Article by Cliff Smith, Executive Director of the Get It Right Initiative, a not-for-profit membership organisation working to reduce errors in construction.
This was my second visit to Digital Construction Week, and once again I was struck by the energy, the expertise and the sheer commitment on display to driving better construction outcomes and greater productivity through technology. There’s a growing recognition across the industry that innovation is not just desirable – it’s essential. That makes this event a vital gathering point for those trying to move the needle.
The Get It Right Initiative (GIRI) is focused on exactly that – getting it right. Our research shows that direct and indirect errors cost the construction industry at least £21 billion a year. That’s more than the entire annual profit of the sector. Eliminating these avoidable costs isn’t a ‘nice to have’ – it’s a commercial, operational and moral imperative.
It was good to see several of our technology-focused members exhibiting this year, including PlanRadar, QFlow and iNNdex. The ability of digital tools to detect non-conformities and prevent errors at source is one of the most promising frontiers in error reduction. Technology won’t fix everything, but it is certainly giving us better visibility and control – provided we use it well.
GIRI hosted a Table Top Talk during the show, chaired by John Priestland, on the role of AI in reducing construction error. This is an area we’re exploring deeply, and we’ll be publishing a full report in July. We were pleased to have a lively and thoughtful group around the table: asset owners, contractors, consultants, start-ups – and me!
Like many in the industry, I’ve had to come up the digital learning curve quickly. I’ve had to come up the digital learning curve quickly. My computer crashed recently and my son used Chat GPT to get instructions to fix it. That’s the reality: AI is becoming part of our day-to-day lives.
At the session, we covered the fundamentals – how AI works, where it adds value and where it can introduce new risks. The most useful insights came around governance. Keeping a human in the loop is critical. So is using tools like knowledge graphs to validate the output of generative models. AI doesn’t get tired or forget instructions, but it also doesn’t know what it doesn’t know. That’s where human expertise remains essential.
Later in the day, I joined a panel discussion on communication – alongside fellow GIRI Board Member Emer Murnaghan from Graham Construction. Our focus was on the unstructured and often unreliable ways that site and office teams communicate. WhatsApp, personal email and phone calls may feel fast, but they’re prone to error and very hard to track.
We were joined by Kashan Ratyal from Severn Trent Water and Sarah Crawley from SymTerra. Both shared practical examples of how structured digital communications can reduce error and improve accountability. When you can see who said what, when, and to whom – you avoid the classic problems of duplication, oversight, and instruction drift. It’s not just about being more efficient; it’s about avoiding the cost and frustration of rework.
What struck me most about this year’s Digital Construction Week was the growing confidence across the sector. People know that data and technology matter – and they’re getting serious about embedding them in everyday practice.
With nearly 40 years at Sir Robert McAlpine behind me, I consider myself more of a digital caterpillar than a born-digital butterfly. But the transformation is real. Better tools are making collaboration easier. Processes are becoming clearer. And project delivery is becoming more assured.
Digital Construction Week has a valuable role to play in keeping the conversation going and connecting the people who are making it happen. I was pleased – and proud – to be part of it.