Time to move beyond BIM.

I have been one of the biggest advocates of BIM. I was an advocate of BIM before it even existed. However I now believe there is the potential that it could hold up progress and development of our industry.

Clearly this is a strange statement to make as CEO of sSpace Group which includes businesses such as BIMtechnologies, BIMstore and has developed BIM Show Live in recent years.

Im not saying BIM is not important and all of our business have an important part to play but the key is this is only part of a better industry. I'm worried as BIM matures people may believe it is job done!

My interest in BIM was always far wider than technology, coordination or data. For approaching twenty five years my personal drive has been to make the construction industry better.

I love design and construction and want us to continually improve. Our progress in recent decades has been minimal as we take two step forward and one back through the boom and bust cycle.

After going to university for 5 years I felt I was ready to become and Architect. However what I was sold at university was very different from the reality I discovered. At university we were educated that the role of architect and his wonderful design flair is the centre of construction.The architectural profession can be very elitist and I even remember a lecture about the architectural cognichente. Even as an under graduate it didn't feel right to me.

When I started in the industry I soon realised my training was a long way from reality. The process of delivering a building is incredibly involved and is not only very expensive but very risky. The industry is very cyclical and prone to boom and bust. There is a very adversarial and contractural culture. All of this I had to work out for myself as none if this was mentioned in any of my classes at university.

Design and build was developing mometum as a procurement route in the early days of my career. Management of the design and construction process was moving from the architect to the contractor as clients looked for ways of managing risk.

Design teams allowed this to happen and in many cases found it a way of passing design responsibility to others such as specialists and trade contractors. 

My view of construction quickly developed. It was clear it was adversarial and there was a lack of trust. To put it simply no one liked each other and every part of the design and delivery process became very protective of their own position and lost sight of the bigger goal of delivering a constantly improving product more quickly at a reducing cost.

BIM has been a big success for the UK construction industry and there is no doubt we are leading the way in the world with our digital transformation. The work the government has delivered through the BIM task group is fantastic. We now have a common language for us all to use.

Momentum has been built with an ever growing group of people in the industry who are now debating the fine details of the recently released Digital Tool Kit. This is all fantastic for the technology aspects of the industry but our challenges are much deeper. BIM is not a panacea for all things wrong in our industry and there are still many fundamentals to be addressed.

The silo mentality still exists and our culture is unchanged. Instead of these being in a analogue world these issues now reside in a digital " BIM" World. There is a lack of trust between consultant and contractor and contractor and the trade. There is current a BIM land grab as to who can control the process.

These are cultural issues which go deep in our industry.

There is no question the ball is well and truly rolling regarding the digitising of our industry. We now need to work on true collaboration and culture if we are going to make a real long term impact.

BIM Show Live: State of the nation

Here is the initial draft text from my state of the nation talk for BIM Show Live which was never delivered:

Good morning everyone and welcome back to BIM Show Live in Manchester.

This is show no 5. Bigger and better than ever. This year the quality of the classes is outstanding and just demonstrates how far we have come.

This year the strap line has been prove it. We have promised a lot and now we need to show the value of a digital approach.

Running BIM Show Live gives us a chance to reflect.

We started this journey back in November 2011. This was just after the May publication of the governments BIM Strategy document which legitimised a BIM approach.

The first event had 100 hard core BIMEers at the Business Drsign Centre.

We had a quick follow up event in April 2012 back at the Business Design Centre. Further growth but the venue was wrong for us.

In 2013 we went upmarket and moved to the Westminster Park Plaza. A great event and a total sell out! 

For 2014 we needed more space. We decided to move north to see if BIM could travel.

We grew again. This year we are back for the second year. We have approaching 800 in the room which is nearly capacity

Next year is 2016 which is supposed to be BIM Armageddon. Clearly it won't be. If you want my opinion I think there will be little change. We have done the hard work with the standards across our industry. What we have to do is ensure we maintain the momentum and make sure we fully digitalise the industry.

There are many who want us to fail. We have to prove them wrong.

We will be back in Manchester next year .

CORE

At every BIM Show live I have given my view of the state of the nation. Over the years I have offended most people but taken greatest pleasure in insulting Quantity Surveyors.

I feel now we are at a tipping point. There is a huge amount of acceptance of the benefits of three dimensional modelling software. But this is not BIM. It will deliver individual profession benefits but not wider project benefits.

There is a growing swell of people who don't want change. We have won the 3D battle but do they really want BIM. 

BIM is all about improvement. Improving  clarity, improving coordination, improving information, improving buildings in operation.

We are a selfish industry focussed on our own delivery, profession or activity.

Collaboration is an overused term. I do beleive however we need to understand what it means and make it happen. The dictionary definition is a shared project objective.

We seem accepting of the boom and bust cycle and the cyclical skills shortage. 

The UK Condtruction Industry is complacent. 

In the 1970s the UK car industry was complacent. We produced classics such as the Princess and Montego.

It wasn't long before the Japanese and Germans started to show up our industry with new thinking, cultures and technologies. Look at the UK car industry today. 

Look what BMW achieved with the Mini.

I have a plan...

I've called it Plan C. 

Why plan C, because not only did PLan A not work neither did Plan B.

Plan C has three parts

Culture, we need fundamental change. We need to trust and even like each other. Trust comes from openness and honesty which is sadly lacking.

Construction, there is no BIM in construction. What I mean here is we need to take a broader view than just BIM. It has been an excellent marketing tool to build momentum within digital construction but we need to look wider into all aspects of the industry.

Collaboration, an over used but little understood word. We need a shared project objective. Stop being selfish, work together for better project outcomes.

Over the last 4 years we have achieved so much with BIM Show Live. A small fringe conference is now mainstream. We need to take up the challenge to move beyond technology to build a sustainable and high performing industry which is recognised for its excellence globally.

 

We need more women in our industry, more young people with the right skills, less waste, better energy performance, less risk, lower costs and much much more.

See 2016 as the start of our next chapter not the end of one. 

Mediocrity is good enough.

In construction it is amazing what we will accept. Our

industry moves from boom to bust and then back to boom again with unbelievable pace. During boom businesses grow and make profit. In recession businesses cease trading whilst others burn cash, bidding jobs at less than cost to survive.  

We then move into growth again and more companies go out of businesses as costs increase as trades try to recover losses from the past.  

We have very short memories and very quickly forget the pain of recession. During recession we don't invest in the future due to lack of resource and in the boom times we still don't invest as we are too busy making money. 

The same issues are raised periodically as we move across the boom and bust cycle. “We don't train enough apprentices, there is a skills shortage. Trades people are in short supply. We can’t get bricks because we closed the plants” etc etc 

What I find exasperating is that this has been happening for 50 years and we never seem to change anything. We do like to moan about things but never do anything about it. 

If you want to change something you have change something! Doing the same thing will always give you the same outcome. 

The challenge we have is companies are making money again and it is difficult to break the cycle. House builders are making profits in excess of £350 million per year so why would they want to change the system. Their shareholders are more than happy with current returns. 

At Space Group we are doing everything we can to break this cycle and look at different approaches in construction which will allow us to invest in skills and products for the long term. We want to make construction an industry which is exciting and where the best talent wants to be part of it. 

Spacehus is an example of how we can improve outcomes by rethinking the entire design and construction process. The result is a high quality house which costs £80,000 and by offsetting solar energy generation there are no net energy costs. 

The house was designed digitally, so it could be prototyped and tested virtually. We then manufactured the components offsite and assembled onsite site. We minimised preliminaries and waste during construction so that additional value could be invested in the product. 

If we generated a pipeline profit would grow and we could invest in training and continuous improvement of the process and product. 

We can only achieve these outcomes by rethinking the entire construction process from start to finish.  

However we must want to change. From experience I find we have very short memories and much of our industry is happy with the status quo and mediocrity. At Space Group we are not. We will continue to challenge and be disruptive as we believe there is a better way. 

Reflections on 2014...

The Christmas break is alway a good time to reflect on the previous year and to see what progress we have made and what has changed in 12 months.

We entered the year with the recession still very much in everyone's minds. The market was cautious particularly in the regions. London remained largely unaffected with concerns around costs and resource being talked up.

2014 was a really tough year for tier one contractors with their cash positions being eroded, balance sheets weakened and margins challenged. To survive the recession some tier one contractors had taking on work at low margin only to find subcontract costs increasing. They were also more gun ho when it came to risk during recession only to find things unravel during construction.

A number of Chief Executives unfortunatley lost their jobs as shareholders looked for scapegoats.

During the keynote at BIM Show Live I mischievously suggested there was a revelution looming and that baby boomers should take note. This was all a bit of fun to stimulate discussion however in some ways this has become a reality. Some of these Chief Executives were undoubtedlybaby boomers and who paid for decisions made during recession. At the time I commented that these senior figures can't have all have made mistakes and we should look more at the culture of our industry to find long term answers.

Not only have there been job losses at a senior level there has been a move in attitude. Digital construction is increasingly accepted with clients want to see objective risk management tools.there has also been an increase in the linkages between construction, albeit small steps at this stage.

 Consultants are now adopting digital tools as a matter of course and main contractors are looking at how new technology effects their workflow.

Subcontractors have been effected by delayed payments throughout the year from tier one contractors which has, in some cases, prevented long term investment. Manufacturers are also considering their investments but remain cautious.

Yet again as our industry has moved back into growth the skills issue has risen its head. I've been in the industry for over 20 years now and this just keeps recurring. Not enough bricklayers...not enough bricks! The discussion raised momentum towards the back end of the year so hopefully this can build during 2015.

In the regional market fee levels remained very tight. This suggests that work has not reached the levels of pre recession and companies are still looking for revenue.

On balance 2014 was not a bad year for construction but neither was it great. There were no big winners but a few losers. It was a year of transition but fortunately the momentum is upward.

Here's to 2015...

What will 2015 bring?

Having reflected on 2014 the next thing to do is predict what will happen in 2015...

Slowing of market due to election.

A huge part of 2015 is undoubtably going to be the general election. Not only will we be tired of hearing about it this year it will effect our industry. Public sector projects will slow due to perda  followed by ministerial uncertainty afterwards.mIn the private sector this will lead to some uncertainly which will generate a slowing effect.

For what it's worth at this stage My prediction is we will have a Conservative Government again in a coalition arrangement. Even if I'm wrong it is unlikely there will be any change in public spending.

Continued skills and resource issues.

The skills debate will continue throughout the year. Unfortunatley there is no quick fix so we will see salaries increase in some areas where skills are short.

Increasing momentum of digital construction.

The move towards digital construction will continue right across the project lifecycle. We will see not only clients, designers and constructors adopt new methodologies but also manufacturers, subcontractors and maintence providers.

The long awaited digital plan of work will be released in 2015 providing clarity across industry. This will encourage innovation and new thinking. 

Growing interelationship between capital and revenue investment.

As our connection between data improves we will be able to consider the relationship between capital and revenue and how they effect one another. Energy use and carbon are no longer only the demise of specialists and campaigners. These issues are real and are important to emerging generations. Solutions and responses to these issues will need to become mainstream.

New Methods of Construction.

Offsite construction has very skilfully been repositioned as new methods of construction. Off site suggests temporary or of a lesser quality. Portiacabin or McDonalds spring to mind to the majority of people. 

During 2015 we will see a growing percentage of new buildings being delivered using the componetisation of materials. Already a large percentage of M and E installations are deliver in this way and we will see an increasing percentage of building components being developed this way.

Continued competition in the regions.

Traditionally a large percentage of regional work was generated from the public sector. This gap has not been filled by the private sector meaning companies are still hungry for work which ultimately means fee levels are very low. This will continue through 2015 not helped by the slowing of what public sector projects due to the election.

In London the issue will be a lack of the right resource. A large percentage of new build commercial projects in the capital are being delivered in BIM. These resources are not available in design practices meaning alternative approaches will develop. This may include outsourcing or large recruitment drives. It is likely therefore that salary levels in London will increase as demand grows.

The Power of Procurement

I had a really interesting discussion with a client over the weekend around procurement. Many procurment departments rely on cost beings a good metric of value. Particularly when appointing a main contractor for works.

In the north of England in particular many clients and procurment department are still keen to use single stage tendering. In London, it seems there is now a greater use of a two stage approach. What is not known however, is whether two stage is preferred in London because the market is busier or that cleints believe it offers better value.

This particular client I was talking to had been forced into a single stage tender from his procurement department. The projects was hugely over budget largely because the constructors had priced the risk.

A two stage and open approach would allow the risk to be clearly visable to all and to be managed and costed appropriately. The easy and expensive way is to just pass the risk to the constructor. This can be expensive in a rising market.

The clients procurment team does not wish to move from a single stage approach and therefore has limited options. The reality is the contractors can look at some cost reductions but with most of the additional cost being in risk if he wants his building as designed he is going to have to find the additional money. Whilst the procurment department will believe this provides value in reality they are paying way over the true cost.

In a retracting market clients can win when risk is priced too tightly by the contractor. However over an extended period which includes boom and recession I would suspect it balances out.

It would be far better if our industry was built on trust and a long term open book arrangement. Over several years I would anticipate that everyone would come out winning. We would however have the added benefit that with a steady profit we could all invest in continuous improvement.

My top 10 Business Books

I am an avid reader of business books and in particular business biographies. I have been asked several times for my recommendations. Recently one of the team specifically asked for my top ten so I spent a little time going over my library to find the books which I had found most useful and had influenced me.

The following is my top ten.Not all of them are traditional business books however they tell stories which I have found useful.

We can learn from the past and all of these people have been exceptional in what they do. I have looked back over 100s of books I have read and after considerable deliberation these are the most influential. There are a few others on the fringe which didn't make the cut.

They are not necessarily ranked in order of preference but more in the order to read them.

I've mixed lighter books with heavier books and left some of the more challenging stuff to the end.

Just the best book on how business works. Backed up with facts:

Good to Great

Jim Collins

The sequel talking about how businesses can be sustainable:

Built to Last

Jim Collins

This book is more about the man than the company. Great integrity and values:

Who says elephants can't dance

Louis v gerstner

How to look at the world and its markets differently:

Purple Cow 

Seth Godin

How business was done:

Jack 

Jack Welsh

An amazing story of innovation, tenacity and culture:

Creativity Inc

ED catmull

A very practical book on business issues:

43 mistakes business's make and how to avoid them

Duncan bannatyne

How to build s culture from nothing:

Bill and Dave

How Hewlett and Packard built the Worls Greatest Company

Michael S Malone

This guy influenced so much you need to understand him:

My life and Work

Henry ford and Samuel Crowther

For me the ultimate business man. A genius. Unlikely to be repeated or replicated but we can learn some small things

Steve Jobs. The exclusive biography

Walter Isaacson 

When you have read this lot you will be sick of you life.To cheer you up stick your head into the two Danny Baker Auto Biograhies as well as any book by Peter Kay. They will have you laughing out loud without fail!

10 Construction bosses leaving their roles in 2014 so far. Is this a crisis?

In 2012 the construction industry in the UK contributed £83.0 billion in economic output, 6% of the total. 2.15 million jobs or 6.5% of the UK total were in the construction industry in Q4 2013.

The top 30 contractors in the UK by revenue, turn over around £26 billion. During 2014 10 of these organisations have lost the senior leaders of their business. The majority have been sacked with some resigning or retiring. An industry which contributes 6% of the UK output which then loses such a large percentage of its leadership must be in crisis. 

During the banking crisis of 2008 the banking industry did not lose this many Chief Executives. Most of these directors have lost their jobs due to drastic financial loses. Like with the banking crisis now is the time to look at the reasons what we have found ourselves in this position and more importantly how can we stop it happening in the future.

These directors are not necessarily bad leaders but have found themselves at the top table at the wrong time and are therefore scapegoats. The issues are not with individuals but with the system.

Culture is the fundamental issue with our industry. We do not collaborate, we are not open and honest and we do not invest long term. 

The top 30 contractors by revenue are listed below. The 10 bosses who have moved on are identified.

Kier

Kier chief executive Paul Sheffield stepped down at the end of June after a career spanning more than 30 years with the contractor.

Balfour Beatty

Balfour Beatty chief executive Andrew McNaughton quit "with immediate effect" at the same time as the firm issued a profit warning for 2014.

Morgan Sindall

Mace

Carillion

BAM

Galliford Try

Galliford Try boss Greg Fitzgerald plans to retire after 33 years at the firm before the end of next year.

Interserve

Costain

Wates

Paul Drechsler the long term boss left Wates in January.

ISG 

ISG’s construction managing director Alan McCarthy-Wyper left the firm after just 18 months. McCarthy-Wyper was brought in from Balfour Beatty Rail by ISG chief executive David Lawther in May 2013.

Laing O Rouke

Willmott Dixon confirmed that divisional chief executive of its capital works division will step down at the end of this year.

John Frankiewicz has worked for the contractor for 30 years and will return as a non-executive director in 2016 after taking a year-out from the industry

Lend Lease

Brookfield Multiplex

Skanska

Booker Vessels

John Sisk

Bouygues

Bowmer & Kirkland

McClaren 

McLaughlin & Harvey

Keepmoat

Buckingham

Vinci

Vinci Construction UK revealed a new senior management team after a recent reorganisation.

The reshuffle followed the departure of chief executive John Stanion and his replacement by Bruno Dupety, former boss of Vinci group business Soletanche Freyssinet.Vinci Construction UK managing director Andrew Ridley-Barker and commercial director Paul Tuplin also exited.

Shepherd

Shepherd Construction managing director Phil Greer left the company earlier this year.Phil was a Shepherd veteran having occupied a string of senior positions since joining the company 35 years ago.

Robertson

Lagan

Sir Robert McAlpine

Vince Corrigan suddenly left the firm. Corrigan, 53, was a main board director and London and South East region boss.

JRL

10 directors is 10 months must be a crisis. All of these bosses could not have all become bad leaders overnight. The issue is not the individuals biput the system and culture which exists across constructiin.

It's time to rethink!

 

What have the the Red Arrows and Aston Martin got to do with construction?

The answer is absolutely nothing! Maybe that is the problem we have in construction.Both organisations are acknowledged for their excellence. 

 

I came across these organisations at the Kent Construction Expo today where I was speaking about digital construction.What made this event special was the fact that on the same site in the same day was the Kent manufacturing expo. 

 

There was a stark difference between the two. The manufacturing event was very digital and had machines doing all sorts of clever things on show. There was even a real car which was beautiful. The construction aspect was less impressive regretfully with mainly service business rather than products or technology. 

 

The talk from the red arrows pilot was fantastic. He talked about highly performing teams and how, through briefing and de briefing in every single flight, they strived for excellence. EverY flight is recorded on video from the ground and then reviewed. They do three runs every day and every one is de briefed before the next flight. They have an openness about performance and are objective about their own errors. 

 

Can you imagine this level of commitment  to excellence and performance in construction. 

 

I then listened to the purchasing director from Aston Martin. They have 140 supply chain partners. They are real partners and they support one another. They are looking for innovation all of the time but they measure performance of their supply chain constantly and and provide ongoing feedback. There is incredible openness and every quotation must be totally broken down and transparent. 

 

How different is this to the culture in construction. I'm sure we have all struggled to get even the simplest schedule of rates or a preliminaries breakdown in the past. 

 

The issues in construction are all cultural. Today another tier one boss lost his job for poor performance. T Clark posted a profit warning and Royal Dutch BAM made 650 people redundant. 

 

These issues are no one individuals responsibility but are down to all of us who have worked within this environment. We must challenge now for a better and different way of doing things. We can build an industry with a sustainably future. 

the PLC Problem...

We have watched the public scrap between Balfour Beatty and Carillion over recent weeks. Both of these companies are listed on the stock exchange.

At the same time we have seen Tesco struggle the meet shareholder expectation and again this week has announced a further profit warning. Tesco is also also issued on the stock exchange. 

Balfour Beatty and Tesco are on completely different sectors the suffer similar challenges. The stick exchange demands revenue and profit growth at all costs. Ian Tyler and Terry Leahey were Chief Executive at this companies through a boom time when profits and market share increased for both companies. 

Both Chief Executives have been praised for their strategies at these companies which can be denied. They both jumped off at the middle of recession. They both were astute enough to realise that they were already three or four years late on establishing a new strategy for changing times. 

Both were fixated with profit growth demanded by the city and didn't start to sacrifice profit growth for investment in new strategies. Both Chief Executives were replaced by their deputies and both if these deputies have now lost their jobs. Neither of these men can take any blame. Their fate was already set when they took in the role. Balfours and Tesco should have committed to radical strategies three or four years earlier. 

A truly great chief executive is five years ahead of the business and is able to make bold decisions which may effect short term shareholder return. Both ian Tyler and Terry Leahey had one strategy which worked in a booming market. What they couldn't do was change business direction for long term growth. 

Long term sustainability is difficult in a PLC environment when shareholders want growth year on year. Balfour Beatty fell into this trap and bought revenue and profit from acquisitions such as Mansell. More importantly the cash generated from construction was used to fund investment in PFI.

When investment opportunities reduced and growth slowed it became clear Balfours had not integrated any of these businesses into a single group entity. The company was carrying unnecessary overhead and was not benefiting from scale.

Carillion have faired slightly better as they have integrated their acquisitions such as Moslem and Alfred McAlpine 

Additional evidence of long term thinking is the level of investment Teir 1 contractors have made over the years. 

A report published by the government identified that tier 1 contractors invested a meagre 0.1%. By contrast Google spend 14% and Microsoft  13%. I'm not suggesting that construction invests this level of capital but it does show the difference between sectors which are developing and those which are not. 

The point here is that long term sustainability in any sector needs a long term and evolving strategy. The strategy must change and adapt to it environment and the larger the company the longer it takes so the Chief Executive has to be way out in front. Strategies built on growth and profit such as those developed by Ian Tyler and Terry Leahey will ultimately fail. A business must be aligned to the market and the needs of it customers. 

I wonder if the fact that Ian Tyler was and accountant and Terry Leheay a marketeer rather than a builder or a retailer is relevant. 

Ian Tyler had an outstanding strategy for growing profit and revenue and that can not be questioned. But if the objective was for long term sustainability would someone with a passion for improving the construction service have been better long term. 

An interesting contrast would be Laing O Rouke. Ray O Rouke had been driven by changing construction. He has invested hugely in technology and even a manufacturing facility.He is driven by delivering a better value product and changing the perceptions of construction. 

They did not make the profit of Balfour Beatty through the boom, probably because much of it was invested. Today LOR continues to make profit and is well place to adapt  to the evolving sector. 

RIBA: An organisation for the Artisan or the Buisnessman.

The role of the Royal Institute of British Architects is one of my favourite subjects. Firstly I must declare I am a fully paid up RIBA member and have been for the past 20 years.

However I believe this institution has become increasingly elitist and out of step with the future direction of the wider construction industry. The institution itself can't be blamed as the institution is made up of its members and it is they who are steering the profession on its current direction.

Our profession continues to have an eroding influence and impact on the industry.

My main frustration is that architects are actually absolutely critical to the success of the construction industry as it is they who have the skills to design ,problem solve and communicate better than others in the industry. Construction is about to move into another period of growth and we find ourselfes faced with yet another skills shortage. This suggests to me we are training people with the wrong skills.

Architecture today has moved away from buisness or craft and has become an art form aligned more with painting and sculpture within Universities rather than the built environment. Obviously there is a place for this however construction needs pragmatic designers who can solve problems and work as part of the team.

Architectural practice has become a cottage industry and very artisan. The vast majority of architectural practices in the UK employ fewer than 5 people. These same practices complain that they do not get a share of the large projects being advertised by the public or private sector. This can be no surprise. Which organisation would take a multi million pound risk on a small under resourced buisness. To be able to invest in training, infrastructure and research and development architectural practices have to generate a reasonable level of turnover.

Only 3% of UK of architectural practices employ over 50 people. This means there are likely only 30 UK architectural businesses of a scale able to respond to the needs of the industry. It is therefore little wonder that the status of the architect in the design team is being eroded as project managers and BIM coordinators along with other professions look to fill the roles normally the domain of the architect.

The most successful architectural practice in the UK on any metric has to be Foster and Partners. This is a creative business with a global reach which is operated as a business. I have calculated that this one organisation is responsible for 8% of the total architectural revenue in the UK.

It seems to me that architects and the RIBA have given up on 21st century business and prefer to be associated with artists and sculptors.

This is not the profession I studied all of those year to be a part of. I want to make a difference to as many peoples lives as possible. I want to improve the industry and innovate so we can deliver more and better buildings.

I believe there is now an opportunity for a new profession for those who still want to make an impact and invest in the long term future of the profession and industry.

How about Robs Instutute of Business Architects?

Holiday reading....Creativity, passion and change.

It's that time of the year again where I get the chance to read the books I've amassed over the previous months. My reading choice is pretty one dimensional and for a lot of people would be considered boring.Im fascinated by business stories and the people who make business happen.

Every business has a great story. On this holiday I have an excellent line up. For some reason there has been a wave of new business biographies, most of them with a digital theme.

I usually like to run the parallels between construction and the book I'm reading. In the past this has included everything from Henry Ford to Tesco.

The fist book I've finished is Creativity, inc by Ed Catmull.This is the story of Pxar. The book tells how the company went from being a division of Lucas film to in effect being the animation studio of Disney.

It works because of the balance of skills across the three founders. One leading technology, one leading creativity and the other being Steve jobs. Steve jobs is very much a side story in this book but I am absolutely convinced that this man was a genius. 

The book is one of the best I have read in relation to how to truly develop a creative culture.Pixar lives and breathes creativity. When contrasted with what the Disney studio had become it is clear the difference culture makes to the success of an organisation.

The other major take away was the similarities in the digitising of construction. Obviously no one at Disney believed in digital animation and believed it had no future. They therefore ignored it and did not innovate. Pixar spent 20 year investing in the technology and proved how dated an analogue approache is. When Toy Story was released it was the beginning of the end for the traditional animation studios.

This is similar to those businesses who are not adopting digital technology at present in construction. The reality is analogue design and construction businesses will become artisan type organisation. This may work for some but at Space Group we want more. We want to rethink our world and make it better. To achieve this we believe digital tools and data are essential as Pixar did.

In the end Disney ended up paying nearly $8 billion dollars for Pixar with the additional embarrassment of the Pixar CEO and VP taking over the leadership of both studios. Interestingly with fresh creative leadership Disney studios has recovered with recent box office hits such  as Tangled and Frozen.

Pixar has also continued to be a success. A great read for anyone interested in creativity and real change.

After reading the Pixar story I was compelled to read the Walt Disney story. Another great visionary and someone who had a burning passion for animation. He seemed to have little interest in business and was more interested in ideas. The business and money followed. Reading between the lines his brother Roy was the steadying influence in the business and gave his brother the space to be creative and to follow his dreams.

Two great stories about creativity, vision and passion.

Results from a bold Strategy

Laing O Rouke issued their company results last week.

What I love about LOR is their vision and their boldness in rethinking construction. They disregard everything which is established as a tier one constructor. They have looked to where they can add value and most importantly invested heavily.

Even the fact they their CEO is a woman is a great statement in itself in a narrow minded industry.

LOR see themselves as an Engineering Enterprise and look for clients who see the value in this approach. This may mean they have to travel the world to find them.

Their Design for Manufacturing Assembly is a bold strategy. They invested in their concrete plant just at the wrong time when the market dipped. They continued to hold firm to their strategy and funded the factory through recession. I have no doubt that this strategy will catapult them ahead of the field over the next decade.

They have a fantastic programme in investing in their people and teaching them new skills which is often talked about but not acted upon in construction.

In the notes to accompany the results Anna Stewart made some great comments which I feel sum up the vision of the business. If any Teir 1 contractor is going to achieve vision 2025 it is LOR.

The following is an extract from the CEOs notes which for me give a clear articulation of where they are going.

"We are confident that following our strategy for Design for Manufacturing and Assembly and transferring as many activities away from construction sites into controlled factory environments, will ensure we are less impacted by the skills shortage in traditional trades and will not be driven to engage a lower skilled inherently less safe workforce."

Music to my ears!

Generation Z

Regular readers will be well aware of my interest in the differences between the generations from Baby Boomers, through to generation X and Y. 

The next generation I'd generation Z which due to their age there is little information.

"There is an increasing number of people starting to research this generations and set out some initial thoughts. This week there was and excellent article in the Times about this very subject. I have copied it here...

Get ready for Generation Z: a more driven, less vain, more puritanical cohort that is poised to make its mark on the world.

Precise parameters are disputed, but “Gen Z” is broadly said to include those born after 1995, a group that includes two billion people worldwide. Brought up in the shadow of 9/11 and amid a great recession, they were raised, say researchers, “in a socio-economic environment marked by chaos, uncertainty, volatility and complexity”.

The challenges seem to have moulded a new maturity: studies suggest this group is brimming with prudent, if rather puritanical, socially-aware, self-starting entrepreneurs. They have also been called the “first tribe of true digital natives”, or “screenagers”.

Gen Z members, it is said, are smarter than the baby boomers born in the wake of the Second World War. They also appear quite distinct from the slackers of Generation X — born roughly between 1960 and 1980 — characterised as “stuck in a terminal cynicism”.

A report by Sparks & Honey, a US advertising agency, highlights a number of defining Gen Z characteristics. It suggests they are more driven and less narcissistic than the millennial generation, or Generation Y, born between 1980 and 2000. Most say they would rather save money than spend. They drink less and smoke less cannabis than their elders, get into fewer fights at school and have less “risky sex”.

They plan to change the world for the better: 60 per cent of Gen Z “want to have an impact on the world” through their job, compared with 39 per cent of Millennials. A quarter of America’s Gen Z are already volunteering. More than 70 per cent would like to start their own business. A separate survey of 11,000 Gen Z children, cited inMaclean’s magazine, found 69 per cent would rather be smarter than better looking.

Sparks & Honey suggests that the 16-year-old activist and author Adora Svitak fits the Gen Z profile perfectly. Her writing ability made her a media star at the age of six, and she has campaigned to promote literacy and feminist values. A talk she gave, entitled, “What Adults Can Learn From Kids” has been viewed more than 3 million times online.

Other prominent members of Gen Z include Malala Yousafzai, the Pakistani 17-year-old who defied the Taliban to go to school and was shot by them – only to emerge as a globally recognised activist. Logan Laplante, 13, also fits the profile: while being homeschooled in California he designed his own progressive curriculum. A talk he gave on his “hackschooling” philosophy has been viewed more than 5 million times.

Meanwhile, researchers have suggested that The Hunger Games is the perfect Gen Z film. Depicting a dystopian future where teens get slaughtered, it reflected their bleak post 9/11 world – and the need for coping mechanisms to deal with it.

“Gen Z is already being branded as a welcome foil to the Millennials, who have been typecast as tolerant but also overconfident, narcissistic and entitled,” said Maclean’s magazine.

However, it also warns that their aptitude with technology means that “this is the first time in history kids know more than adults about something really important to society”.

The result, it suggests, “could well be the most profound generation gap ever” -- between parents at odds with the internet the their kids who driving a new type of digital society."

So who pulls the So who pulls the strings?

I wrote an article recently titled "No more boom and bust." In it I referenced the problems companies such as Balfour Beatty and Sir Robert McAlpine had had with difficult projects which subsequently have impacted upon business perception and performance.

I talked about how the culture of the industy was wrong and how we have been approaching things in the wrong way for too long.

The article has been published in a few places including my own blog and on linked in.

The response has been phenomenal. So many people took the time to support and add to the article. I even had responses from senior directors at Balfour Beatty supporting the sentiment of the article.

Also when I deliver talks or speak to people generally there is huge support for change.

What is puzzling me is that if there is so much support where is the support and drive coming from for how we do things now. Who is pushing for the adversarial approach? Who is promoting disjointed procurement.

It seems to me that actually no one really believes how we do things now is the right way. I suspect there are thousands of people in the construction industry who keep doing what they are doing and what they know day after day. The reality is they neither agree or disagree they just do their job.

 

I think it's fair to day they suffer from chronic apathy. This apathy was rife in the 90s and 2000s when it was easy to do things as we had always done them particularly when this made money.

What is different now there are people passsionate and supportive of change. There is little resistance as there aren't any supporters of our current culture

There is a new breed in the construction industry today who are passsionate about a better way and who will not tollerate current behaviours

We need to continue to disrupt the industry and grow adoption by example. Those who are apathetic will then change or die.

?

I wrote an article recently titled "No more boom and bust." In it I referenced the problems companies such as Balfour Beatty and Sir Robert McAlpine had had with difficult projects which subsequently have impacted upon business perception and performance.

I talked about how the culture of the industy was wrong and how we have been approaching things in the wrong way for too long.

The article has been published in a few places including my own blog and on linked in.

The response has been phenomenal. So many people took the time to support and add to the article. I even had responses from senior directors at Balfour Beatty supporting the sentiment of the article.

Also when I deliver talks or speak to people generally there is huge support for change.

What is puzzling me is that if there is so much support where is the support and drive coming from for how we do things now. Who is pushing for the adversarial approach? Who is promoting disjointed procurement.

It seems to me that actually no one really believes how we do things now is the right way. I suspect there are thousands of people in the construction industry who keep doing what they are doing and what they know day after day. The reality is they neither agree or disagree they just do their job.

 

I think it's fair to day they suffer from chronic apathy. This apathy was rife in the 90s and 2000s when it was easy to do things as we had always done them particularly when this made money.

What is different now there are people passsionate and supportive of change. There is little resistance as there aren't any supporters of our current culture

There is a new breed in the construction industry today who are passsionate about a better way and who will not tollerate current behaviours

We need to continue to disrupt the industry and grow adoption by example. Those who are apathetic will then change or die.

No more BIM

The term BIM or Building Information Modelling has been in "general circulation" since around 2006/7. The term has done wonders for moving the construction industry towards a digital revolution. We have benefitted from improving hardware and software and emerging generations who don't see technology as an add on but a necessity.

 

Whilst the term BIM was not first used by Autodesk they invested in the term and promoted it as it very effectively communicated what they were trying to achieve with technology. Clearly with a better understanding of the value of their software and its value sales would increase.

 

From someone who has spent a career fighting against many of the things considered acceptable in the construction industry BIM and all of the associated software was music to my ears. We bought our first copy of Revit parametric software back in 2000. This was even before Autodesk had bought the company.

 

The marketing of the term BIM pushed everything up a level with the final vindication being in May 2011 when the then Government Chief Construction Advisor Paul Morrell mandated that a 3D coordination and data or BIM should be included in government projects by 2016.

 

Coupled with the mandate the government invested in the BIM Task Group who helped to define the specific requirements and what level 2 actually means.

 

Within the public sector it is still work in progress however huge strides have been made within early adopter departments such as the Ministry of Justice.

 

The private sector has identified the value itself and has embraced new technologies and processes largely off the back of the good work carried out by government.

 

However now the term BIM is far too generic and can cause confusion. It is so commonly used now that it can lose impact. This is similar to the term Partnering which was adopted in the late 90s. Many people used the term but how many people truly understood it and worked in this way.

 

We have all heard people and organisations say yes we do BIM or can you do BIM. The term is now working against the vision and objective and we must be far more specific and less generic.

 

What BIM actually was, was the catalyst for change across the construction sector. We are now in the middle of a revolution to Digitise the Construction Industry. We have to be more specific about what we are doing and what we are trying to achieve.

 

For example we will author models or federate them. We may extract data which can be used in the operation of the building. We may use the federated model to extract quantities or link elements to the programme. All of this could be referred to as "BIM" if we adopt the term how it is currently used. We often end up with lots of debate about what is BIM and what isn't or is this level 2 or level three.

 

Who cares? This is all theory. We are digitising the Construction industry so we can improve our product, process and perceptions. We must deliver better value to our clients and demonstrate we understand their business and their issues and that we are able to respond intelligently and positively.