About Uniting Construction Information

It has long been recognised that the Industry and Government are both confused about the existence of so many IT organisations acting for or on behalf of the industry. This confusing state has hindered the effective operation of each individual organisation, hence limited the development and exploitation of IT within the industry. As a result of this situation many of these organisations have regarded others as competitors which has prevented them from collaborating with each other. Whereas, investigation has shown that construction industry IT entities are, on the whole, complementary and the level of overlap is insignificant. This has prompted the opportunity that these organisations could work collaboratively rather than assuming a predatory approach to other industry organisations.

It is therefore argued that these organisations could operate under one consortium which may take the form of a virtual organisation. It is envisaged that the industry as well as IT organisations will both benefit from the creation of the proposed consortium. This will help reduce the aforementioned confusion, facilitates collaboration between different organisations and helps them refine their practices and services. This goal has a widespread appeal amongst all actors involved and its impact on the industry is likely to be significant.

DTI have embraced the idea of developing a structure where diversity is celebrated, duplication is avoided and common goals are pursued under one voice. Moreover that the intricacies of what these industry bodies are striving to achieve is fully understood by DTI. They have underpinned their support of this radical action by sponsoring two activities which are instrumental in achieving the goal of uniting IT organisations in construction. The first is to undertake a survey of top organisations covering a number of disciplines. This will include management at both executive level and IT departments. The second activity is a DTI conference under the title of United Construction IT. The conference will involve as many Construction IT entities as possible, excluding none. There will be academic presentations, industry showcases, technology showcases, and the showcasing of all construction IT entities. There will also be bridging activities such as "industry challenge" debate, where following a process, the industry and academic community challenge each other on the exploitation of research works

Construct IT For Business is an industry-led non-profit making collaborative membership-based network. It comprises leading edge organisations representative of the construction industry supply chain in addition to professional institutes and R&D/academic institutions, whose aim is to improve industry performance through the innovative application of IT and act as a catalyst for academic and industrial collaboration.

Vision

To improve products, services and processes in the construction industry by fostering better exploitation of ICT at all levels and minimise the confusion that already exists about the range of organisations that operate in this area. This will be achieved through forging a constructive relationship between all entities associated with IT in construction.

Aim

To unite all IT organisations in construction into a consortium that operates in form of a virtual organisation.

Activities

Members of the initiative will look to organise joint meetings as and when they find them appropriate. From time to time, the initiative will organise collective meetings to promote its objectives and realise its vision.

The initiative will commence with two projects that have been endorsed by the DTI. While the first project is aimed at developing a better understanding about our industry the second is intended to mark the existence of the consortium on a solid footing.

Rethinking IT Survey

Construct IT undertaking a DTI sponsored survey assessing the trend in thinking, and future vision of industry leaders and innovators.

Vision

To establish the current level of priority shift towards using IT for continuous improvement and sustainable competitive advantage by understanding the evolving role of IT investment and executive thinking.

Aim

To undertake a high profile construction industry wide survey to evaluate the shift in IT position in relation to the industry's past and current understanding and investments

Objectives

1. Understand the evolving use and uptake of IT in relation to the industry's past and current understanding of the value of IT to innovation and continuous improvement.

2. Identify the shift in executives' thinking in terms of:

• understanding the role of IT for improving performance
• the impact of continuous innovation in technology on their enterprises
• their awareness on the relationship between IT, process management and people

3. Identify the difference in understanding of IT priorities between business executives and IT/innovation directors.

4. Determine disparities in IT awareness throughout the supply chain.

5. Identify future patterns in creating business core capabilities based on IT.

Target

The survey shall target members of construction supply chain, in the UK, consisting of clients (private and public), designers, contractors and sub-contractors. The focus will be on the top 100 large organisations, possibly covering the top-end of some SME. The survey will be directed towards management at executive level and IT/Innovation directors.

Methodology

The survey will focus on a number of areas including Core Capability, External Factors, Business Performance, Internal Factors, Process and IT, Finance, Business and IT Strategies and Advanced Technologies.

To this end, we shall use a maturity concept for each of the questions. This means that each question will have a five subsections. The five subsections built on each other i.e. from the lowest possible scenario to the most advanced situation as reported by the literature. That will then give us the opportunity to specifically identify where the industry is compared to the various maturity levels as well to other industries.

The Outcome

The outcome will take a form of a high profile industry oriented report that clearly identifies the past, current and visioning positioning of IT within constituent disciplines associated with the construction industry. This report will pave the way for undertaking further research in order to generate second level (tactical) and third level (operational) reports.

Uniting Construction Information Conference

Aim

To deliver a unique conference that brings together the major stakeholders (industry, academia, networking organisations, focused groups and policy makers) focused on ICT and innovation in the construction sector.

Format

The conference will consist of three sets of presentations and three sets of debates engaging industry, academia and IT organisations.

Current Active Members