How digital technology can transform the construction industry

As technology gets better, and industries start adapting to new trends and innovations, construction seems to have been the slowest when it comes to digitalisation and has taken some time to realise its advantages. 

The majority of construction companies still operate the same way they did when they started, despite the numerous benefits of digitalisation. Benefits of utilising digital technology include increased safety, reduced cost, higher profit margins, improved time efficiency, improved collaboration and increased productivity. All solving issues that have long since plagued the construction industry. 

But there is a shift and whether the industry wants to or not, change is inevitable. Especially after the last 18 months. According to a new report by the Construction Innovation Hub, if the industry wants to boost productivity and deliver better whole-life value for assets, then it needs to fully embrace digital innovations. 

Digital innovations don’t necessarily mean going modular either, while that has major benefits of its own, going digital can mean a number of things. Companies could innovate their planning with Building Information Modelling (BIM); it allows a digital representation of buildings in 3D form, and not on traditional blueprints. Not only improving efficiency and planning time, it also means that companies can use historical data and predictions to improve future projects and plan the entire process more efficiently and productively. 

You can also digitise your personnel management and operations. Construction management software ensures transparency across the entire lifetime of a project, improving collaboration and the project management process. It also helps support operations with tracking software for equipment or products, improving delivery times and saving companies from big losses if anything was to happen in transit. 

The Digital Innovation Imperative: Advancing progress towards a digital built Britain report reflects on the current state of the industry and suggests that the UK is well-positioned to respond to the government’s call to “build back better” if it continues to innovate and strengthen its foundational digital capabilities. The report aims to give practitioners and businesses in the built environment a greater understanding of the benefits of expanding their digital capabilities, identify actionable insights and highlight best practice.

We’ve reshaped our business to reflect the needs of our customer, as a modular unit provider, embracing the era of digitalisation. Our construction technology offering provides business from a variety of sectors with bespoke applications and software to streamline a business’ operations, processes or systems. This service can help businesses embrace digitalisation and innovate their services to make sure they’re fit for the future. 

Our Managing Director, Ben Treleaven, explains, “We recognised the requirement to provide a full turnkey solution for volumetric modular buildings for our customer base. Wanting to provide more of the services our clients have been asking for, we’ve developed our architectural services and engineering side of the business to meet these needs.”

“This move has enabled us to grow despite operating through Brexit and the Covid-19 pandemic and means that we will be looking for more talent to be able to develop these services and enable future growth. We want to help companies streamline their services and make their processes better and more efficient with digital technology. Our technology helps drive this digital transformation across the sector as we emerge out of the other side of the pandemic.”