Hybrid cloud approach to accelerate digital transformation in the construction industry SpecifiedBy, the specification-led marketing and product data specialist, has been named as one of the global collaborators helping to develop OpenBuilt, a new platform designed to help securely connect fragmented construction industry supply chains. Built on Red Hat OpenShift
SpecifiedBy, a company that works to offer a search and comparison capability to help architects and professionals in the construction industry to research the building products that they specify, has announced that they will be working in collaboration with the University of Glasgow with funding and support from The Data
BDC 319 : Aug 2024
Hybrid cloud approach to accelerate digital transformation in the construction industry SpecifiedBy, the specification-led marketing and product data specialist, has been named as one of the global collaborators helping to develop OpenBuilt, a new platform designed to help securely connect fragmented construction industry supply chains. Built on Red Hat OpenShift and running on IBM Cloud, OpenBuilt will offer new digital solutions to help innovate and drive more efficient, sustainable and safer construction projects. SpecifiedBy has been invited to integrate its industry-leading solution for finding and researching building products for specification into OpenBuilt during the development. This will enable OpenBuilt users to build additional functionality into their intelligent workflows. SpecifiedBy’s Founder and CEO, Darren Lester, said: “OpenBuilt has the potential to transform the building and construction industry by leveraging the huge benefits of technology within an ecosystem to advance digital transformation for everyone. “For us it’s always been about enabling the building and construction industry to adopt more sophisticated digital approaches to their product research and specification processes, and we do this by giving them the tools that they need to make this as simple and straightforward as possible. This exactly aligns with the ambition of OpenBuilt, so we’re delighted to be one of the first to be part of this unique cross-industry collaboration.” The construction industry has long been challenged with project delays, cost overages as well as wasted materials often caused by disconnected processes and poorly coordinated activities and resources. Companies across the built environment including architects, building material suppliers, manufacturers, construction and engineering firms are now looking to innovate and speed up the expansion of their digital strategy. By moving away from largely manual processes, the industry will be able to explore more effective ways of working. OpenBuilt is designed to allow companies across the global built environment and construction industry to securely connect their current technology platforms and digital solutions to partners, suppliers or subcontractors in their supply chain via a single integration hub. It aims to help improve communication and securely exchange data across the supply chain. Alongside IBM, Red Hat and CoBuilder as leaders, the OpenBuilt development is being steered by founding partners Cemex, EDIN Network, Backe, Sol Services and Element.
SpecifiedBy, a company that works to offer a search and comparison capability to help architects and professionals in the construction industry to research the building products that they specify, has announced that they will be working in collaboration with the University of Glasgow with funding and support from The Data Lab and the Construction Scotland Innovation Centre. The project that will be worked on by this collaboration will lead to the development of innovative tools and processes that use Artificial Intelligence, or AI, machine learning, big data and natural language processing technologies in order to automatically convert technical construction product information which is then contained within unstructured, static documents and websites into structured digital data assets. The Founder and CEO of SpecifiedBy, Darren Lester has said that as consumers, it is getting more and more convenient to search and compare prices for a range of services and products when shopping online. However, the same cannot be said about the construction industry., which means that the same process seems slow and laborious in comparison. It is a great leap forward to use the same principles that are favoured by consumers to increase competitiveness in the construction industry and help clients, architects and professionals get the best deal for the work they want carrying out. The new technology that will be worked on by the University of Glasgow and SpecifiedBy has the potential to lead to the automation of this search process and transform construction, turning it into a digital industry. The support that the collaborative team have received from The Data Lab and Construction Scotland Innovation Centre will help this project to go further and create a beneficial service for the construction industry. The project, when developed further, will be put to use to help construction product manufacturers all across the UK, and will help them to independently transition their own technical construction product information into digital assets that can be easily managed and then put to use in the industry.
