Weston Homes has appointed Peter Gore as Group Operations Director.

Gore joins from Taylor Wimpey where he has been managing director of the London region for the last three  years.

He has previously worked in senior delivery and construction director roles at Barratt Homes and Mount Anvil on projects ranging from traditional housing through to complex multi-storey scheme.

Over the last five years Weston Homes has purchased land sites that will deliver £2.13bn worth of residential and mixed use development across outer London and the South East which includes 20 current active sites and over 7,500 new homes in the pipeline.

Gore said: “I am delighted to be joining the group at an exciting time of major growth and expansion. The business has a highly diverse range of developments, including a series of major landmark schemes commencing and many others in the pipeline.”

Bob Weston, Chairman and Manging Director at Weston Homes added: “Peter Gore brings with him a wealth of construction, team development and customer satisfaction experience which will be instrumental as Weston Homes undertakes the delivery of our sizable portfolio of developments, as we work to meet the rising demand for housing in London and the South East.”

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The holding group for building services specialist Lorne Stewart and Rotary Building Services is still battling to stem losses.

Chief financial officer, Ramesh Krishnamurthy, said that despite the challenges and project delays cause by Covid, the business had improved cash generation, giving year-end net cash of nearly £14m up from £8m previously.

He added: “The board is reviewing the operational efficiencies to put the optimal structure in place to reduce costs.”

 

Mold can be found everywhere we work, live, and play. Whether inside or out, floating in the air or stuck on surfaces of every size and shape, mold is always present in our environment. In most cases, mold is not a problem for us or the places it lives (producing some foods, beer, and life-saving pharmaceuticals need mold).  

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She and I sat in the room, and…I was like, ‘Wow, we’re actually going to build this thing.’

Fact: civil engineering is everywhere. We see it in our roads, bridges, airports, and practically all public and private infrastructure projects. Civil engineering is one of the most important fields we have today, and it will continue to be vital for as far as we can see into the future.

Here to talk more about this topic is Jon Turner, President and Principal Engineer at Phoenix Civil Engineering. We recently caught up with Jon and had a lively conversation about the past, present, and future of civil engineering.

Tell us a little bit about Phoenix Civil Engineering and what you specialize in.

We’re a small design and engineering firm and we do civil engineering design work. Our work consists of pipeline design, water, wastewater, recycled water, and storm drain systems; pump station designs, road rehabilitation projects. We also do a lot of pipeline rehabilitation projects. We design projects using trenchless technologies, which is primarily, lining, pipe bursting, horizontal directional drilling, that kind of thing.

We’re five people and my vision is that our firm remains lean, mean, and nimble. We’re able to get in and get out. We’re efficient. And efficiency is what our strength is.

Ninety-nine percent of our clients are municipalities — they’re typically water agencies, wastewater agencies, cities, counties, and special districts.

We also help some of our clients if they need assistance with pre-planning or a feasibility study of their projects. Some of our clients use us all the way through construction because we also provide construction management or design services during construction for their projects.

I have a very lean and mean group which I’m incredibly proud of. We’re a family business with five employees, yet we’re able to take interesting projects of all sizes. We do $5,000 projects for some clients, but we’re also entering into the construction phase of a $21 million pump station and pipeline project that we designed. So, there’s quite a range for the jobs we handle.

Walk us through your career and what led you to becoming President/Principal Engineer.

I’ll give a shout-out to Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo. That’s where I went to school. I was born in Ventura, went to Ventura College for a couple of years, transferred to Cal Poly, then got hired by Boyle Engineering Corporation. They’ve since been acquired by AECOM.

In terms of my career background, I worked for a national consulting firm at the beginning of my career, where we did everything, including architecture, mechanical, civil, electrical, and instrumentation. I quit that firm and I started working for a local municipality in Ventura County. I was the Deputy Public Works Director and then Interim Public Works Director.

So, I worked in the public sector for four years, and then in 2010, I started Phoenix Civil Engineering with my wife, Roz. She runs the office and pretty much manages everything that I don’t do. We also have our employees who kick tail and take names.

As construction evolves, how do you see your role changing?

I’ll preface this by pointing out that there’s a real struggle right now to find talented individuals for engineering and construction roles. And this isn’t new. Back in the early 2000s, it seemed like everybody wanted to be a dot-commer or they wanted to sell real estate. From my perspective, it looked like there weren’t a lot of people graduating in civil engineering.

Fast-forward to the mid-to-late 2000s, and there seemed to be almost a disappearance of people getting into engineering. And then the recession hit, and all of the seasoned contractors hung up their tool belts and retired — or decided to do other things. So we lost all of that great intelligence and talent in the hands-on part of our industry.

Now, we’re seeing similar trends. It’s tough to hire and find people these days; I’m hearing from contractors, and they’re struggling with the same thing. They just can’t find people to swing a hammer or run the shovel or run the equipment. They’re hurting for talent. Add the fact that we just went through a pandemic and there’s also a shortage of materials. The result is that everybody’s on edge.

All that being said, I think we are going to see a resurgence in the next 5 to 10 years. People will get back into the field and take an interest in it because they’ll see that civil engineering is the broadest of all engineering disciplines. When people drive to work — civil engineering is allowing that to happen. When folks are able to drink out of their tap, and flush their toilet, and have a house — all of that is civil engineering. The field has a huge breadth of opportunity.

So, that’s what I’m seeing. There’s probably going to be a lot of pain for a couple of years, but things will eventually untangle, and we’ll come back much stronger. After all, engineering is known for innovation. We’re going to see more of that, as well as automation. For instance, we see contractors on iPads, video conferencing, and other technologies. I think all that will continue going forward.

What project are you most proud of working on in your career? Why?

It would definitely be the project I mentioned earlier, the $21 million pump station and pipeline. I’m forever grateful that the client had confidence in a five-person office with all of our consultants that we used as subs to design this and get it put out. It’s mind-blowing.

She and I sat in the room, and I was beaming. I was like, “Wow, we’re actually going to build this thing.”

It was a labor of love, though. There were days when I wanted to kill it and there were days when it was trying to kill me. It was a very long project, duration-wise. There were a lot of challenges and lots of twists and turns, so it’d be a great novel.

But now the project is out and I went to the precon with my associate engineer. She and I sat in the room, and I was beaming. I was like, “Wow, we’re actually going to build this thing.”

So yes, it was a lot of fun. My staff would probably kill me if I took on another one right away, but still, it was a lot of fun.

What are the biggest challenges you face in your role?

Communication is key. I can’t stress it enough. But it’s one of those skills that isn’t really cultivated. I know schools try to teach communication and they even have classes for it. But I don’t think people really grab what makes communication work. And it’s a constant battle. There are days when things click and it’s great. And there are days when the communication is not there and it’s frustrating.

Technology has helped in that regard — FaceTime, Zoom video conferencing, email, all that stuff. Email is great, but video conferencing is a game-changer. It is so much better because facial expressions are always missing in emails. You can put a smiley face or an exclamation point, but if you don’t see the person’s face when they’re telling you what they’re saying, you don’t know if they’re joking with you, if they’re serious, if they’re irritated. Video now allows people to have that meeting.

As far as tools go, we’re huge Instant Messengers. It’s like a tornado here in our office; a verbal tornado, but it’s all done electronically. And it’s great because I’m not having to walk down the hall, and say, “Hey, can you come into my office?”

Of course, verbal communication is still essential. But it all goes together. When you’re able to use all these different tools, it can really help out, especially when we’re busy. For instance, the minute and a half it takes for me to walk down to someone’s desk is time I could spend sending an email.

When you think about the future, what are your plans to advance innovation and productivity at Phoenix Civil Engineering?

We’re automating things. We’re five people and my vision is that our firm remains lean, mean, and nimble. We’re able to get in and get out. We’re efficient. And efficiency is what our strength is.

I admit that I was kind of resistant to technology at first, but once I saw the benefits, I never went back.

This is where construction technology like Autodesk Build comes in. I admit that I was kind of resistant to technology at first, but once I saw the benefits, I never went back. At Phoenix Civil Engineering, we started with a program that allowed us to upload project specs and plans for use at the project site, as well as to generate reports. It was great because we did not have to haul around a bunch of paper. We then transitioned from that platform to PlanGrid.

When Autodesk absorbed PlanGrid, my wife Roz spent a lot of time with the Build team making suggestions and talking about how the platform can be improved. That was really beneficial because changes were made, and now we really like Autodesk Build.

In fact, I was just showing the rest of the team on the design side how to use it. I’m going to be teaching the contractor and his team on Monday how to use the Build program for submittals and things like that.

We also just bought 26 licenses for our project because we sold it to the client and we said, “This is what we use. This is what we like, and this is what works.” They wanted us to use a different program, but we decided against it. Why relearn another program when Autodesk Build already provides a solid solution?

What advice would you give to the next generation of men and women entering and preparing for the future of the industry?

I would say that they really need to understand what this industry offers and they need to go to a strong educational institution. It’s like buying a computer. You always want to stretch past what you can really afford. The same thing goes with education. You really want to push yourself to get the best thing in education you can.

I would also say that you need to go out there and — as scary as it seems — be an intern. You need to intern in this profession.

One thing that scares me is nobody wants their kid to be a foreman or foreperson or a superintendent. But we’re in trouble if we don’t get young people into the trades — i.e., the contractor, electrical, mechanical, all of that stuff.

I can sit at my desk and push out designs all day long, but if there’s no one to put it together, it’s a waste of the client’s money. This is where good quality construction professionals and engineers come in.

In order to be at the top of your game, you need to jump in there and learn from older people who can hand those experiences down because quite frankly, someday you’re going to be the old person. And if you never learned how to do things, you’re not going to have anything to offer.

Back in the late ’90s, early 2000s, the real estate market was through the roof. Everybody wanted to be real estate agents because they’re selling million dollar homes and getting these commissions. That’s all well and good, but what happens when people aren’t buying houses?

Civil engineering, on the other hand, is one of the oldest professions and it’s going to be around for the long run. You’re not going to get away from it. You’re always going to need water. You’re always going to want to go somewhere and live somewhere. All of that is civil engineering. I’m being very broad brush about it, but I think it’s important for people to recognize this.

Also, an engineer doesn’t have to be a stuffy person with a pocket protector. You can be a cool engineer or contractor if you choose to be one.
 

Want to read more stories like this?

I regularly interview construction leaders to promote knowledge sharing. We’ll cover what works, what doesn’t, and what the future holds. Check out our entire series of Behind the Build interviews, featuring some of the best in construction.

The post Behind the Build: Interview with Jon Turner, President and Principal Engineer, Phoenix Civil Engineering appeared first on Digital Builder.

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WZW Construction is a Sydney developer-builder. The company manages projects end-to-end; it purchases land, plans the design, builds, and then sells its properties through its in-house real estate team.

Until a few years ago, the company mainly developed hi-rise apartments in Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. But recently, consumer sentiments have changed; inner-city living is no longer quite so necessary or desirable. In part, that’s down to some of the high-profile horror stories of poor construction in buildings like Sydney’s Opal towers, but also in part to the pandemic which has reduced demand.

“Everyone is moving to a work-from-home model,” says Wesley Wei, project manager at WZW. “And if you’re working from home, you don’t want to be crammed into a 60 square metre apartment.”

As a result, WZW now focuses on constructing duplex homes in the suburbs of Australia’s largest city. It’s a strategy that is reaping the rewards. The company now has around 500 projects in the pipeline and annual revenue approaching $15 million.

For the last year, the company has been using Autodesk’s BuildingConnected to manage tendering and subcontractor engagements.

Why WZW chose BuildingConnected

Due to a small workforce, WZW relies heavily on teams of subcontractors during the construction phase of each project. A year before embracing BuildingConnected, the company started using PlanGrid to streamline the resolution of defects once construction was completed. Until then, they had relied on a tedious manual process.

PlanGrid was simple and easy to understand. Wei found he could give it to anyone, and they would be able to use it. Because every piece of information on the build was suddenly at his fingertips, the process of inspecting units and logging faults instantly became more efficient. The time savings were significant.

So when Wei was offered the chance to try BuildingConnected, he didn’t hesitate. He had already seen how implementing technology could improve the business. Before BuildingConnected, preparing trade packages and emailing them individually was time-consuming.

 “We were doing everything manually. We’d store the responses in folders and key all the information into a spreadsheet,” says Wei. The whole process took far too long—time WZW simply didn’t have to spare.

The process also led to confusion for subcontractors. When they received the tender packages, they had to interpret complex information and make assumptions about the effort and materials required. There was a chance of subcontractors underquoting—and therefore putting their business at risk—or overquoting—which could put the project at risk.

What BuildingConnected offered was a chance to standardise and simplify both sides of the process. Its contractor database would speed up the process of sending out the tender packages, and the tender responses would be centralised and easy to access. The tender comparison tool, in particular, promised transparency and insight into the process of comparing quotes that Wei knew would save time and money.

A year with BuildingConnected

Once the trade packages were set up in the system, Wei was ready to go. From then on, preparing tender packages was as simple as copying and pasting information and then sending out a link to complete the quote in BuildingConnected.

“BuildingConnected saves us a lot of paperwork,” says Wei. “We put the information into the system, and it spits out what we need.”

The new system is now fully embedded in WZW’s tender process. When Wei needs to assemble a team of subcontractors for a project, it’s no longer an exhausting process. “When I’m looking for contractors, I use BuildingConnected all the time,” says Wei. “We also use it to go back and make sure people have charged us in line with their quotes.”

Although the system is easy to use and the implementation went smoothly, WZW has faced some challenges with adoption from subcontractors. Although each receives an invitation to tender via a link in BuildingConnected, some continue to produce their quotes in the traditional way and email them through.

“They are old school,” says Wei. “When they see a system like BuildingConnected they’re just not used to it. So they’ll send back a quote in the way they know how to.”

But Wei is far from deterred. He has seen the benefits and transparency that BuildingConnected brings to the process of engaging subcontractors and will not be returning to the old process. Instead, when a quote is received by email, Wesley and his team enter all the details manually into BuildingConnected. They do it because it’s worth it. BuildingConnected does far more than just managing the process of obtaining quotes; it gives total visibility over who has quoted what and why there are differences. In fact, Wei estimates that running the tender comparison tool across all quotes received saves around 35 minutes for every package. Multiply that across numerous packages and up to 500 individual projects, and the impact is enormous.

Obviously, Wei’s aim for the long term is to have all subcontractors using the same process. He can foresee a time in the future where only quotes submitted in BuildingConnected are considered as generations who are more comfortable with technology start to influence the way subcontractors respond to quotes.

“If it’s large-scale and very competitive,” he says, “then absolutely. But if there’s not much competition­—only one or two quotes to consider—then even if someone isn’t using BuildingConnected I will have to consider them.”

The benefits of BuildingConnected

Wesley Wei has always had an affinity with technology. He knew there was a better way to manage the tendering process and has found it in BuildingConnected. In the year since he first started using it, the system has made the process of comparing tender submissions quick and easy. As a result, it is now the company’s lead tool to manage tenders and subcontractor engagements.

Specifically, BuildingConnected has brought:

•   Streamlined Bid Management for the entire tender process
•   Easy Bid comparison making any anomalies or outliers in the ways subcontractors have estimated the cost easy to spot. It’s also a great leveller—the cheapest headline doesn’t always equate to the best overall offer.
•   Cost validation to check invoices against what was initially quoted. It allows the company to query invoice amounts and provides more certainty over its costs.

You can request a demo of BuildingConnected here.

The post Throwing Away the Manual: How WZW Is Automating Its Tendering Process to Save Time and Money appeared first on Digital Builder.

In the construction industry, the abundance of data can be exciting or overwhelming depending on who you talk to. In a new construction report from Autodesk and FMI, Harnessing the Data Advantage in Construction, research shows that “bad” construction data is commonly associated with poor outcomes in project decisions. So, how much data do you really need?

The critical factor with data in construction is less tied to quantity and is more about quality. It’s whether or not it’s actually useful. And even then, if your data isn’t good, it doesn’t help you make real world decisions, especially at the field supervision or project manager levels. In spite of the industry’s growing reliance on construction technology, only 55% of report respondents stated that their organization has implemented a formal data strategy for their project data.

Further, our research also shows poor quality construction data, may have impacted over $1.8 trillion in global construction costs in 2020 alone. You can see the detailed cost breakdown in the complete report here.

One of the best steps you can take to dramatically improve your effectiveness in managing projects is to create a formal data strategy. Aside from the benefits of strong data management, one of the most important takeaways to come out of this report is the actionable, 4-step process to implementing a data strategy. We share the high-level steps below, but encourage you to download the complete checklist for deeper insight. 

 

DOWNLOAD DATA STRATEGY CHECKLIST

 

Quick Look at Benefits of a Data Strategy

To support data capture, management and analysis in your organization, start with a formal data strategy. This strategy will help eliminate burdens on the team tasked with managing data and increase consistency and accuracy. 

In our report, Harnessing the Data Advantage in Construction, respondents who had a formal data strategy reported a much greater percent of usable project data. Other benefits included less rework, fewer missed schedules, and fewer project overruns. 

The proof is in the numbers when it comes to formal data strategies. If you’re wondering what bad data means for you, consider that a contractor with $1 billion in annual revenue could have upwards of $165 Million in cost impacts from bad data, including $7.1 Million in avoidable rework. It’s clear that a better strategy for managing data can bring significant positive impacts to your organization.
 

Why Do So Many Firms Lack a Data Strategy?

With savings this significant, you might be wondering why more organizations haven’t created formal data strategies. There are several common obstacles that can deter companies of all sizes from implementing a strategy. 

Among the respondents in Harnessing the Data Advantage in Construction, the top reasons for not creating a formal data strategy included not knowing how to start, the potential costs, and what resources will be required. 

Lack of formal data training is another reason why so many firms feel hesitant to create a formal data strategy. Only 38% of respondents in our survey were provided with formal data management or data analysis training. Yet in contrast, 50% of respondents provide their staff with formal safety training. To increase investments in formal training tied to data, we’ll first have to change the perception of its importance. 

The research uncovered that training is found at higher levels in organizations that have formal data management strategies (48%) and those that always or often incorporate data into decision-making (47%). Compare that to organizations without a formal data strategy, where training only occurs 27% of the time. 

 

4 Steps to Building a Successful Data Strategy

It’s clear that getting started is often the hardest part of creating a data strategy. The volume of project data can feel overwhelming and add to feelings of stress. This four-step process will make implementing a data strategy easier and attainable for your organization. If you’d like deeper insight on the following steps, we encourage you to download the checklist.

 

GET THE CHECKLIST

 

Step 1: Select a single point of focus

Where can your organization most benefit from data-driven insights? Look for the areas of your organization that can generate the most value. Doing so can help you achieve buy-in and ROI faster. Your immediate goal should be to prove that a data process improvement has clear value.

In our research with industry leaders, many began with quality assurance or safety. While this may not apply to all, this is an example of two areas that often have data readily available. Having this single point of focus will help your team prioritize and accelerate the impact of the solution. 

Fred Meeske, Vice President at Rosendin explains, “For teams starting to build data standards and processes, it is important to keep two things in mind: first, build an interdisciplinary team that focuses on easily achievable goals. This will enable you to learn while still providing immediate value. More intricate questions with more effort and time requirements can have a bigger impact, but when starting, nothing beats the immediate impact. Once momentum is built, and the questions are well defined, the team can start tackling harder questions.”

Expert tip

Picking a focal point requires you to consider some important questions. What do you want to do better? What would look different if you were able to leverage your project data and generate insights? Specific questions like this, and more, will help you articulate your organization’s aspirations with data.

 

Step 2: Get employee buy-in to reduce hesitancy

You need buy-in from your project team and their involvement in the decision-making process. This will help to increase their engagement while minimizing resistance to change. 

McKinstry, a specialty contractor in Seattle, Washington, leans on an internal Product Management Organization (PdMO) to achieve employee buy-in. The PMO team is in charge of implementing cutting-edge solutions for clients throughout the construction process. They connect the common needs of each line of business to the overall digital transformation process. 

This internal department works on the success of these data standardization efforts. They follow best practices such as the diagnose before you prescribe approach, with a thorough discovery process to identify pain points, root causes, and impacts of not having data standards. “By qualifying and quantifying this pain in terms of business value, we can articulate and prioritize the need to standardize our data among other important process and technology improvements across our enterprise,” shares Dace Campbell, Director of Product Management in Construction at McKinstry. 

Expert tip

Buy-in from all potential users is a requirement because the success or failure of a plan relies on the adoption by and execution of the frontline staff. Gathering feedback from end-users is one of three important components that organizations say help them achieve buy-in for their data strategies.

 

Step 3: Standardize your data capture across all projects

In our survey, we learned that over a third of respondents describe their organizations’ data as inaccurate, incomplete, and inconsistent. Yet only 36% had started a process for identifying bad data and repairing it. In fact, several industry leaders shared that it took up to two years to completely “clean” their data. 

How do you prevent tedious and resource-heavy issues like this one? First, you need to standardize how data is captured. As you implement this process, examine how the data will be leveraged so it can be converted into insights. 

Dr. Jad Chalhoub, Technology Solutions Implementation Lead at  Rosendin describes the challenges of collecting standardized data as “figuring out what we want to use the data for, and subsequently what data needs to be collected and to what accuracy. Different types of applications require different tolerances and collection methods, so understanding the use case is extremely important.”

Expert tip

There are ways to increase the likelihood of company-wide adoption of data standards and data strategies. A few of those things fall under a simple commitment to  resource allocation like money, people and tools. 

 

Step 4: Keep project data in a common environment

We can’t understate how important a common data environment (CDE) is to your construction data strategy. In Harnessing the Data Advantage in Construction, leaders stressed the value of a connected construction environment, or complementary technology solutions with robust integration capabilities to facilitate the flow of project data. Bespoke customizations to the data environment hinder the access of future industry-wide analytics. 

A single point of access to data improves the ease of reporting and gathering advanced data analytics. Dr. Chalhoub describes standardization as a tool; standardization techniques can be made to all collected data. However, that does not mean the data will be comparable. “There’s always another layer you can standardize, and it’s important to know when to stop and how to use the other tools in your toolbox,” he adds. 

Expert tip

There are a few best practices on data quality that’ll give you a head start on your strategy. Arguably the most important one is ensuring that the data collected are accurate and in a standard format.

 

Take your first step towards a formal data strategy

Having a data management strategy can help improve efficiencies via better, and faster, data-backed decisions. A formal data strategy can also support efforts to improve decision-making, avoid rework, and prevent lost profits. Planning to use data effectively by committing to a formal data strategy is the way to not only remain competitive, but give yourself an edge.

Ready to start building a data strategy? Download our four-step checklist to get started today.

 

DOWNLOAD THE CHECKLIST

The post How to Create Your Construction Data Strategy [Checklist] appeared first on Digital Builder.

Building services contractor NG Bailey has hired former SES building services director Matthew Towner as regional director for London.

Towner has worked as operations director for the London region of SES Engineering Services for the past three and a half years.

He has also previously held senior operational roles at Balfour Beatty Engineering Services and Lorne Stuart.

Towner said: “I’m excited to be joining the team in London after admiring the work they’ve done on projects such as Wood Wharf and London Bridge Station.”

NG Bailey also appointed Andrew French as director of ICT. He joins after three years as technology and IT director at MWH Treatment.

His role will see him overseeing the continued development and modernisation of the company’s ICT systems and infrastructure to maintain its position as an industry leader.

 

ISG has started enabling works this morning on a battery gigaplant for manufacturer Britishvolt in Cambois, Northumberland.

Sources estimate the 2.7m sq ft factory project, which has been designed by Italian architect Pininfarina, could be worth approaching £300m.

Richard McDonell, Britishvolt Project Director, said: “Today is a historic day as it marks the start of construction on the UK’s premier Gigaplant, Britishvolt – a landmark event for UK manufacturing and the automotive industry on the road to zero.

“It is a pleasure to see our tier one construction partner ISG, and its world-class workforce, commence preliminary works on site ahead of the main construction programme, which we anticipate will start in late autumn/early winter.

“This initial phase will see the site cleared and preparatory work carried out for the services and infrastructure that will support construction activity.”

Main construction work will see more than 2,500 people involved in the project.

Peter Millett, High Tech Managing Director for ISG’s Engineering Services business said: “The positive momentum, passion and sense of genuine excitement that underpins this nationally important project is driving the entire team forward at pace, and this significant construction milestone demonstrates our collective commitment to UK manufacturing and to supporting communities across Northumberland.

“This is the starting point for the transformation of a disused site in Cambois with a legacy in the industrial past, that from today will become a beacon for innovation and advanced manufacturing right here in the North East.”

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