ConstructionWorX DIGITAL
Design for Machines and the Productivity will come Peter Haddock talks to Mark Lawton, Head of Engineering surveying and GIS at Skanska about the future of machinery and the connected site… The dividing trench between UK earthworks PLC and the rest of the construction industry is set to be filled in by three simple words 'Design for Machines'. They may be simple words, but they are fundamental to a change in approach and mindset that is accelerating through the sector, from large customers like National Highways and HS2 to Tier 1 contractors like Skanska. It's thanks to people like Mark Lawton, the Plant & Earthworks Community representative to National Highways and Head of Engineering surveying and GIS at Skanska, that this and other messages are finally getting through. To find out more, I caught up with Mark at the Highways UK show, some two years after we first met at the same show in 2019. At this first event, we discussed his future vision for the 'Connected Worksite' and why he had become an active and vocal member of the Connected and Autonomous Plant (CAP)
12 MARCH 2022
Community. This is a collaborative group of industry leaders and influencers formed to investigate the current technology, future possibilities, and ways to overcome hurdles to an autonomous future. The industry has definitely moved forward at a pace in the last two years. Still, Mark's passion for accelerating further change in work practices, safety and the adoption of innovation, has continued to grow. Here he is in his own words…. Our work is focused on changing the industry and all the things we aim to do are driven to improve safety onsite. Two years ago, the industry took a major step forward as 3D machine control was mandated on National Highways’ projects. Since then, the adoption of machine control has grown so rapidly that it's like a 'Herd of Elephants coming over the hill'. In other words, we are now faced with feeding all of these data hungry machines, and in order to keep them full, busy, productive
and efficient, we need to design models that they can consume. After all, machines are like robots. They just need simple instructions to operate. This is why we now need to 'Design for Machines' not just for projects. But what does that mean? In simple terms, client surveyors and engineers have been using 3D modelling now for some time, creating whole project models that reflect the complete site delivery elements. So whether it's the construction of motorways or railways, which include structures like bridges, tunnels and viaducts, or a housebuilding site with plots, roads and utilities, a full site model is now commonplace. However, the problem with these models and simpler 2D models supplied by clients for less complex projects is that the data can’t simply be translated into a file needed to support machine control. Inevitably this leads to a new model having to be created for the earthworks element of a project. Feeding the
