CONSTRUCTIONEERING: PUSHING BOUNDARIES IN CONSTRUCTION AND ENGINEERING

Here, we speak to John Foster, European Business Development Manager of BIM at Topcon Positioning to discuss the development of the partnership between Topcon and Bentley, which has been pushing boundaries in construction and engineering workflows.

Back in 2016 it was a logical decision for Topcon and Bentley to form a partnership. Our expertise clearly complements each other. Topcon provide data capture and Bentley provide engineering applications leading to a complete suite of technology to measure projects in real time. This synchronisation of two companies has created a new approach to construction project development, we refer to as “constructioneering”, aiming to explore some of the biggest issues our industry faces.

The issues the partnership has been tackling are twofold, the first being the education and promotion of risk taking. With numerous low margins on construction projects many companies avoid running the risk of investing in new technologies and prefer to stick to what they know. There’s clear evidence that early adopters of innovative technologies are reaping the rewards in cost and time saving benefits. Therefore, there has been some movement towards the adoption of new tech, however, it’s now a case of keeping the momentum flowing. One key way to do this is through sharing positive ROI stories between a range of different businesses in the industry.

Similarly, the second barrier is data flow. Within the construction industry this seems to be developing at a much slower rate than in other industries. In order to counteract this industry wide issue, it is paramount that individual firms begin implementing their own digital strategy. Through individual strategies, organisations can seamlessly connect and share data which is a big step towards collectively meeting the future demands for infrastructure.

To help tackle these barriers, our Constructioneering Academies have been developed to provide engineers and contractors with a curriculum to learn the best practice for adopting innovative technologies. Earlier this year we held our first Constructioneering Academy sessions in Livermore, California and Brisbane, Australia which proved to be a great success. At the sessions, Topcon and Bentley personnel spoke directly to attendees which enabled us to find out more about individual experiences and needs.

For more information on the Bentley/Topcon partnership, visit www.constructioneering.com