Trimble’s Construction Solutions, Insights, Prominent During Digital AEC Event

The future of construction was on full display at the recently wrapped Digital Construction Week.

Digital Construction Week, held on 18-19th May, at the ExCel London, is a two-day UK event for digital design, construction, engineering, manufacturing and operations. It aims to bring together like-minded people in the industry who are keen to discover cutting-edge technology, innovation and thought leaders in construction. This year’s event was focussed around sustainability and the built environment.

Talks from industry leaders covered topics such as the concept of digital twin, BIM spotlights, and continuous improvement. There was also plenty of time to catch up and chat to peers in-between sessions in the lounges, and with DCW networking events..

Things were also hopping at the Trimble booth, where a steady stream of visitors-both familiar and new-stopped by to see our own innovations and experience for themselves the what a connected construction environment can deliver. Here are a few highlights from the show:

Visitors saw first hand what the connected construction vision is all about. By helping UK contractors transition to the cloud, streamline their processes and realise common data environments and collaborative workflows, Trimble is enabling construction professionals to improve productivity, quality, transparency, safety, sustainability, and deliver each project with confidence.

This also reduces the need for multiple, disconnected software solutions, as well as manual processes like paper and pen to share data and workflows between the field and office. Moving toward a more interconnected construction software suite will help contractors better run their operations today and properly scale for tomorrow.

Spot the Dog, kindly borrowed from Trimble client Balfour Beatty, was on hand to greet visitors and show the potential of site automation. A Trimble partner, KOREC Group is the leading distributor of Trimble hardware in the UK and Ireland.

Trimble is developing exclusive turnkey Spot construction solutions that span from collecting data to navigation. Unfortunately, for all Spot can do, this dog doesn’t play fetch (yet)! Visitors also got to see many other hardware solutions available for site surveillance, navigation and data collection.

Check out this short video to see Spot in action:

Forget Facebook (or ‘Meta’ now), we’ve got the construction ‘metaverse’!

Virtual reality solutions, like Trimble’s XR10 with HoloLens 2, enable the use of mixed reality in dirty, loud, and safety-controlled industrial work environments such as construction sites, manufacturing facilities, and oil refineries.

These virtual model visualisations help architects, site surveyors, clients and others visualise projects as they would appear—no matter what stage of build they’re in.This innovative field technology can change how collaboration for construction sites is achieved, keeping in-field users safer, helping to identify potential project issues before they get built and rebuilt, and connecting field teams and data directly to back offices, clients, and wider project teams.

Beyond just improving construction processes, Trimble’s connected construction vision is to remove data silos that arise throughout a project and work towards a single version of data truth. Capabilities showcased during DCW ranged from BIM visualisation solutions to live, real-time project management dashboards.

Organised by the UKBIMA Technology Group, the ask the expert session was a chance for show visitors to ask those tricky questions about BIM, construction technology, and where the industry is headed. Representing Trimble, Ben Wallbank and Duncan Reed were on hand to discuss those complex industry challenges that face construction around the world.

“It's clear that today's construction professionals are not just engaged with, but are excited about available and emerging technologies,” Wallbank said. “The industry is changing rapidly, and that is made clear by the innovation and collaboration that is happening on construction projects across the country. We were able to share how much easier their lives can be with the automation and intuitive workflows that modern technologies are bringing to the table.”