AEC software specialist Allplan, part of the Nemetschek Group, has acquired, Manufacton, the US developer of an offsite construction platform that provides real-time visibility to offsite production and optimises prefabrication processes through AI and data-driven decision-making.

According to Allplan, the acquisition will enable it to capitalize on the potential growth in the modular construction and Design for Manufacturing (DfMA) sectors, strengthen its position in the US market, and provide Manufacton with a platform to expand its presence in Europe and Asia Pacific.

“We are delighted to welcome the Manufacton team to the Allplan family,” said Eduardo Lazzarotto, chief product and strategy officer at Allplan.

“Manufacton is a great fit and a perfect complement to our existing portfolio of construction solutions. This acquisition enhances our expertise in covering the entire product lifecycle and gives us a strong competitive advantage in the rapidly growing modular construction and DfMA markets.”

Manufacton provides integrated project management software for offsite construction and prefabrication. Its solution, used by general and specialty trade contractors, as well as modular builders, combines manufacturing production and construction project management software.

According to Allplan, this enables contractors to ‘seamlessly manage and track’ offsite construction and modular fabrication throughout the construction process.

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AI has been part of our technological landscape for years, but its capabilities are rapidly advancing. The construction industry, in particular, is witnessing unprecedented changes driven by AI, with technology being used in ways unimaginable just a year ago. As AI continues to evolve, it promises to drive significant improvements in industry operations.

Generative AI stands as a prime example of this evolution. The advent of tools like ChatGPT has revolutionised our interaction with AI, integrating it into daily tasks such as automated meeting transcriptions and suggested email responses. These tools help to enhance productivity by allowing us to instead focus on tasks that require expertise and judgement. Generative AI is also paving the way for advancements in generative design and machine learning.

In essence, AI enables machines to handle repetitive tasks, freeing humans to leverage their specialised skills. AI is not a replacement for people but a complement that enhances human capabilities.

Benefits vs challenges

Whether you view AI optimistically or pessimistically, its benefits in boosting productivity and efficiency are undeniable. AI minimises mundane tasks, allowing professionals to focus on higher-level work that requires human insight and experience. According to the McKinsey report “Artificial intelligence: Construction technology’s next frontier”, if widely adopted, AI could significantly improve the construction industry’s productivity levels.

Either way, the last year has raised AI up the agenda for the built environment, making people curious and willing to engage with it.

However, the rapid development of AI also brings challenges. The need for responsibility and risk management in AI adoption is paramount. As the industry embraces AI, there is a pressing need for formal standards and guidance on AI implementation. Questions concerning where and how AI should be applied, and how its use should be communicated to clients, remain critical.

Industry feedback indicates a clear need for balance between AI’s risks and opportunities. Striking this balance requires an understanding of AI’s capabilities and limitations and the potential risks it presents. Organisations must be prepared with AI strategies aligned with their digital and data initiatives.

The call for standardisation

The construction industry is calling for formal standards and guidance to build confidence in AI adoption. This need is evident in sectors like the nuclear industry, where accuracy, reporting, and traceability are crucial. The potential security threats and risks of error make it challenging for new technologies to penetrate these sectors. However, when correctly implemented, opportunities abound.

Responsibility and liability

A critical question in AI adoption is where the responsibility lies if something goes wrong. Whether you are a contractor, engineer, surveyor or consultant, you have to stand by the advice, service and output you provide to clients, and like all things, AI isn’t infallible.

Speaking to those in the industry and the consensus suggests that a company’s liability for AI is akin to its liability for any other product or service. This makes it the company’s responsibility to ensure quality checks before sharing AI-generated outputs. AI does not eliminate the need for human oversight; rather, it heightens the need for quality assurance.

For us at Trimble, quality data is essential from a technological provider’s perspective. The principle of “garbage in, garbage out” underscores the importance of feeding accurate information into AI systems for effective outcomes.

Ultimately, AI is a tool, and we remain the professionals who wield it. While AI can provide predictive and generative insights, human judgement is crucial in interpreting and applying these insights. Responsibility cannot be abdicated to AI; it remains with us, the users.

The future of AI in construction holds immense potential, but its successful integration depends on responsible use, guided by robust standards and informed by human expertise.

Stuart Campbell is senior manager, enterprise sales team at Trimble

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Established in 2005, Dalux is a Danish software firm which has created a digital platform for almost everything outside of BIM authoring tools. It focusses on information management, design management, model validation, tendering, site inspections, and snagging, for construction firms, developers and consultants. Dalux’s software expands through the lifecycle to data handover and facilities management. The company is also scaling up into infrastructure and GIS.

Dalux started off creating what it claims to be the fastest BIM model viewing tool, being first to apply games technology to BIM geometry, an early entry into what is now the Common Data Environment (CDE) market. From that initial product Dalux has built a whole platform around its centralised data model, expanding to mobile and augmented reality.

Dalux now has a global user base of over 1 million professionals across 147 countries. Despite its scope and reach, the company is very much headquartered in Copenhagen, Denmark, which is the centre of operations and development.

The company has an annual user meeting, the Dalux Summit, which is hosted in Copenhagen. This year AEC Magazine attended to delve deeper into the products and the community. With over 1,800 attendees, the scale was much larger than we anticipated and the whole vibe was a unique experience.

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Dalux feels like a family business and the dialogue and interactions between customers and the team gave the distinct impression that development of features and capabilities was a much more interactive process than at other software companies. Dalux has ‘Hygge’, a Danish word that roughly translates to ‘cosiness.’

The family business is run by two brothers, Torben and Bent Dalgaard. Torben is the CEO and Bent is the CTO. In their morning address to attendees, one slide caught the zeitgeist perfectly – the brothers reassured the audience that Dalux is an independent software firm, that has no loans, no investors and is owned by Bent & Torben.

While many 19-year old firms that have been growing 60% annually for almost a decade would be wafting share value, revenue or profit as an essential part of their mainstage moment, they opted to reassure customers that, unlike firms with shareholders that are repeat plunderers of their customers’ design technology budgets, Dalux is not in that game. There are very few AEC software companies with this attitude that come to mind – the most notable others being McNeel (Rhino) and Qonic.

The Dalux product family

At the moment, Dalux offers nine products, which it has grouped in information management, onsite management and facility management, with almost half of its brands in on-site management.

BIM Viewer is free and works on desktop and mobile. It supports native BIM, IFC and drawings, with a range of free plug-ins for Revit, Solibri, Archicad, Navisworks and Tekla. It offers a suite of tools including measure, filter, properties, and make sections. Comments can be added, clashes from Solibri and Navisworks can be imported. We suspect that this is the gateway drug to the Dalux ecosystem!

Box is the core collaboration and CDE platform that delivers BIM geometry and data to collaborating project teams. It is accessed via the web browsers of supported mobile devices (iOS or Android).

Having extracted the data from the BIM authoring tool, Box centralises all the project information in managed folders for design and construction teams to view, review and approve 2D and 3D data with individual team controls. Additionally, Box offers the ‘always requested’ clash detection, for both hard and soft clashes, as well as perform other geometry checks, such as point clouds from as-built.

Dalux Box Sync will download folders and files between the web and a local computer. It will also upload any files you want or have changed, making them available to other project participants.

Field is the product for quality control, health and safety, snagging/punch list and on-site reality capture. It brings the latest drawings to site and assists in scheduling and managing site inspections with customisable checklists. While onsite observation/ snags, health and safety reports can be quickly created and documented with the phone’s camera, the system is smart enough to know where in the site you are located – time and floor. There are workflow tools to trigger actions to those who need to resolve remedial work. The reports are accessible to project workers and issues clearly identified on the latest drawings.

Field Basic is a free punch list tool that supports drawings and BIM models and enables tasks, collaboration amongst defined groups, and sign-off.

Field Sitewalk enables the quick capture of a site using video from a helmet-mounted 360 degree camera. The video frames make photographing the site effortless. These are automatically mapped in the Dalux system. Teams back in the office can use the system to see the current state of construction and even compare the site against the BIM model to see if the work is on track. The system offers some very clever registration between the rooms captured and generating the same view from the BIM geometry.

Infrafield is Dalux spreading its wings into the world of projects that span tens of kilometres, rather than metres with individual buildings. Given Dalux’s client list, we can well understand how Infrastructure became inevitable.

Infrafield required a new modelling engine technology to provide the expansive co-ordinate system. It supports 2D and 3D, Google Maps 3D tiles, drawings, GIS layers, terrain layers, and point clouds. Like ‘Field’ it can be used to track progress and capture issues. Users can create sections and cuts, measurements. It is seamlessly integrated into the Dalux ecosystem, so infrastructure models can be shared.

FM – facilities management – is probably another no brainer for following the design and construction data, into operations. It’s quite refreshing to not have to deal with the branding bludgeon that is digital twin. FM is a web and mobile content management system for 2D and 3D asset management, operations and maintenance. It combines floorplans, mapping and modelling based on location, aiding navigation. It offers a helpdesk ticketing system, work order generation, maintenance schedule and is a conduit for additional digitised documents, asset information, photos etc.

Again, the smart application uses GPS to position the user in floorplans and can be used in conjunction with QR codes for asset tagging or room tagging. The system comes with workflow tools to route tickets to the right department or person.

Handover is the Dalux product for packaging up and handing over design, construction and associated project information post build. Using templates, Handover can save a lot of time making sure the right information is used for FM downstream. It can output PDF reports and COBie files.

Tender is the secure app for distributing tenders on projects through Dalux and integrates to Dalux Field. Tender bids come with ready packaged up documents in a logical folder structure. The project owner remains in control and Dalux provides a full audit trail of any changes.

Conclusion

While US giants Procore and Autodesk Construction Cloud look to dominate the flow of data among construction and subcontractor firms, Dalux appears to be a European equivalent that is holding its own. However, the Dalgaard brothers have managed to keep the firm accessible to its customers and build a unique relationship.

As I understand, firms pay fees based on project size, as opposed to by number of users, meaning Dalux becomes the single source of truth for the construction data for all participants.

Dalux appears very support-centric, and it prioritises ongoing connection with developers and product champions in their customer base. It’s another reason why 1,800 people would visit Copenhagen to meet up with what felt more like a bespoke outsourced software developer, than a firm trying to meet next quarter’s targets.

Main image: In their morning address to attendees the Dalgaard brothers caught the zeitgeist perfectly

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Trimble gave attendees of its annual Trimble Dimensions user conference an inside look at the company’s latest initiatives to incorporate AI into AEC workflows, including visualisation, reality capture, project management and takeoff.

For visualisation, SketchUp Diffusion [Labs] is a generative AI-powered tool, available as part of the SketchUp Labs public beta program, that allows architects and designers to generate visualisations in seconds based on the active SketchUp viewport and a natural language text prompt or preset style.

Learn more about Diffusion models in this guide for AEC professionals).

For project management, ProjectSight includes a new drawing import feature that uses AI to read and extract critical drawing information for improved project visualisation.

For takeoff, Trimble LiveCount uses new AI functionality to automatically detect and count thousands of symbols on construction drawings with a view to saving contractors from hours of manual, repetitive and time-consuming tasks.

Trimble LiveCount includes the ability to automatically detect and count different types of receptacles and switches — the most common electrical items on drawings, helping electrical contractors create estimates faster, easier and more accurately.

Trimble LiveCount AI functionality is available in the Trimble Accubid Anywhere (named user) and Hosted Accubid Classic Estimating Essentials subscriptions.

Meanwhile, Trimble has announced that SketchUp has surpassed one million active subscribers.

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Trimble has enhanced Trimble App Xchange to make it easier for software developers and construction contractors to build integrations between Trimble and other software solutions.

Additionally, contractors can create custom integrations with ‘unique workflow automation’ across project management, workforce management and financial management.

Key integrations can be found on Trimble Marketplace, which now boasts more than 100 integrations between Trimble products and third-party solutions

“App Xchange and Trimble Marketplace are key parts of our commitment to facilitating open, interoperable systems and an automated flow of data between solutions from Trimble and other software vendors,” said Chris Peppler, VP of platform and product for Trimble. “We’ve made it easier for contractors and other software developers to access and use these solutions because data sharing and workflow integration are increasingly vital to operational efficiency, productivity and safety.”

One construction software company, Tooltribe, recently used Trimble App Xchange to build an integration between its cloud-based app and construction ERP software Trimble Viewpoint Vista. The integration will help track tools, equipment, and consumables on job sites and in offices.

Trimble has also recently added several new integrations to the Trimble Marketplace. These include AI- technology startup Document Crunch and construction-focused customer relationship management (CRM) system ProjectMark.

Document Crunch is designed to simplify complex construction documents, identify project risks and streamline critical workflows.

“Having all Trimble integrations in one place makes it easy for contractors to pick and choose the solutions that best fit their specific needs — whether they be financial or project-related,” said Peppler.

“It also helps make the construction industry more approachable to technology startups by providing entrepreneurs an easy way to interconnect their solution with others, driving up the value to contractors who are explicitly looking to make their businesses more efficient and profitable.”

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In construction, it’s easy to get swept up in the buzz around emerging technologies like robots, drones, reality capture, XR, and AI. Yet, despite these advancements, significant inefficiencies remain in everyday workflows – particularly in how the industry manages and collaborates on documents and drawings.

While established project management platforms like Procore and Autodesk Construction Cloud (ACC) offer more sophisticated solutions, HP sees a gap in the market for a simpler, more cost-effective alternative. Enter HP Build Workspace, a new cloud-based platform developed by HP’s Construction Services Division in Barcelona, which works closely with the company’s DesignJet large-format printing team.

“We identified that there were a lot of people that just weren’t using those tools [Procore, ACC] precisely for those reasons [cost, complexity], and therefore there was an opportunity to really simplify the process,” explains Daniel Martínez, global head and general manager, HP large format.

HP Build Workspace aims to tackle a range of common pain points in construction, from managing and distributing drawings to documenting site visits, generating site reports, and converting legacy drawings into editable vector CAD files.

The team behind HP Build Workspace spent several months embedded at construction sites to better understand workflows and pinpoint areas for improvement. One key observation was the time-consuming and fragmented way site conditions and issues were documented and communicated, as Martinez explains, “[They are] basically taking photos on their phone, going back to their office, downloading the photos onto their desktop and sorting them out. They’re then spending hours preparing the reports.”

With HP Build Workspace, photos taken on-site can be immediately linked to specific locations on floorplans through an iOS or Android mobile app, significantly simplifying documentation. Observations can be categorised, augmented with text or voice notes and then automatically fed into reports that can be shared easily with other project members.

HP Build Workspace provides a centralised hub for document management, enabling teams to access files / drawings from anywhere. Everything is managed through the cloud platform, ensuring a single source of truth and providing an audit trail. In contrast to relying on isolated communications via WhatsApp or email, all stakeholders are directed to the platform via a link. In the future, HP Build Workspace will also be able to sync to cloud storage services including Google Drive, Dropbox and OneDrive.

A new life for legacy drawings

Perhaps one of the most innovative aspects of HP Build Workspace is its ability to convert legacy construction drawings into CAD-editable vector files with much higher accuracy than before.

“It’s a big pain point today,” explains Martinez, adding that most companies ship their PDF or scan files overseas, or hire drafters locally. “It’s a very expensive process, very time consuming,” he says.

“We scan millions of drawings a year, and [automatic conversion] is a service that our customers have been asking for, for years. We just hadn’t necessarily focused on it or felt that we had the right technology to address it the way that we felt that it should be addressed,” explains Martinez.

The technology that Martinez is referring to is, of course is AI, specifically machine learning (ML).

HP has been refining the AI behind this capability for over three years, using a combination of real-world customer data and synthetic files to train its models. The system applies a combination of AI models – some remove noise from the initial image, others separate different elements into layers.

“We have very high accuracy on certain types of CAD files,” says Martinez. “Imagine old archive drawings that have a lot of image noise in them, or are not very, very clear as you get them scanned, we can apply ML to get a higher level of accuracy than anything existing on the market today and the more people that use it, the more accurate it gets.”

The system can detect lines, polylines, arcs, and text. Once text has been extracted and indexed, users can search on that data. Outside of HP, there are several AI systems currently in development that enable firms to use Large Language Models (LLMs) to make sense of and recognise patterns within large sets of unstructured data. It’s hard to imagine that HP isn’t planning something similar with the data extracted from drawings, such as title blocks, notes and dimensions.

The conversion service comes with a simple editor. Here users can change lines that were incorrectly converted from dashed into solid, connect lines that should have been snapped together, as well as clean, remove or add elements. This isn’t just to improve the quality of individual documents – all this information gets fed back into the system to improve the AI. “The customer can define if it’s accurate enough for them, and we get real time feedback from that,” says Martinez.

Customers get to choose to opt-in or not, but as Martinez explains, HP only looks at the process. “The fact that you’re sharing the files for ML doesn’t mean that we have access to the content in any way, shape or form,” he says.

By tracking conversions, HP can understand what percentage of files have been accepted by the customer and, as new versions of the training model are released, if it’s improving or not. Martinez admits there have been cases when the success rate went down. “We’ve then been able to course-correct and eliminate whatever it was in the system that was affecting the quality of the output,” he says.

The big question is: will things ever get to a stage where the end user doesn’t have to check for accuracy? Martinez responds, “PDF files that were converting back into vector that have that vector layer information embedded? Yeah, we’re very close to 100%. If it’s a very old drawing that’s done by hand, the success rate is obviously much lower than if it’s a very clear line drawing that we can convert quite easily.

Physically connected to site

HP Build Workspace also integrates seamlessly with HP SitePrint, the three-wheeled robot that prints 2D plans directly onto construction site floors, with a view to replacing slow, error-prone manual layout processes (read this AEC Magazine article).

The aim is to enable general contractors, specialist contractors, and construction management firms to quickly and accurately set out the locations of building components. This streamlines site preparation, ensuring everything’s ready for the various trades to come in.

Since its launch in 2022 there have been several improvements to the technology, including the recent addition of a Revit plug that allows SitePrint-ready plans to be exported from the popular BIM authoring tool.

The new HP SitePrint Value Pack 3.0, announced this month, is said to deliver a 30% boost in print efficiency compared to its predecessor, which had already introduced similar performance enhancements earlier this year.

Most of these improvements are around navigation – moving from A to B – which is how the robot spends much of its time. Previously, it did this at 0.4 m/sec, but now it’s nearly doubled to 0.7 m/sec. Meanwhile, the print speed has seen a slight increase, from 0.33 m/sec to 0.35 m/sec.

HP Smart Navigation gives the robot a new integrated front-facing camera which creates a 3D representation of the robot’s surroundings, allowing it to detect unmapped obstacles on the job site and intelligently adjust its navigation route in real-time.

HP SitePrint Value Pack 3.0 also introduces shadowing, a new feature designed to prevent the robot from navigating into areas where it might lose line of sight with the robotic total station.

HP is also turning the robot printer into a device that can be used for reality capture. It is working with HP SitePrint customers on a proof-of-concept to check surface flatness, to help ensure surfaces are ready for construction. And it can do this while printing. For example, it can measure the flatness of a drywall / partition track, and then print notes in reference to the corrections that need to be done when installing on site.

The HP Reality Capture Technology Flatness Check will be sold as a service for HP SitePrint through subscription and is due to launch in 2025.

Conclusion

When HP Build Workspace was announced last week, it raised a few eyebrows. Does the AEC industry really need another collaboration platform, and will HP be stepping on the toes of established players?

The reality is that many AEC firms still rely on manual workflows, and these are the companies HP is targeting. The goal is to streamline and automate familiar processes like document distribution, site reporting, and vector conversion—bringing efficiency to areas where it’s often lacking.

That said, there are some gaps in the current offering. For instance, there are no built-in drawing markup tools, and while users can annotate plans with notes and site photos, it would be even better if these were automatically geolocated.

Of course, there’s significant potential for future enhancements. Right now, the platform focuses largely on 2D workflows, but could it evolve to support BIM workflows? Instead of just a camera, could it use a smartphone’s LiDAR sensor to capture site conditions as 3D meshes? And could reality capture with SitePrint extend to basic construction verification?

While some competitors offer more advanced features like these, it seems likely that HP will stick to simplicity. After all, many AEC firms are still wrestling with getting the fundamentals right, and HP Build Workspace might just be what they need to bridge that gap.

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Okana, the global built environment consultancy, has been awarded Innovate UK funding to further develop its onsite plant performance measuring software Aquila.

Aquila uses real time 4D mapping of plant equipment to review, analyse and predict performance onsite. The technology links plant equipment directly to project work programmes with a view to allowing an accelerated understanding of onsite operations.

Aquila aims to eliminate earthwork estimations and automatically determine the plant and equipment’s productivity output through machine learning algorithms in the platform.

The Aquila technology will ‘accurately set’ project schedules for plant equipment, monitor and measure in use, down time and emissions output. Plus take lessons learned from one project to the next to maximise these efficiencies.

Aquila was previously awarded a round of Innovate UK funding for a feasibility study in 2019 to address the under use of plant equipment on site to achieve budget and energy savings.

This second round of funding will allow Okana to progress the development of Aquila on pilot projects together with project partners – Northumbria University, Newcastle University and xbim.

According to Okana, it is estimated misuse of plant equipment is wasting up to £100b globally per year. Typically plant equipment and vehicles spit out exceptionally high levels of emissions, resulting in a consequential negative impact on the environment, to which the construction sector is responsible for around a fifth of all global emissions.

Okana believes that closer, and smarter analysis of plant equipment will produce efficiency savings in both onsite use and global emissions.

The company explains that plant equipment, particularly heavy earthmoving equipment such as excavators, bulldozers and trucks, represent a major cost element in construction projects ranging from 10% in a commercial project, and up to 50% in major infrastructure projects such as highways, railways and energy projects.

Previous research by the Okana team estimated that productivity on site could be improved by 15% or more, by increasing plant and equipment utilisation throughout the construction phase.

Innovate UK is part of UK Research and Innovation which invests in businesses developing new innovations – with an annual budget of over £1billion allocated to driving UK productivity and economic growth.

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HP is expanding its focus on software with the launch of HP Build Workspace, a cloud collaboration platform designed to bring AEC stakeholders closer together.

The aim of the platform is to improve communication between the office and construction site and automate manual processes. It can be accessed via desktop or mobile app.

“Our goal is to create an ecosystem in which the construction industry can easily collaborate, access the most up-to-date project information and automate traditionally manual processes, to save time, eliminate human error – and increase productivity,” said Daniel Martínez, global head and general manager, HP large format.

Check out our in-depth look at HP Build Workspace

HP Build Workspace features HP Print AI capabilities, enabling AEC professionals to ‘vectorize’ raster drawings, capture and organise site observations, share plans, enable real-time feedback and automate site reports.

The ‘one click’ raster to vector conversion tool is currently in beta. It uses AI to automatically convert scanned drawings into DXF files with what HP claims to be a 94% minimum improvement in vectorization.

Site observations can be captured through the mobile app. Users can add tags, markups, written or voice notes. Photos can be pinned to floorplans for easy location. Pictures and logs can be selected to generate automated reports.

HP Build Workspace also integrates with HP SitePrint, a robot that prints 2D plans onto the floors of construction sites (read this in-depth AEC Magazine article). The new HP SitePrint Value Pack 3.0 is said to offer a 30% improvement in print accuracy, plus other new features including smart navigation, safety stop technology, and shadowing.

Additionally, HP is turning the robot printer into a device that can also be used for reality capture. It is working with HP SitePrint customers on a proof-of-concept to check surface flatness, to help ensure surfaces are ready for construction. The HP Reality Capture Technology Flatness Check will be sold as a service for HP SitePrint through subscription. General availability in selected markets will be during 2025.

Finally, HP has updated its entry-level large format printers, with the launch of the DesignJet T200/T600 Printer 2025 editions. The improved 24-inch and 36-inch printers are said to reduce energy consumption and plastics.

HP says the new DesignJets also deliver a ‘seamless printing experience’ thanks to the new HP Click Driver, which it claims is the most significant driver update for large format printers in 30 years. It enables real-print preview from any Windows 11 application, enabling AEC professionals to ‘print preview’ designs before printing with a view to avoiding reprints, unseen errors, and wasted print resources.

“HP’s DesignJet Series are designed with simplicity, sustainability and security in mind. Thanks to the printer on/off auto scheduler saving up to 65% energy in our HP DesignJet T200/T600 Printer series 2025 Edition, we know our large format printers are working towards HP’s sustainability goals” said Daniel Martínez, Global Head and General Manager, HP Large Format. “And connecting the printer with HP Click Driver provides an intuitive and effortless printing, while making sure that users avoid unnecessary waste and reduce energy consumption, contributing to our goal of achieving net zero carbon emissions across our entire value chain.”

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Trimble has unveiled a free version of construction project management software Trimble ProjectSight, which offers a central hub for managing and sharing project information, including documents and drawings.

“A no-cost version of ProjectSight removes barriers to entry and presents a simple way to experience the project management benefits,” said Jon Fingland, VP and general manager for Trimble construction software solutions.

“Some contractors have viewed powerful construction management tools like ProjectSight as too expensive or complicated,” he added. “We envision a future where all contractors use this type of solution to access up-to-date information, collaborate, streamline workflows and make critical business and project decisions more effectively.”

The free version of Trimble ProjectSight provides a centralized environment to manage and share drawings, photos, specifications, submittals, punchlists and RFIs. Contractors can also create customised dashboards to view and organise upcoming document-related tasks.

Additional versions of ProjectSight — available with paid subscriptions — allow for unlimited projects and data, and provide advanced cost management, field management, workflow connectivity and integrations with Trimble Viewpoint Vista and Spectrum construction management software.

The latest release of the construction project management software also includes new AI-driven capabilities which were developed in collaboration with Microsoft using the Microsoft Azure OpenAI Service.

A new ProjectSight drawing import feature uses AI to read and extract critical drawing information. “The specialized drawing tool goes beyond standard optical character recognition with an engine that can read the name, revision number and content more holistically,” explained Fingland. “This makes it much faster to upload, validate and publish drawing sets without re-keying information.”

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B360 Secure by DGTRA is a new web-based application designed to help construction project managers manage complex permission structures within Autodesk Construction Cloud (ACC) and Autodesk BIM 360.

The software offers a centralised dashboard that consolidates project-specific member and folder permission data, providing what the company describes as unprecedented visibility and control.

With B360 Secure, project managers can streamline permission management by reviewing, modifying, and auditing access rights across multiple projects. Data security is also enhanced by reducing the risk of unauthorised access and breaches.

The software is also designed to improve efficiency by automating permission-related tasks, helping ensure compliance with industry standards and regulatory requirements.

B360 Secure offers a range of features designed to give admins full control over project and user data. With a centralized view, admins can monitor multiple projects from a single dashboard, while the ‘user-friendly’ interface consolidates the most relevant data for decision-making.

Real-time monitoring allows ‘instant reflection’ of changes made in the app on the Autodesk portal.

Additionally, the system provides nested folder access, enabling admins to fine-tune permissions at a granular level for enhanced security and comprehensive control.

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