AtkinsRéalis, Balfour Beatty and McLaughlin & Harvey were among the big winners at the Digital Construction Awards 2024, held last night (2 July) before 450 of the sector’s leading lights.
AtkinsRéalis won two trophies on the night for two very different projects: working with the Geospatial Commission, it won Digital Innovation in Productivity, sponsored by Dassault Systèmes, for the National Underground Asset Register; and it also won Best Application of Technology, sponsored by Digital Construction North, for its Virtual Site Access approach in the nuclear sector.
Balfour Beatty secured the coveted title of Digital Construction Project of the Year, sponsored by Revizto, for its work on the Midland Metropolitan University Hospital. Balfour stepped in to complete construction of the hospital in December 2019 following Carillion’s collapse. Despite a mammoth commissioning challenge (there were circa 52,000 commissioning activities), Balfour’s approach resulted in improved productivity and cost reductions.
McLaughlin & Harvey was named Digital Contractor of the Year, sponsored by Procore, having met the digital construction challenge by focusing on people, processes and technology.
Sir Robert McAlpine was victorious in the Delivering Sustainability with Digital Innovation category, sponsored by Zero, thanks its work with materials passports on the 1 Broadgate project.
The team of United Utilities, MWH Treatment, Stantec and J Murphy Sons secured the Digital Collaboration of the Year trophy, sponsored by Bluebeam, for their work on the Oswestry Water Treatment Works. The team had 33 months to deliver the £145m project while maintaining a live site with uninterrupted supply to United Utilities customers.
Rising Star of the Year
Laing O’Rourke digital engineer Ben Hardie won the Digital Rising Star of the Year trophy, sponsored by the Chartered Institute of Building. Since joining the contractor straight from sixth form, he has earned the nickname of the ‘Swiss Army knife of digital engineering’.
The Digital Innovation in Health, Safety and Wellbeing trophy, sponsored by Mission Room, went to the Health & Safety Executive’s Discovering Safety programme for its trial of sensors that can be physically attached to people and plant, and digitally linked to a BIM model to create safety zones.
The Best Use of Data On A Project trophy, sponsored by nima, was won by iDEA, which developed a digital campus in the Unity game engine to help King’s College London with its long-term campus masterplan.
Queenswood won the Digital Consultancy of the Year award, sponsored by Women in BIM, for the key role it played in minimising project delays on HS2 by improving engagement with local councils and communities affected by the mega-project’s construction.
One Creative Environments won the Product Innovation of the Year trophy, sponsored by BIMplus, for its ONE Engage building safety platform that connects residents, landlord safety teams, and fire and rescue services digitally.
Ulster University won the Digital Innovation in Asset Management award, sponsored by Digital Construction Week, for its virtual campus. This is a student-driven project that uses a digital workflow to create immersive virtual replicas of key spaces across the university, allowing users to explore and connect with their campus.
Digital Champion of the Year
And finally, Pam Bhandal was named Digital Construction Champion of the Year, sponsored by Construction Management – not for her near-decade at Autodesk nor her current role at Revizto, but for her unstinting support of the sector and growing the BIM community through her demonstrable impact on the UK BIM Alliance and the Women in BIM network.
Stay tuned to BIMplus and Construction Management to find out more about each category winner. The awards ceremony took place at the Brewery in London. Comedian Tom Allen entertained the guests. The awards are run by Digital Construction Week, the CIOB, BIMplus and Construction Management.
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