In the fourth of a short series of Q&As to mark the turning of the year, Johnny Furlong reviews 2024 and looks ahead to this year. The Dalux building owners account executive celebrates the passing of the torch from BIM to information management.
BIMplus: What was the best thing that happened in information management and digital construction in 2024?
Johnny Furlong: The best thing that happened is that the purest form of ISO 19650 BIM that was being forced on our industry finally died. For too many years, the form of BIM where you had to religiously stick to every unusable element of ISO 19650 and COBie was not adding any value to our industry. It was a blocker to innovation and creativity and added little to make our industry more efficient. I think even the diehards understood this. And I think we can say the purest form of ISO 19650 BIM officially died. From the ashes, information management is about to be reborn.
This is something to celebrate. Ideally, we could have a massive Irish-style wake for BIM, where we sit down over too many drinks, telling stories about all the crazy adventures we went on with BIM. About the good times and the bad. And how we fell in love, then out of love with BIM.
“I’d say it’s going to be a rollercoaster, with some companies crashing and burning as their ‘AI’ gets found out to be nothing more than smoke and mirrors.”
On a personal note, the best thing was the Dalux Summit in beautiful Copenhagen. There were 2,000 Dalux customers showing all the awe-inspiring projects they are delivering. For all the faults our industry has, the projects we deliver are incredible. And how these companies are using advanced digital technologies is awesome. It’s events like Dalux Summit and Digital Construction North that inspire me and remind me of the good in our industry.
What are you looking forward to professionally this year?
I’m looking forward to AI.
For the last few years, I have been saying how useless and overhyped AI is. Not because I didn’t believe in it as a technology, but everyone who showed me their idea for AI in construction and asset management had a rubbish idea.
But in 2024, for the first time, I have seen some great ideas for AI in our industry. I am really looking forward to seeing how this progresses. I’d say it’s going to be a rollercoaster, with some companies crashing and burning as their ‘AI’ gets found out to be nothing more than smoke and mirrors, and other companies will smash it out of park by developing good AI that delivers incredible efficiency gains for their customers.
What does the industry need to do more (or less of) this year?
Our industry needs to increase profit margins, so we can have fewer failures like ISG.
Do you have any sort of festive ritual?
Like a Christmas miracle, even though I don’t plan to, I somehow find myself every day in a great pub having a few pints of Guinness with friends and family, having an awesome time filled with fun, laughter and love. So, I guess this counts as my ritual.
Recommend a book, podcast, TV series, film or album that you enjoyed in 2024.
The book I would recommend is Peter Apps’ Show Me The Bodies: How We Let Grenfell Happen. Even though it’s a few years old, it’s still relevant today. It’s a powerful book on how our industry works (or doesn’t work). It sets out clearly the corporate greed and institutional indifference and incompetence that led to 72 deaths in the fire at Grenfell. It should be a must-read for anyone in our industry. Unfortunately, there are still too many rogue actors in our industry. But ultimately, I believe good will triumph over evil. And we are making progress even if it is painfully slow at times.
The podcast I would recommend is 13 Minutes to the Moon on BBC. It tells the story of the last 13 minutes on the Apollo 11 descent for the first human to land on the moon. It’s amazing to get an insight into project management at its finest. It’s inspirational and has loads of great lessons for construction and how we could do project management.
My recommended film is Small Things Like These starring Cillian Murphy. It’s about Ireland’s notorious Magdalene Laundries: the church’s homes for unwed mothers who were forced to work in insanely inhumane conditions and had their babies taken away and sold to foster parents. It’s crazy to think that this was happening up until 1996, the year I started university. The film also shows the best in humanity too, with those that helped mothers escape that evil church-run system.
My album of the year is by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds: Wild God. An instant classic about how we’ve all had too much sorrow, and now is the time for joy.
Don’t miss out on information management and digital construction news: sign up to receive the BIMplus newsletter.
