The longest lasting awards in the construction sector is the annual Structural Steel Design Awards, now in its 57th year of independent judging. This year’s shortlist, which you can read about in this issue of NSC, provides an excellent overview of the quality of projects being regularly delivered by steelwork contractors, their supply chain and construction team colleagues, year after year.
Even making the shortlist is widely acknowledged as high recognition for the often innovative and iconic projects that constructional steelwork provides crucial support for. It has been pointed out many times that, as well as the physical frame, the steelwork contractor provides a digital framework that the rest of the project can be hung off.
Steel construction was an early adopter of CNC techniques, and was therefore well prepared for the new world of BIM when it was ushered in. The steel sector, thanks in large part to the efforts of the BCSA and its member companies, has always kept abreast of technological developments that can be harnessed to offer clients better quality and value for money.
The pace of technological change seems to consistently speed up. As new President Chris Durand says in his President’s Column, technological change is to be welcomed for the great benefits it can bring, but avoiding the potential downsides that we see in apocalyptic headlines about developments like Artificial Intelligence (AI) demands an increased alertness on behalf of skilled and experienced engineers.
Fortunately, the steel sector has plenty of skilled and experienced structural engineering experts on hand to make sure the benefits of technological advances can be deployed to best advantage, while avoiding the potential pitfalls of unquestioning over-reliance on technology of the sort that the President draws our attention to. This reinforces the wisdom of steelwork contractors’ long standing urging that they should be involved as early in the construction process as possible.
The impact of AI is hard to predict but it will probably be significant. Being left behind by developments has to be avoided. The BCSA will be playing a vigilant and leading role in introducing AI developments to the design and construction process in ways that will best benefit clients and supply chain partners without risking the apocalyptic scenarios that could ensue in a reckless and headlong rush towards the potentially bright AI future.
This should give BCSA member steelwork contractors a significant competitive advantage when clients and supply chain partners realise that they are, at the very least, fully abreast of developments; and well ahead of the game compared to non-members that don’t benefit immediately from BCSA involvement in setting AI-related codes and standards and the research that will go into producing world-leading constructional steelwork design guides.
Some steelwork contractors stubbornly stay outside of the BCSA, benefitting from the costly and time consuming work put in by their BCSA colleagues without making a contribution themselves. They are missing out on a lot, including being able to see forthcoming developments at an early stage. In an age of such rapid technological change, that could be an expensive mistake. They have a contribution to make and it is time for them to use their human intelligence and join the BCSA.
Human intelligence needed for successful introduction of AI – and much else
The longest lasting awards in the construction sector is the annual Structural Steel Design Awards, now in its 57th year of independent judging. This year’s shortlist, which you can read about in this issue of NSC, provides an excellent overview of the quality of projects being regularly delivered by steelwork contractors, their supply chain and construction team colleagues, year after year.
Even making the shortlist is widely acknowledged as high recognition for the often innovative and iconic projects that constructional steelwork provides crucial support for. It has been pointed out many times that, as well as the physical frame, the steelwork contractor provides a digital framework that the rest of the project can be hung off.
Steel construction was an early adopter of CNC techniques, and was therefore well prepared for the new world of BIM when it was ushered in. The steel sector, thanks in large part to the efforts of the BCSA and its member companies, has always kept abreast of technological developments that can be harnessed to offer clients better quality and value for money.
The pace of technological change seems to consistently speed up. As new President Chris Durand says in his President’s Column, technological change is to be welcomed for the great benefits it can bring, but avoiding the potential downsides that we see in apocalyptic headlines about developments like Artificial Intelligence (AI) demands an increased alertness on behalf of skilled and experienced engineers.
Fortunately, the steel sector has plenty of skilled and experienced structural engineering experts on hand to make sure the benefits of technological advances can be deployed to best advantage, while avoiding the potential pitfalls of unquestioning over-reliance on technology of the sort that the President draws our attention to. This reinforces the wisdom of steelwork contractors’ long standing urging that they should be involved as early in the construction process as possible.
The impact of AI is hard to predict but it will probably be significant. Being left behind by developments has to be avoided. The BCSA will be playing a vigilant and leading role in introducing AI developments to the design and construction process in ways that will best benefit clients and supply chain partners without risking the apocalyptic scenarios that could ensue in a reckless and headlong rush towards the potentially bright AI future.
This should give BCSA member steelwork contractors a significant competitive advantage when clients and supply chain partners realise that they are, at the very least, fully abreast of developments; and well ahead of the game compared to non-members that don’t benefit immediately from BCSA involvement in setting AI-related codes and standards and the research that will go into producing world-leading constructional steelwork design guides.
Some steelwork contractors stubbornly stay outside of the BCSA, benefitting from the costly and time consuming work put in by their BCSA colleagues without making a contribution themselves. They are missing out on a lot, including being able to see forthcoming developments at an early stage. In an age of such rapid technological change, that could be an expensive mistake. They have a contribution to make and it is time for them to use their human intelligence and join the BCSA.