Tina Pringle, director of technical information at NBS, takes her turn in the spotlight. Here she shares her excitement about Big Data and the benefits of What Three Words and Sonos.
What new built environment digital innovation that you’ve seen recently really excites you?
I love the principle of Big Data, being able to gather, analyse and share information to improve outputs and efficiencies and forward plan. Over the coming years, this will really enable the construction sector to become fully digital, and big data will be key in helping us as an industry to meet the real challenges we face around sustainability and improving building safety.
Beyond this, as someone who’s obsessed with history and the past, the way that ancient and modern concepts are blending is hugely exciting. We are seeing an increasing number of heritage restoration projects utilising digital construction tools – the Palace of Westminster’s use of Uniclass is a great example of this.
‘The next step is for smaller businesses and practices to be adequately supported when adopting new digital tools.’
What single thing would help accelerate construction’s digital adoption?
NBS recently launched the latest version of the Digital Construction report 2021. A key finding was that the pandemic has led to a rapid uptake in digital adoption. People were forced to adapt to an entirely new way of working almost overnight, and many found that cloud-based tools were essential.
The next step is for smaller businesses and practices to be adequately supported when adopting new digital tools. Some won’t have access to the same level of training and development resources as larger businesses. That’s why we at NBS have invested hugely in our webinar and conference programme – in the first six months of 2021, we had more than 20,000 people attend our sessions. This shows just how hungry the sector is for information.
Then I’ve got to say that we also need more people to adopt consistent classification systems: using approaches like Uniclass enables better information management, which saves time and money.
Who do you follow on social media about BIM and digital construction – and why?
As I work globally, I follow BIM Alliance to keep up to date on their feedback and reflections of industry events. In Australia, I follow Building Smart Australia to keep in touch with what is occurring in the Australian digital landscape and the same with BIM Forum International to see what happening globally. Of course I also follow the NBS LinkedIn and Twitter feed as there’s loads there about digital construction
What was the last app you downloaded and why?
What Three Words. I do a lot of horse riding and hill walking, both of which can be in remote places, so it’s great that you can let people know exactly where you are.
What’s the tech bane of your life?
The fact that every device has a different charger: when you go away, you need a bag just for the chargers!!!
Mac or PC/iOS or Android?
It’s a real mix! PCs and Windows for both home and work, iPhones for work and home, and iPads at home.
Do you have any smart home features or other digital gadgets?
We have a Hive at home that manages the heating and lighting: it’s great to be able to monitor what’s going on at home while you are out. I’m a big fan of being able to magically turn down the heating when I’m out and everyone else thinks the house needs to be at a tropical temperature.
When it comes to music, we have a Sonos system throughout the house. It allows us not only to stream from our phones but also to have music in multiple spaces when working from home. I love that each room has its own music theme, classical in the lounge, rock in the kitchen and 80s classics in the office.
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