Trimble, the global technology company, has conducted a survey into the housing industry’s relationship with and adoption of digital technology
The insightful results of the Trimble survey highlight the changing attitudes towards the use of technology by housebuilders and housing associations, as well as how respondents felt their companies were adapting to new legislative changes.
With growing attention paid to the UK housing sector, the government’s 1.5 million new homes target and regulatory reform (including Part L of the Building Regulations, the Future Homes Standard and Building Safety Act), it’s easy to see why many housebuilders are struggling to achieve the volume levels required.
With this in mind, Trimble set out to survey how the industry is responding to these changes and the role in which technology is being used to master compliance and enhance productivity. It is now able to release some of the key findings of the survey.
Not much confidence in achieving housing targets- but more optimism in use of digital technology
Unsurprisingly, of those surveyed, there was an average confidence rating of 5.8/10 for the delivery of new homes, combined with an 8/10 score for the importance of digital technology in achieving future business plans. This shows a willingness to adopt new workflows and processes, amidst a clear lack of confidence in meeting industry targets.
Over 50% of respondents admitted that, while their companies were using digital technologies, they were not taking full advantage of them, with some even saying they were still predominantly paper-based or at the very early stages of introducing technology into the business.
When it came to meeting relevant legislation, such as Part L, most respondents said they were using digital methods to demonstrate compliance. However, a large percentage (22%) of those were still using a generic online sharing tool, as opposed to an industry specific platform – like Trimble’s Viewpoint Field View.
Positively, 87% of those surveyed agreed that digital workflows would contribute to managing a traceable audit trail and facilitating improved accountability, safety and standards across the built environment.
Speaking about the survey, Ben Wallbank, Digital Construction and Partnership manager from Trimble, said:
“We found the results extremely interesting, giving us valuable insight into how the housing sector perceives and uses digital solutions to help improve productivity levels and master compliance with industry regulation and legislation.
“It was particularly useful to find out what the perceived barriers were to successfully managing an accurate audit trail, with culture, supply chain collaboration and technology three of the top obstacles. It’s clear that more needs to be done to encourage businesses to adopt digital workflows, enabling them to document and demonstrate a clear golden thread of data, from design to completion.”
Trimble’s Viewpoint Field View and Viewpoint for Projects are great examples of this digital information system in action. A tablet and mobile-based field tool, Viewpoint Field View is designed to replace pen and paper in the field for snagging, forms and permits, project delivery and handover. With the ability to create custom tasks, forms and processes, and the traceable project data safely stored in the cloud for future reference, Field View offers enhanced productivity and complete visibility at every step.
While Viewpoint for Projects is a construction document management system that works to simplify project documentation, allowing teams to share, control and collaborate on documents and drawings with full revision control. Users can create custom workflows to progress construction documents through review, revision and approval, with complete audit trails and traceability.
Find out more about these tools here.
