The digital construction skills podcast.

How did Barhale achieve a 35% reduction in underground services strikes in 2020 compared with 2019? 

Why are 90 utility companies in the UK able to easily provide information about their underground network anywhere in Britain in just 4 minutes? 

Why are the latest developments in utility location, machine control and reality capture giving us a great opportunity to protect people and assets like never before? 

Why is data driven decision making having a massive impact on training, personal development and performance management of site teams? How do you build trust and credibility with the locating equipment users? 

Why coaching and collaboration are vital to this process and why the role of the service co-ordinator is so important to managing safe digging processes. These were some of the questions and points of discussion in our Ask the panel session on digital tools and buried services.  

You can listen to some amazing revelations and insights from some of the pioneers driving massive change in the sector.  

This video features panel guests: 

 Richard Broome -Managing Director, Linesearch before U dig

 Andy Dodman- Head of Health and Safety, Barhale Construction 

Pete Ashcroft- Director Sygma Solutions 

Fil Ntagadakis- Director Scotia Survey and Safety 

Bobi Archer- Service co-ordinator, Barhale Construction  

The Q&A session was chaired by Saffron Grant Director of Digital Construction Skills and author of the book "Setting out for construction- a practical guide to site surveying"   

The session also features Gail McEwan- Lead Trainer at Digital Construction Skills.

Still persevering with batter rails and profile boards because you don't trust machine control?

How do we upskill a 40+ year old machine operator to operate and be confident with the new machine control technology?

Are we giving our site engineers the skills they need to confidently set up machine control on site?

What do one of the most forward thinking Tier 1 contractors in the world think about machine control and how do they get their supply chain on board?

Where do you start with machine control hire? Buy? Can you retrofit onto older plant?

These were among the questions we asked at our ask the panel event on machine control.

Machine control is revolutionising how projects manage and operate more efficient, cost effective and safer bulk earthworks operations as well as reducing waste on overdigging and fuel costs.

Machine control also helps to leverage data and information for project, site and asset management. Central to this is equipping plant hire owners, plant operators, site engineers, site supervisors, bankspersons, support staff, subcontractors and clients with the necessary digital skills to oil the wheels of digital adoption and transformation. We also think there is a lot of "old school" project managers and senior directors who may believe profiles boards were good enough for them so what's the big deal with this technology and why should we invest large sums into this?

We talk about these challenges as well as talking about the range of machine control equipment available. We discuss how we can get more out of what we have as well as the things one should consider if looking to buy or hire this type of kit and what levels of support are available to you.

We were absolutely thrilled to have such an amazing bunch of guest panellists joining us on this episode to share their knowledge and insights. On the podcast you will hear from:

Mark Lawton CEng FCInstCES Head of Engineering Surveying and GIS at Tier 1 contractor, Skanska

Andy Clifton Application Engineer Topcon Positioning GB

Simon Hogg Machine simulator expert Tenstar Simulation AB

Alan Penrose Technical Support and training, Sunbelt Rentals UK

Gail McEwen Civil Engineer, Trainer and Excavator operator Setting Out For Construction

Steve Claybrook Heavy construction solution specialist Leica Geosystems part of Hexagon

The Q&A session was hosted by Saffron Grant Director, Digital Construction Skills and Setting out for construction. Saffron is also author of "Setting out for construction- a practical guide to site surveying"

A special thanks to Topcon, Leica Geosystems, Sunbelt Rentals, Tenstar Simulation and Skanska in making this podcast.

We have assembled another stellar cast of enlightened and leading expert panel members in the second of our Digital Construction Skills CITB funded six part series on setting out and surveying.

On the panel in this episode are:

Scott McGibbon, 

Scott is CEO of Pivotal Consultancy Management, Innovation, R&D and Education. He is a stonemason to trade and is without doubt one of Scotland’s leading Digital construction SME business improvement specialists. Scott’s well- rounded professional and educational background brings a unique perspective to applied research & policy as well as to the innovative projects and influential organisations he works with.

Filippos Ntagadakis-

Filippos is Director of Scotia Survey and Safety, (and was Formerly Technical Specialist at Sunbelt Rentals & Technical Director at Precision Geomatics) He is one of Scotland’s leading reality capture and Surveying equipment experts. Fil is also a CAA multi rotor and fixed wing drone pilot. Fil is committed to educating the industry to make it a safer, more accurate and productive place to be.

Matt Hull

Matt is an Architectural Technologist who is a Digital Integration Specialist at Leica Geosystems, a leading global provider of information and geospatial technologies. Matt is also Part time lecturer at Northern College, Ballymena in Northern Ireland. Matt was also founding director of Rusty Brick designs, an architectural drawings and design services company.

James Bex

James is UK Digital Survey Manager at Tier 1 Designer and contractor MWH Treatment. MWH deliver complex projects and programmes on behalf of the most significant water authorities across the country. James is currently leading on the development of the digital capture strategy for Southern Water and is a leading player within his organisation and the water industry in driving digital capture solutions.

Andy Givens-Andy is Senior Applications Engineer at Topcon positioning GB where he provides product support and advice. With 20 years experience, in the industry Andy is passionate about finding workable solutions with both current and future technologies for those who have a need for it including Total Stations, GNSS, 3D laser scanning, mobile mapping and UAVs as well as making best use of the latest survey software technologies available 

Chris Best

Chris is Survey Technician at Gridmark Survey Ltd and is a Geospatial data specialist, supporting Land & Utility Survey, Laser Scanning, and Aerial Survey data capture.Chris combines his love of all things geospatial with his passion for photography. Chris is also a freelance photographer and teaches on the subject within the lifelong learning sector .

The Q&A session was be hosted by Saffron Grant, Author of the Book "Setting out for construction-a practical guide" and director of Digital construction skills and introduced by Chris Grant Partnerships Manager at DCS.

For our first ever ask the panel event we begin with role of the site engineer in driving digital transformation. Join us in this engaging panel discussion where we ask:

Why  is it that many of the best industry leaders, directors and influencers start off as a site engineers?

What are the supporting skills needed to becoming a great site engineer?

Why is it really short sighted and counter productive not investing in the right skills and equipment?

What are the challenges in delivering the surveying module at colleges and universities? 

What is the link between delivery of the surveying module at third level and the confidence of new graduate site engineers?

Why is it really short sighted and counter productive not investing in the right skills and equipment?

What other skills do engineers acquire as a result of being trained properly in setting out?

What are the some of the routes available to become a site engineer?

What level of support and other personal development training are the leading construction companies providing graduate site engineers?

Why is setting out training training fundamental to unleashing the digital skills capabilities of site engineers and construction companies?

What training and technical support is available from surveying suppliers?

What are the things hire companies need to know to help you get the best out of your surveying equipment or to hire the right equipment?

Why would SMEs want to become self sufficient by upskilling their staff in setting out?

Why would SMEs want to better understand the process of setting out?

The Q&A panel was hosted by Saffron Grant, Director of setting out for construction and author of Amazon best selling book "Setting out for construction- a practical guide to site surveying"  Saffron is also Managing Director at digital construction skills.

We would like to offer our heartfelt thanks to our panel guests who made this a very well informed and intelligent discussion.

Our panel guest for this event were:-

Bobi Archer- Graduate Engineer, Barhale construction

Tim Reeve- Technical Director, Winvic construction

Bethany Welsh- Graduate Engineer, Balfour Beatty construction

Filippos Ntagadakis- Director, Scotia survey and safety

Gail McEwan- Lead trainer, Setting Out for construction

Alan Penrose- Technical support and training, Sunbelt rentals

Iona Oliver- Lecturer, South Lanarkshire college.

This is the first of a 6 part series on setting out and surveying.