The Build Digital Project recently held a colloquium at the Construction Industry Federation’s headquarters, at which it set out its programme of work and key objectives.   

Build Digital Project

The recent Build Digital Project (Build Digital) colloquium, hosted at the Construction Industry Federation’s (CIF’s) headquarters, provided an opportunity for industry representatives from CIF, RIAI, ACEI, SCSI, Engineers Ireland and the Building Materials Federation to inform the Build Digital team on precisely what digital transformation looks like to their businesses and for their supply chain, as well as what they want to see Build Digital deliver over the next few years.

Build Digital’s core objective is to transform Irish construction by enabling all stakeholders, particularly SMEs, clients, and suppliers, to develop, maintain, and continuously improve their capabilities as digitally enabled, standards-based, agile, collaborative and sustainable participants in the delivery of Project Ireland 2040.

Build Digital Project colloquium speakers

The colloquium included presentations from Pat Lucey, Chair, Build Digital Project Steering Group; PJ Rudden, Chair, CSG Innovation and Digital Adoption Group; Neil Kerrigan, Head of Industry Led Research & Collaboration Programmes, Enterprise Ireland; Stephen Lynam, Technical Advisor, Office of Government Procurement (OGP); Robert Moore, Project Lead, Build Digital Project; and Dr Clare Eriksson, Project Director, Building Digital Project.

Colloquium presentations

In his opening remarks, Pat Lucey commented, “Good information management is happening for private clients, and this has helped the public sector, but it needs to be driven by the public client now.”

PJ Rudden emphasised the importance of collaboration and digital for delivering quality infrastructure for the National Development Plan on time and on budget, while Robert Moore acknowledged that the level of industry engagement at the event showed that Build Digital is extremely important to the sector.

In his presentation, the OGP’s Stephen Lynam set out the intended timing of the roll-out of the digital mandate on public works contracts, explaining it will commence in Q1, 2024 and will be introduced on an incremental basis over the next four years.

Enterprise Ireland’s Neil Kerrigan commented that construction is one of the best sectors in the Irish economy, but it doesn’t get the recognition it should get. “For the first time, we have now organised the sector around the seven action areas under the leadership of PJ Rudden, and it is undergoing a huge transformation.”

The Build Digital colloquium was hosted by Fiona O’Carroll, CEO, Digital Mindset, who has a wealth of experience in digital transformation in other industry sectors. She outlined the importance of having good leadership and culture due to the disruption caused by new technologies to ways of working and that this is evident in all industries.

Consideration for people and culture critical

The colloquium was closed by Dr Clare Eriksson, Project Director, Build Digital Project. Dr Eriksson said that the initial aim of the workshop was to talk about the value and benefits of the project and that delegates gave the Build Digital Project a clear sense of direction on what is important to them on their digital adoption journey. Reiterating what Fiona O’Carroll had said about leadership and culture, Dr Eriksson concluded by saying, “Consideration for people and culture is critical to drive change through and to make change happen, and raising awareness and confidence around digital technology in the construction sector and raising awareness of Build Digital is going to be key to achieving this.”

To get involved or learn more about the Build Digital Project, visit www.builddigitalproject.ie or email, robert.moore@builddigitalproject.ie