A Spec for Success Building within a Common Data Environment

In the decade since the 2009 economic downturn in the UK, there have been a number of changes in the construction industry. With consolidation in the sector and intensification of competition companies have found themselves having to identify technology to help them become more efficient not only in the bidding process but throughout the entire management and closeout of projects. By Q3 2018, the construction sector’s output was 14 percent higher than in Q1 2007. This, despite the number of construction jobs as a proportion of all jobs having fallen since 2010. Construction may have come late to the technology party, but the industry is starting to make up for lost time.

In the same timeframe, BIM Level 2 certification (fully collaborative 3D BIM) on all public sector projects became a mandatory requirement, with the expectation of full implementation by 2020. The official adoption of this process also increased the file sizes for projects, as well as the need for an agnostic common data environment that goes beyond simple file storage to work with those large files.