GIRI/Viewpoint webinar available via CIOB Academy

The adoption of field technology on construction projects has the potential to make a significant contribution both to cost savings and to quality improvement, according to a recent GIRI webinar hosted by the CIOB. 

The online presentation, which is now available to view via the CIOB Academy portal  features GIRI director Cliff Smith and Stuart Ryder from Viewpoint, a GIRI member company, talking about the impact that technology can have on error reduction. 

Cliff Smith explains how the Get It Right Initiative is working to identify the extent to which field technology is currently used on major projects, and focusing on how the industry can improve communication of design intention - currently the third most significant root cause of error.

The key is to get things right the first time, he says, rather than having to go back and fix mistakes afterwards, and GIRI has been ahead of the curve on this since its formation in 2017. The draft Building Safety Bill which was published in 2020 highlights many issues that chime with GIRI's core message, and many of these are likely to be made a legal requirement when the Bill becomes law.

Stuart Ryder talks about the many opportunities that exist for error to occur when project teams rely on traditional methods for sharing and updating design information, gathering on-site data and providing it to other members of the project team.

The pros and cons of using an extranet versus using a common data environment for communicating this information are discussed, and in particular the benefits of using field technology to gather data, reduce duplication of effort, and free up site staff to spend more time checking quality. 

One of Viewpoint's customers estimated that on a four-year project with around 100 site managers, the use of such technology saved them around three hours' work per day. Over the lifetime of the project this was around £2.64 million cost saving. And while such savings are significant, more important is the fact that the site managers can spend more time checking quality and procedures, and ensuring that work is done right in the first place. 

The webinar is available to watch on the CIOB Academy portal. It is free for CIOB members, but there is a charge of £10 for non-members.