Data Driven Culture Vital to Delivering Benefits of Construction 4.0

ESTABLISHING A DATA driven culture that encompasses people, processes, and products is vital to delivering transformative benefits to the construction industry and its clients.

That was the headline message of Dr Damien Buie, Group Technical Director at Laing O’Rourke, giving his JCT Povey Lecture 2020 on Wednesday 18th November.

In his presentation, Safety in numbers – Resilience and Certainty Through Data’, Dr Buie described Laing O’Rourke’s own journey towards Construction 4.0 – delivering a closer alignment with clients, creating a safe working environment, and consistently delivering quality engineering solutions that are on time, on budget, and sustainable across the project lifecycle – by harnessing the power of data.

Dr Buie explained that data not only enables a culture of transparency and collaboration that is more customer focused, it also provides greater ability to resist and absorb shocks and unknown events. This is particularly relevant as we go through the Covid-19 pandemic and provides more certainty and confidence in particular outcomes.

Greater Value, Lower Risks

Dr Damien Buie, said, “Building a data driven culture is in the best interest of our clients and key stakeholders across the construction industry. It will translate into greater value and lower risks.

“The world of opportunity around data is broader than any company’s ability to address it. You need to partner and collaborate to achieve the scale and pace required to win.

“While there are barriers to building a customer aligned industry, the steps to move forward are simple.”

Dr Damien Buie’s presentation is available to be viewed in full via the JCT website.

The JCT Povey Lecture has occurred annually since 2003. It aims to stimulate thought and improve the quality and value of construction.