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THE INTELLIGENT JOBSITE Ron Perkins is president of Jobsite Tech Group and an active member of the Associated General Contractors (AGC). He has been involved in the AEC industry for more than three decades. areas where we have seen significant enhancements. BIM platforms such as Revit ® have converted the standard 2D AutoCAD ® process that consists of lines and arcs into a 3D model that is created using a database that includes a tremendous amount of metadata to use during design, build, testing and other project phases. NavisWorks ® software enables users to review integrated models and data with everyone on the project. The adoption of these BIM tools certainly has had a tremendous impact on the collaboration happening around the project, and has brought on another term widely used around the project site, "BIM Coordination Meeting." Williams Scotsman, the largest construction trailer rental com- pany in the world, developed a delivery method called techsuite™. As the name implies, this high-tech trailer solution is what they call their "Answer to BIM" in the field. Their clients now can order a trailer fully decked out with whatever technology needed to either purchase or rent for the duration of the project. This practice has helped contractors of all sizes embrace the latest technology simply by adding it to the monthly rent. Williams Scotsman recognizes that one of the greatest changes they have seen is that the traditional plan table is being replaced with digital displays. Oftentimes, these displays have interactive touch capabilities that work well with the popular document management solutions being used today like Bluebeam Revu ® , PlanGrid and SmartUse by Newforma. Many of the largest Fortune 500 tech firms also are developing new products specifically designed to serve the AEC industry. Hewlett Packard has been entrenched in the AEC industry for many years. During 2015 they announced truly innovative solutions for the jobsite and AEC offices. Their new PageWide Technology production printer spits out blueprints as fast as a copy machine makes a copy. The device they announced at Autodesk University, the Design Jet T830, was designed specifically for the construction site, and includes enhancements like being WiFi enabled, faster speed, and, best of all, a much lower price than previous devices. " We've been using the HP T830 printer/scanner/ copier on site at our large hospital project in Atlanta. It has proven to be a very valuable jobsite tool, allowing us to print everything from plans to full size architectural color renderings for use in planning and coordinating meetings, which not only saves us time, but saves us money, as we don't have to outsource those printing services." – Steve Karp, Project Director, McCarthy Building Companies Inc. Most people probably saw the announcement when Facebook bought the Virtual Reality platform Oculus for billions of dollars. How many people stopped to wonder how that would impact communi- cation and collaboration in AEC? Unity, the largest gaming engine in the world did. Couldn't you just see what would happen if you pair the actual geometry from a Revit ® file to a gaming engine. It turns a real project in to Call of Duty ® . Not the guns and bombs of course, but the ability to free roam throughout a non-existent building in an immersive experience could have a real impact on the low tech users throughout the entire AEC industry. Unity evaluated the AEC industry for nearly two years, anticipating there could be a significant opportunity, as this still technology matur- ing industry started to adopt visualization tools and related practices. Their final decision was to partner with a firm that has extensive expe- rience in the AEC industry that could help them meet their objectives in a much shorter term. VIMtrek™ was developed on the Unity platform and already had built an application that converts Revit ® content into the gaming engine while leaving all of the Revit ® metadata intact. " Manipulating large and complex Revit ® files to convey critical information pertaining to a high profile, mega project can be a daunting task. Utilizing visualization tools such as Samsung Gear VR, VIMtrek and Unity enabled our project team to communicate more effectively, collaborate in a virtual environment, and minimize project delays, therefore minimizing cost impacts." – Alex Malusky, VDC Engineer, McCarthy Building Companies Inc. Many technology providers have been expanding their interest into the AEC industry. Samsung Business has seen first-hand the results of using their Gear VR goggles that are powered by Oculus, to streamline decision making with owners and contractors. Their full product line actually already is widespread throughout the industry. Samsung smartphones, ruggedized TAB Actives tablets and their broad family of digital displays are in use on many jobsites. The reality is that the technology adoption occurring throughout the AEC industry today has created significant challenges for contractors and other users while at the same time has got the attention of a huge number of technology providers. The one thing that everyone agrees on is that the AEC industry is no longer behind the curve. In fact, in numerous ways the AEC industry is leading the charge in many of these fields. Consider the 3D printed buildings being studied by the University of Southern California (USC). Mississippi State University College of Architecture, Art and De- sign just launched their Construction Training and Research Labora- tory (CTRL) program to assure that students are not just educated in the technology available to them today, but also learn how to incorpo- rate the use of drones, 3D laser scanning, 3D printing and many other developing technologies into the design and construction processes of the future. No doubt Mississippi State will be the first of many. The AEC industry must adopt these practices in order to address the ever increasing needs of technology demanding projects as well as the needs of building owners and developers who need to manage and maintain these buildings for decades to come. It also is a crucial part to attracting the brightest and most creative minds of the next generation to consider the AEC industry as an exciting and challenging field to enter in to. All things considered, there has never been a more exciting and demanding time to be part of this incredibly dynamic industry. CCR 146 COMMERCIAL CONSTRUCTION & RENOVATION — JULY : AUGUST 2016