Groundbreak 2023 in Chicago is officially upon us and we’re covering this year’s top sessions so we can bring the event home to you. From cultural transformation to digital transformation, conference speakers are diving into key industry topics and sharing knowledge with their peers and industry experts on how to better their business, build more efficiently and help create a more diverse and skilled workforce.
Follow along throughout the event and check out some highlights as we share updates Live from Groundbreak — the construction technology event of the year.
The construction sector is undergoing a profound change driven by technological advancements. This transformation was the focus of two key sessions at Groundbreak 2023: Digital Transformation for Civil & Infrastructure General Contractors and Delivering Savings, Sustainability and Security through Digital Transformation.
Streamlining Project Delivery with Procore
This session emphasized how Procore helps civil and infrastructure general contractors improve their project delivery, financial performance and overall quality and safety. Led by Procore’s Terasa Buturusis, Senior Strategic Product Consultant, and Philip Constantino, Project Manager, Tech Lead, at Fort Myer Construction, the pair revealed a case study on Fort Myer and their rapid growth that soon outpaced their existing processes.
“We started to realize how using best-in-class products could boost Fort Myer’s curb appeal for top talent. We started to realize how using best-in-class products could boost our employee’s work-life balance, making us a more appealing place to work,” Constantino said. “We started to realize how best-in-class products could improve the experience of doing business with Fort Myer as a subcontractor.”
By adopting Procore’s platform, Fort Myer was able to streamline operations and enhance the firm’s financial performance and operational efficiency.
Key takeaways included the need for self-performing general contractors to embrace digital transformation. It is crucial for staying proactive, leveraging financial data and addressing challenges effectively. As construction projects become increasingly complex, the need for digital tools to manage the intricacies is growing exponentially.
Harmonizing Asset Management with Willow’s Digital Twins
The second session was led by Daniel Kalnins, Head of New Build at Willow, a global Digital Twin technology provider. This session delved into the challenges asset owners face when trying to manage both new construction projects and existing assets within a digital portfolio. Willow’s approach is being employed to manage some of the world’s largest airports.
Chris Manna, Willow Solutions Director says that when it comes to digitizing and decarbonizing airports, collecting data is not the problem. However, making different data sets relational, standardizing data standards and building knowledge around the data is most important for real-time decision making.
“The big push is how you build knowledge around the data. We’ve collected data for a long time. We have paper binders, BIM, Revit and we have building management systems. Data is not necessarily the problem.”
When it comes to codifying the knowledge around digitization and smart-protected assets, it’s critical to keep models up to date as well. Manna says to ensure that the entire ecosystem, such as flight arrival times correlating with having passenger boarding bridges in place, must be at top of mind for the process to run efficiently.
Willow’s end-to-end approach aims to bridge this gap by harmonizing data and providing actionable insights throughout the entire asset lifecycle — from new construction to handover and portfolio operations.
