Using technology to advance project management

Andrew Harris, Director, Technical Futures and Engineering Excellence Group, Laing ORourke

The emergence of new construction technologies is revolutionising the way projects are managed, making it an exciting time to be in our sector. Our team at Laing O’Rourke are optimistic about the powerful potential of emerging technologies to challenge traditional thinking and solve current complex problems in the built environment.

At Laing O’Rourke, we pride ourselves on our long-standing commitment to innovation. One of the ways we accelerate change is through our internal technology and innovation group. Led by myself and supported by other leading industry experts, we work within the construction technology ecosystem to address current and future challenges driving better outcomes for our clients and the community.

Delivering certainty through engineering tools

As more major projects enter the market, the need for collaboration to drive stakeholder certainty has never been more important. We see digital engineering as critical to the future of our sector. Digital engineering is more than a digital model of a project, but rather a living, evolving ecosystem that adapts over the lifetime of a project. We use it as a comprehensive central source of truth, as a building block to unlock innovation and creativity through challenging current ways of working.

This technology can be used to virtually ‘construct’ complex builds several times over to develop safe and efficient methods and sequencing. This shared and collaborative environment mitigates risk of clash for quality control, delivering certainty to our clients.

We are exploring solutions for deviation analysis through leveraging industry-leading algorithms, digital engineering and Light Detection and Ranging (LiDAR) technology. 

The ability to rapidly identify of out-of-tolerance works provides us with the certainty required to propose and implement new solutions.

Enhanced collaboration through digitised interactive experiences

As a client-focussed business we want to use new technologies to drive greater collaboration with our clients while enhancing workplace productivity.

More recent advances in 360-degree cameras have allowed us to develop virtual site walkthroughs and a dedicated cloud-based viewing platform, allowing our teams and clients to review site works and collaborate to find the best solutions from home.

"As more major projects enter the market, the need for collaboration to drive stakeholder certainty has never been more important"

We believe that enhanced productivity is just one impact of this technology. It also continues to support our broader agenda to provide greater flexibility in the working lives of our people.

 Managing our impact through smart monitoring

As we see a greater shift towards more brownfield development, the impact on communities and the environment must be more closely monitored and responded to.

Advances in intelligent cloud-computing, data reporting and device miniaturisation are assisting with this. Laing O’Rourke, in recognising our responsibility to monitor and manage our environmental impacts, has recently partnered with leading environmental monitoring start-up, Site Hive. Deploying monitoring systems across our sites have equipped us with real time information about localised noise, air pollution and vibration. This information enables our us to move from inefficient compliance reporting to real-time management.

Robotics for safety, wellbeing and productivity

Robotics has already revolutionised industries like manufacturing and mining, creating efficiencies and augmenting the existing worker to make their experience at work faster, easier and safer.

The ability to rapidly identify of out-of-tolerance works provides us with the certainty required to propose and implement new solutions.

Enhanced collaboration through digitised interactive experiences

As a client-focussed business we want to use new technologies to drive greater collaboration with our clients while enhancing workplace productivity.

More recent advances in 360-degree cameras have allowed us to develop virtual site walkthroughs and a dedicated cloud-based viewing platform, allowing our teams and clients to review site works and collaborate to find the best solutions from home.

We believe that enhanced productivity is just one impact of this technology. It also continues to support our broader agenda to provide greater flexibility in the working lives of our people.

 Managing our impact through smart monitoring

As we see a greater shift towards more brownfield development, the impact on communities and the environment must be more closely monitored and responded to.

Advances in intelligent cloud-computing, data reporting and device miniaturisation are assisting with this. Laing O’Rourke, in recognising our responsibility to monitor and manage our environmental impacts, has recently partnered with leading environmental monitoring start-up, Site Hive. Deploying monitoring systems across our sites have equipped us with real time information about localised noise, air pollution and vibration. This information enables our us to move from inefficient compliance reporting to real-time management.

Robotics for safety, wellbeing and productivity

Robotics has already revolutionised industries like manufacturing and mining, creating efficiencies and augmenting the existing worker to make their experience at work faster, easier and safer.