March Community Day

Last week COMT held its Spring Community Day in London. It was hosted by COMIT member Computerlinks and 58 people attended, which is a COMIT record.

COMIT community days usually get between 35 and 50 delegates, with 57 being the previous record (Winter 2012, hosted by Bentley in London). COMIT holds community days at various locations around the country to engage as many people as possible, but it is true to say that events in London tend to have a higher turnout.

Computerlinks provided a great venue in Cannon Street. There was a perfect view of the construction site across the road which was quite appropriate for a construction event.

Among the 58 attendees we had guests from 10 non-member technology and construction organisations and we also formally welcomed five new companies into membership. As usual we had a great mix of presentations and plenty of networking opportunities.

In the morning Carl Siddons from Network Rail gave a presentation about Immersive Virtual Reality, followed by one about  RFID and tracking technologies by Marvin Johnson of Bechtel.

After a short coffee break the focus turned to mobile Health & Safety with a presentation from Harrison O'Hara about the potential risks of mobile devices on site and their mitigation. Harrison is a graduate engineer from Costain and is currently working with COMIT as part of his Engineering Doctorate at Loughborough University.

Harrison was followed by COMIT's Stuart Young who announced the formation of a COMIT Mobile IT Health & Safety Working Group. This group will be developing safety protocols for the use of mobile devices on site in cooperation with organisations such as the Health and Safety Executive. Stuart demonstrated a proof-of-concept hi-visibility waistcoat with a pocket for a tablet computer.

Still on the theme of health and safety, there was a guest presentation from Damian Lynes and Roy Brown from OnSite Support. This covered various methods of tethering tools to mitigate some of the risks posed by working at height. This was followed by a mobile health and safety workshop, the results of which will be compiled by COMIT as part of the H&S working group.

After lunch and more networking Jason Philips and Alex Brandon from our host Computerlinks, provided an over-view of their services and some of the technical challenges to be faced in enabling the wide adoption of mobile devices in construction. This was followed by a presentation by Harry Parnell and Simon McGowen from Balfour Beatty about the use of BIM and Mobile Site Forms on the M25.

For more information about the March community day, including 3D printing with silkworms, look out for our 2014 Spring Newsletter which will be available on our website in the next few weeks.

You can now read the full COMIT Spring Newsletter here

CIC BIM Protocol - have you used it?

The CIC BIM Protocol was introduced in February last year (2013). It is a supplementary agreement that can be incorporated into UK construction contracts to provide a legal framework around the use of BIM. In particular it helps clarify certain obligations and liabilities that have previously been cited as problematic when using BIM on some projects.  The Protocol has been drafted for use on all common construction contracts and supports BIM working at Level 2.

COMIT are interested to know if you have had experience in using the CIC BIM Protocol and in particular if it was successful in allaying legal concerns around the adoption of BIM. This interest has been prompted by research being carried out by a student at Oxford Brookes University, which seems to indicate very patchy adoption of the protocol.

You can submit your own experience of the CIC BIM Protocol by completing this ONLINE QUESTIONNAIRE. It should take no more than 15 minutes to complete and your input would be greatly appreciated. COMIT will liaise with Oxford Brookes to publicize the results.  

Guest Lecture at Oxford Brookes University

Last night COMIT gave its annual guest lecture on Mobile Computing at Oxford Brookes University. The event was arranged by Dr. Henry Abanda, lecturer in Construction Infomatics in the Department of Real Estate and Construction. It was targeted at second year students enrolled on the undergraduate Construction Project Management Degree.

The lecture was delivered by Jason Scott, who has taken over this role from Neill Pawsey for the last couple of years. Neill delivered the lecture for a number of years but is no longer able to due to work commitments at Crossrail.

"As usual it's a pleasure talking to students at Oxford Brookes. They are a bright, engaging bunch and that makes it a fun evening. It's nice to be able to put some of the recent developments into context for them and dispel some myths" - Jason Scott 

Engaging the next generation of construction managers is an important part of what COMIT does, but it is not just a one-way street.

"They ask some really good questions! Not having any preconceptions can certainly help them see to the heart of an issue and that helps inform my own thinking." - Jason Scott

Oxford Brookes University is a COMIT partner and has previously hosted community days. It is particularly strong in the area of technology and construction and has been offering courses in real estate and construction for more than 40 years. The COMIT lectures are always well received by the students.

"I actually learnt a lot about the construction industry...what COMIT does to help link construction companies to the IT industry is a really beneficial and innovative idea because the two work so well together... a really useful and informative presentation, so thank you very much" - Jessica Dowdy, Second Year Student Rep