Institution News

Built Intelligence User Group Conference 2023 – Driving Change

CICES is delighted to sponsor the Built Intelligence conference 2023 which is being livestreamed on 22 March from 9am until 5pm. The independent conference is free and is dedicated to sharing knowledge and best practice on NEC contract hot topics, delivered by a diverse mix of leading industry experts.

An all-day event, it is jam-packed with live sessions and expert speakers covering NEC, construction contracts, construction law, net zero and sustainability, adjudication and disputes, public procurement and much more.

To register your attendance and for more details, sign up via www.builtintelligence.com/pages/built-intelligence-user-group-conference-2023. 

Countdown to Ocean Business 2023

Ocean Business 2023, the global technology and science exhibition for marine industries, is fast approaching. The three-day CICES-supported event, which runs from 18-20 April at the National Oceanography Centre in Southampton, is open to all visitors for free.

More than 300 manufacturers and service providers will be at the exhibition, allowing visitors to see tomorrow’s world today and meet the experts behind cutting-edge technology in an ocean environment.

Highlights include the latest in autonomous vehicle underwater monitoring from EvoLogics, as well as Maritime Robotics’ collision avoidance systems.

A one-day, free-to-attend conference will also take place, plus the Ocean Careers programme is back.

To register for free, visit www.oceanbusiness.com. 

Winter webinars thanks

Thanks to everyone who has contributed to and attended our recent winter webinars programme.

This includes Driver Trett’s Geraldine Fleming, as well as Ian Ellis of 3D at Depth and William Kelly from CICES Scottish regional committee and Glasgow University.

Keep an eye on our events page for the latest webinars at www.cices.org/events. 

Geo Business and Digital Construction Week return for 2023

Visitor registration is now open for Geo Business and Digital Construction Week (DCW) 2023. The free-to-attend events, hosted at ExCeL London on 17-18 May 2023, brings the geospatial community together all under one roof, as well as offer insight and inspiration to help built environment professionals design, build and operate better.

Geo Business 2023 will feature 120 global brands and cutting-edge start-ups showcasing the newest tech, tools and solutions for geospatial. Plus, a CPD-accredited education programme with 200 sessions to choose from will allow visitors to get up to date with the latest developments. Visitors to DCW 2023 will meet over 150 big-name brands, as well as all the latest solutions for digital construction.

There’s also a free-to-attend education programme featuring 300-plus expert speakers. The tech on display at Geo Business will include 3D visualisation and simultaneous localisation and mapping (SLAM), while DCW 2023 will see digital twins and augmented reality, plus much more.

To register for Geo Business, visit https://bit.ly/3YPS4Uh. For DCW 2023, visit https://bit.ly/3knOp0T. 

IMCA calls for offshore wind competitiveness programme

A week after launching the International Marine Contractors Association’s (IMCA) updated Renewables Contracting Principles (IMCA LCIC 014), IMCA’s CEO, Allen Leatt has made a further call for industry collaboration to address supply chain losses, Speaking at the Offshore Wind Journal Conference in London, one of his recommendations was the formation of LOWIC: Leading Offshore Wind Industry Competitiveness programme.

During his presentation ‘Wind Targets at Risk’, he looked at offshore wind capital expenditure, the difficult economic situation being faced by original equipment manufacturers and contractors and the fact that increased costs put final investment decisions at risk.

He said: “It is not sustainable, it requires an economic reset and normal returns by reducing costs with collaborative solutions and risk reallocation. What we need in the offshore wind industry is a new relationship amongst the wind stakeholders: government, developers, banks, insurers, OEMs, and contractors”.

A set of 28 contracting principles for industry to use has been developed by IMCA in its ‘At A Glance’ publication to help with this, which found at https://tinyurl.com/fe25wk72. 

BIM white paper – A summary

In May 2022, CICES published the white paper Transforming the Civil Engineer. Well received throughout our sector and other disciplines it was selected for presentation at esteemed trade events, including GeoBusiness in London, the International Federation of Surveyors (FIG) Congress in Poland and Sustainable and Digital Building in Portugal. The white paper focuses significantly on building information modelling (BIM) and how it can be applied to address various issues in construction. Most prominent of these is the shortfall in adoption of digital engineering to realise the efficiencies of data sharing and survey expertise. The resulting disconnect between commercial management and geospatial surveyors in civil engineering is addressed in depth.

Digital transformation

The white paper asserts that ‘digital transformation’ will enable a profession fit for 2050 and beyond. In ‘transforming the civil engineer’, the white paper authors consider the barriers within infrastructure projects that prevent the uptake of:

• Digital engineering
• Information management
• Data sharing
• Building information modelling (BIM).

Of course, today’s barriers will be different to tomorrow’s, so the document also details:

• How surveyors can assess their digital maturity
• What’s required to face the challenges of tomorrow and decades to come with confidence.

Recommended reading

‘Transforming the civil engineer’ white paper is the result of the dedication, hard work and collaboration between respected experts and experienced professionals. Following the formation and collaboration of working groups, their outputs were collated into a draft document. This subsequently underwent numerous reviews – including by the UK BIM Alliance – with clarifications, suggestions and amends incorporated as required.

CICES president, Andy Evans, one of the lead authors of the white paper, commented: “Whether you’re working in construction, civils, surveying, project management or even on the client side, I’d recommend taking the time to read this paper. You’ll gain an appreciation of how to maximise productivity through better management of site data. And there’s also a clear focus on better understanding BIM and how it relates to civil engineering during site operations.”

You can view and download the white paper for free from the CICES website www.cices.org