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This fifth annual show, staged by Diversified Communications following its acquisition from co-founders Luke Collings and Oliver Hughes at the end of last year, attracted visitors with interests in digital construction, engineering, design, manufacturing and operation.
Needless to say, Building Information Modelling (BIM) was a focus of interest for many as the new international standard, ISO19650, supersedes BS 1192 (principles) and PAS 1192 part 2 (capital/delivery phase) respectively. To support the move, Digital Construction Week provided the launch pad for the UK BIM Framework, an overarching approach to implementing BIM nationally that is being championed by the UK BIM Alliance, BSI and the Centre for Digital Built Britain (CDBB).
In introducing the initiative (https://ukbimframework.org/), Dr Anne Kemp, Chair of the UK BIM Alliance, said it was the culmination of a massive collaborative effort by many people over a long time, often on a voluntary basis. “The UK BIM Framework is a vital foundation for future developments around the National Digital Twin. We want to ensure that, through the Framework, you have the support you need to implement BIM,” she told a packed audience.
A BIM Village Theatre and BIM Workshop were just two of a number of themed seminar and workshop zones located in the exhibition hall, with others dedicated to Innovation, Transformation, Geospatial, Technology, Construction Innovation, Visualisation and Skills respectively. Many were filled to capacity as some 270 free-to-attend presentations were delivered during the course of the show.
An Onsite Arena provided an additional attraction, being a replica construction site demonstrating the latest innovations in ï¬eld technology. Odd Industries demonstrated its ground-breaking computer vision technologies; Skanska showcased its work on the A14 upgrade using Trimble’s Augmented Reality SiteVision, while Oracle Aconex highlighted its latest advances in Virtual Reality. Also drawing interest was a drone racing zone and drone simulator where visitors could test their skills in piloting technology that is now widely employed in construction for surveying, inspection, and even the accurate placement of stake-out markers.
A Main Stage thought leadership conference chaired by Rosemary Nunn, founder and managing director of The Innovation and Knowledge Agency (I&K), featured daily presentations and panel sessions involving an international cast of speakers. These included, among others, Casey Rutland of Royal HaskoningDHV (on digital transformation); Aurélie Cleraux of Bouygues Bâtiment International (on modular construction); Dev Amratia, co-founder and CEO of nPlan (on new business models for the construction industry), and Matt Armstrong-Barnes, Chief Technologist with Artiï¬cial Intelligence, HPE (on Artificial Intelligence).
Examples of new products and services on offer from the 150-plus exhibitors at the event included new Scan 2 BIM workflows, streamlined classification and multicore processing for the 3D mesh modelling software from Pointfuse; the new GTL-1000 scanning robotic total station for construction verification workflows from Topcon, and the latest version (2.8) of 3D Repo’s cloud-based BIM platform featuring added search and sort functionality; support for automatic hyperlinks in editable issues/risks fields, the ability to attach files to issues, and an improved Navisworks plug-in.
ARES PRISM showcased PRISM Go, a new web-based extension to its project management suite that allows users to remotely view and update project data in real-time, while NavVis was promoting the beta release of its IndoorViewer 2.5 building visualisation software. This will include a new feature to select, crop and download point cloud sections in a browser. Qualis Flow introduced a new Air Quality module for QFlow, its automated, real-time environmental data collection platform, while Solibri presented its new product family with configurations to suit every role: Office (previously Solibri Model Checker), Site, Anywhere (previously Solibri Model Viewer) and Enterprise to manage the end-to-end workflow of large construction projects.
Digital Construction Week will again be held at the ExCeL Centre in London, 21-22 October 2020. More at www.digitalconstructionweek.com
