EKFB and Laminar win Best Use of Data

Laminar Projects’ approach to digital transformation for the EKFB JV, working on HS2 Phase 1, was a compelling winner of the Best Use of Data on a Project award, sponsored by nima

On the complex HS2 project, data was always going to be a challenge. First, there were many siloed systems across multiple organisations: three in the Eiffage, Kier, Ferrovial and BAM Nuttall (EKFB) joint venture, one from HS2 and another among the supply chain-controlled deliverables. This made informed decision-making extremely difficult.

Second, a system infrastructure was required to handle the high volumes of data generated. The EKFB team had been using SharePoint Lists, but it was not suitable for the HS2 project.

Third, existing processes had been developed using traditional, sequential ways of thinking rather than embedding digital technology in the process from the start. This often generated additional work for people to administer or populate the various systems.

Fourth, Laminar wanted to avoid issues arising from poor data quality and control on such a large project.

Ultimately, Laminar built a cloudbased data warehouse (hosted on Azure) with live pipelines from data in the siloed project systems. This enabled timely access to the latest project information and was able to accommodate the high data volumes.

Via Power BI, project stakeholders can access interactive dashboards with information about how processes and key deliverables are progressing. The dashboards also highlight data inconsistencies.

Sponsored by

This showed how a different approach to managing data, integrating data sets and applying a whole array of different technologies and capabilities is required. A comprehensive solution to a common problem, executed well

What the judges said

The benefits of Laminar’s approach are impressive: l Time saved through automation of data collection, report generation and improved key data access is estimated to provide project savings of 85 FTEs or £10.3m annually. l The data warehouse has grown from three to 26 tables and increased data stored by a factor of 8.5. This provides a single source of truth across six project systems spanning three organisations. l A single source of truth for data enables identification of inconsistencies and data errors, and has improved collaboration between teams. This is estimated to save 209 hours per week of people’s time. l Timeliness of information due to continuous collection is crucial in helping EKFB and its supply chain improve design coordination and identify process bottlenecks, minimising design errors and construction delays.

Lucy Rowsell, head of information management at EKFB JV, said:

“It’s a very user-friendly solution to put in place on a project which is absolutely vast in scale, so I’m very excited about winning tonight.”

Stephen Herd, director of data and digital at Laminar Projects, added: “We are confident that our solution can be used more by other companies and projects within the construction industry.”

Best Use of Data on a Project shortlist l Baird Family Hospital & ANCHOR Centre

Aberdeen, Graham Construction with NHS Grampian l Digital transformation for EKFB information management on HS2 Phase 1, Laminar Projects with EKFB (Eiffage, Kier, Ferrovial and BAM Nuttall) l Information management tool, NG Bailey l Royal Bournemouth Hospital, Buildots with IHP (Vinci Construction/Sir Robert McAlpine) and University Hospitals

Dorset NHS Foundation Trust l Skanska Costain Strabag JV and Esri UK, Smart permit to dig on HS2, Esri UK with SCS JV, HS2 l Using AI and ML to facilitate sustainable city design at Arup with Amazon SageMaker, Amazon Web Services with Arup

The winning team from L Lynch, Safety Shield Global and SCS JV received their trophy from Lesley McLeod of the Association for Project Safety (centre) and comedian Rob Beckett (far right)