who can produce high-end simulations to communicate with clients both what and how projects will be built. At the members’ meeting, Garry showed a video with numerous examples of these simulations, demonstrating benefits such as understanding sequencing, particularly on tricky construction details, improving health and safety, and reducing error.

“Typically, in my experience, main contractors will use a third party to deliver the level of detail in these simulations that we can achieve in house. We have some really smart people who can be deployed on any project because we are now a combined national team, and this adds value to the business.” 

The team also carries out 4D modelling for the business’s civil engineering clients. “Civils clients love 4D. It is part and parcel of what they expect, and they see the value in it as it enables them to understand how we will deliver their facility. Our construction clients still tend to see 4D as an extra.”

Other technologies

Garry also touched on AI and explained that BAM has secured Innovate UK funding to look at ways in which it can use AI. “We have one initiative, Prime, which applies AI-based algorithms to on-site monitoring data feeds to generate information on task status in near real-time. It enables site mangers to rapidly react to evolving issues, avoiding time/cost-critical delays by rescheduling activities or reallocating resources.”

Other digital ways of working include data analytics, for which BAM uses MSite. “This ensures that not only are we not making errors but that we have the right people on the projects. We can check the compliance of our people, for example, that they have the right certifications and that these haven’t run out.”

Finally, he discussed digital twins. These are virtual representations of a physical asset that mirror the performance of an asset. “They serve as a bridge between the physical and digital worlds, allowing stakeholders to interact with and gain insights into the asset in a virtual environment. For example, we have created a 'live' digital twin for the Dublin New Children's Hospital data centre rooms, facilitating client installation and commissioning. This live digital replica enables seamless monitoring of key parameters, such as temperature, humidity, security, and water leak detection.”

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