Members' Meeting October 2002


*Wednesday 14^th May 2003*

15:30	Registration

16:00	Introduction & Progress Report
	Prof. Tim Broyd, Chairman of Construct IT

16:15	Getting Useful Information from Site
	Jason Scott, Stent
Jason presented the issues faced by Stent in using electronic data collection for retrieving process information from construction sites. Using mainstream technology, Stent are continuing to improve their understanding and management of site processes. Getting such technologies to work reliably in a site environment and integrating the information they provide with the off-site business process has proved challenging.

17:15	Approach to Integrating Business
	Martin Ward, Styles & Wood
Styles & Wood recently embarked on a momentous business initiative to improve operational delivery performance throughout its entire lifecycle. Martin explored the developments over the last 18 months, reviewing the approach taken by the Project Integration team and what challenges where faced given such a huge drive towards change, and finally how the systems themselves have been designed, delivered and received.

18:00	Tea and Coffee

18:15	Beagle2 Mars Lander Airbag Analysis
	Howard Wright, Atkins Aviation and Defence Systems
Beagle2 is due to depart Earth on its journey to Mars aboard the Mars Express within the next few weeks. When it arrives, it will leave the orbiting Mars Express and descend, being slowed at first by a parachute, before landing cocooned in a spherical Airbag to protect it from the impact. Howard discussed some of the modelling and analysis of the Airbags and consider the wider issues involved in this work.
19:00	Close

19:45	Dinner


*Thursday 15^th May 2003* 2nd Morning

09:30	Update
	Prof. Tim Broyd, Chairman of Construct IT

09:50	Clear Benefits from Information Standards
	Nicholas Nisbet, AEC3 Ltd./IAI UK
The last eighteen months has seen some significant advances in the deployment of the Industry Foundation Classes both worldwide and particularly in the UK. Implementations are now available across the whole of the design cycle and real benefits are becoming clear. Examples included procurement, health and safety, early stage design, and systems engineering through to facilities management.

10:35	The Future of IT in the Construction Sector
	Angela Lee, University of Salford
Angela presened the research activities the University of Salford are currently undertaking in the area of information modelling and exchange. She discussed their visioning work on the future of information modelling/exchange in the construction sector and how this could impact on and influence both future research and the strategy of Construct IT.

11:20	Introduction to Parallel Sessions
There will be a five-minute introduction to each parallel session.

11:30	Coffee

11:45– 13:15 Parallel Sessions

11:45	Session One: RICS - Project Extranets and E-Procurement
	Keith Breetzke, Elstree Computing Ltd.
Keith presented the results of a project recently completed by the BCIS on behalf of the RICS Construction Faculty to investigate: the popular range of web-enabled extranets and e-procurement products currently available to the construction industry and to provide a simple assessment of their features in a comparative way. the user perspective and experiences relating to the popular range of web-enabled extranets and e-procurement products currently available to the construction industry.

11:45	Session Two: Making the Internet Secure
	Tony Hassan, Objectsoft Limited
The Internet is extraordinary! It is cheap, easily accessible, available almost everywhere and incredibly resilient. Unfortunately it is also inherently insecure, with many recent high profile security breaches. This precludes its use in business areas where security or safety is a concern. Tony examined the root causes of this insecurity and presented practical ways in which these can be addressed.

11:45	Session Three: Converge and Manage!
	Peta Bunbury, Cisilion Limited
Information these days come in many forms, from data to voice and video. Whilst the ever-increasing volume of traffic in these various forms cross over our many networks, Peta will present how to converge this traffic flow into one manageable environment. Managing a converged network requires you to differentiate this information, and Peta will discuss how you can ensure your critical data takes priority.

13:15– 14:30 Lunch

2nd Afternoon

14:30	Feedback from each parallel session
There was a short review of the parallel sessions.

14:45	Making Extranets Work
	Crawford Patterson, Mace
Once you accept that project extranets can actually improve information flows on construction projects you then need to ensure that the complete construction team accept the tool as the primary source of project information. This process is getting easier as extranets become more established but it still can be a struggle. Mace has generally been successful with project extranets because as construction manager they are the 'Information Hub'. Crawford presented the experiences of Mace in 'Making Extranets Work'.

15:30	Visual Simulation for the Regeneration / Construction Industry
	Pravin Jethwa, Virtual Reality Centre at Teesside Ltd
The VR Centre at Teeside has been working in visual simulation since 1996 and is now officially recognised as a European Centre of Excellence for real-time computer visualisation and simulation. Pravin presented some of the commercial work they have undertaken such as: the visualisation of complex urban plans and property developments for environmental impact assessments, community consultations and presentations, public enquiries presentations and PFI tenders. producing photo-realistic animations of both interior and exterior 3D models to help visualise lighting and design schemes, interior planning and design features, proposed conversions, etc.

16:00	Sum up and discussion
Prof. Tim Broyd