MARK AUSTIN (MA): We changed our strategic objective last year to embrace technology and innovation.
That's really setting the stall out of where the industry is
moving to, the changing needs of our customers, our clients and also our people -
so how do we use technology to enable our potential?
LOUISE DAWES (LD): We have an opportunity to move a traditional construction company into a digital era.
RICHARD BURDETT (RB): Having a geographical centralised system makes real sense, you know to the
business and where we can find value in that, it can really really improve the lives of -
- and, to a coin a phrase - the blue collar workers all the way up to to senior management.
REBECCA WADE (RW): Traditionally from a design perspective I guess we often
start with the blank canvas. So this will enable us to actually start with really
advanced - pardon the pun, "building blocks" - that for me is the really exciting bit.
MA: So the way we sort of think about technology and innovation it is in a
number of ways so if you took the work we're doing with GIS, if you look at how
we're embracing manufacturing and off-site and what it means to us, through
some of the work we're doing with MOJ on component level design, if you look at
the way we're engaging with our people through our forward-thinking approach.
As an industry we know and recognise that we have a skills shortage so we've
invested in a "Shaping Your World" campaign to go out and to pick
ambassadors from Kier to go and speak to children, 11 to 15 year olds, in school to
really inspire them to come into an industry, to educate them on the
opportunities that are available - things that they might not have thought that
were an opportunity or a job in construction and then employ those
people and look to retain that talent for the future.
People within Kier feel that it is so important to get that message across they want to pledge their time
to the scheme so that we can encourage younger people.
MA: We've got a four box model if you like - one is really about engaging people, so
what do they see on the ground? What are they their ideas? What would they like to
see? Really the second one is just about capturing what we already do. We do a
huge amount across a diverse business and if we can capture that in a much
better way, a more agile way. Sharing it - so just sharing that knowledge across
our business and across the industry and if we can just share that knowledge
we've already got, you know someone somewhere in the world has already
solved the problem we're thinking about, and it's the same in Kier, but ultimately
rewarding it and recognising it, so we have two key themes that we're
doing there to try and move it forward. One is around Stars Awards - you know 40
colleagues across Kier have nominated their peers for the work they're doing every day.
LD: I think we're showing good in-roads into actually getting people to
use digital tools understanding BIM. When you look at BIM and laying the
foundations right, looking at 3D models, looking at attribute information and
data and documentation - the opportunities, really it's endless. The
people within the business will make whatever we do a success. So people are
out delivering projects and it's important that we can take a step back
and actually review what their needs are. So we really encourage people in
networking and champion groups and just really to communicate more there is
generally somebody out there who is experiencing the same problem as you.
The digital construction apprenticeship scheme was a scheme we launched back in
April and we have eight new recruits starting in the business for a two-year period. We have
some 18 to 24 year-olds in the first cohort and they have gone through school
learning, some have actually been out onto construction sites and have worked
on construction sites before but understood that the digital side of
things is important. They carry no baggage, there's no history there, so
everything that we teach them they're ready to absorb it - it's awesome!
Geographical Information Systems - which is what GIS stands for - it's basically the
science of where things are geographically, how we utilise them, how
we store them and how we present them back to the business. We're currently rolling
out geospatial servers for both geo events and a central GIS Enterprise Server
and that allows us to store the data centrally, collect it through mobile devices
and also relay that on in various different formats from maps, charts, plans
videos, online apps and that kind of stuff.
We're currently developing an app, so it's "Kier Safe Strike" - it's kind of like a GIS
application that's used on web browsers. Kier digs thousands of holes every day
all across the UK and before we break ground we must do what's called a stat
search - so it's a search to find out what utilities are under the ground. We have a
lot of - in our utilities contracts and our highways contracts - we have emergency
works. Often getting that data from utilities companies can take anywhere
from you know 24 hours to two weeks to get that data back if done properly and
this app gives them live access to that 24/7 - so it's quite revolutionary. It's
the first app developed of its kind in the world,
so we're quite proud of that.
As a organisation Kier are very focused at the moment around taking a Design for
Manufacturing (DfM) and approach to project development.
So that really means starting
the design process with the end in sight, not just thinking about the look and
feel of the final asset but how we can facilitate the manufacture off-site and
on-site assembly process through design - and I guess nowhere is that truer than
the work we've undertaken with the (UK) Ministry of Justice (MOJ)
and other forward-thinking client departments.
That DFM approach is
is somewhat translated in the digital component libraries - so they're very much
looking at using BIM and digital tool sets to not just look at building design,
but components and platforms and how we translate that into - in this nature
custodial projects - but then how we take that forward again.
Currently on this project we're embedding the construction program and sequencing into the design
model, but also from a 5D perspective so we're using these component models - a) to
help with the measurement exercise but also embedding unit costs into the
models so that's something that we can then take forward on on future projects
and using the design and digital model to help with benchmarking
activities - so a coming together of design and cost. From a client perspective
I guess where that gets really exciting for them is the fact that we're
providing data rich models that when it comes to asset handover allows them to
be more agile in the way they maintain their assets going forward.
Kier are a Tier 3 member of the Manufacturing Technology Centre (MTC) which
enables us to join in some of the core research programs that go on at MTC. It's
been helping aerospace and automotive look at how they put new products and
services - so if you took a PhD level study, how do we take that academic study
and bridge the gap between that and proper commercial product? - and we've been
looking to use that in a number of areas to help us to accelerate and land
some of our ideas.
One of the things that we've learned through working with the
MTC is about technology roadmaps and how you can map technologies into outcome.
Take GIS an example - OK what is it going to enable us to be able to do
differently? So is it going to enable us to work safer, faster, cheaper? Is it going to enable us to
deliver extra revenue streams? for example. So aligning that technology to
the outcome rather than saying "this is just the technology we need to use"
making sure it's got a problem statement to overcome, mapping that technology and
then aligning it to an outcome and a roadmap that says "over the next three
years this is what we need to do".
Using technology in the right way, you know and simplifying people's jobs - there's
nothing worse than complicating something that could be simplified isn't
it? you know, so it's putting putting the intelligence at people's fingertips in a
manner that's really understandable that they can then make a positive impact on
their jobs, in their day-to-day lives that's my key message I guess.
RW: I think for me it's the coming together of the multiple innovations with this program
so it's not just pushing the boundaries in terms of its transformation and
higher aspirations for the MOJ, it's also leading the way in terms of our approach
to design and digitally as well as the new products that we're looking at
but also the social value side so we're really making real drivers to try and
engage the low skilled workforce be that within the local area or with the use of prison industries.
MA: I've been at Kier an awful long time - 27 years - and I think
when you look back you know we've never stopped changing, we've never stopped
evolving, so I'm really confident in the future that if we do just keep embracing
what's happening we'll be setting ourselves up for a place that's fit for
whatever that looks like. We just have to keep our people and our clients and our
customers engaged in that process as we move forward and I think that's really
part of our forward-thinking strategy. It covers everything and it means all
things to all people.