The difference may be in the maturity of the technology.

It’s up to the industry to decide what it looks like.We should shape this now, proactively, rather than wait for external forces or commercial imperatives to impose something on us..

Considering the examples above, here are the key aspects I believe a digital marketplace for construction Platforms should include:.Create a direct link between customers and manufacturers, reducing transactional friction.Enable ease and transparency of procurement and payment.

Host a widely distributed network of suppliers, from major materials suppliers to specialist SMEs.Ensure vendors are rigorously pre-qualified to ensure consistency and quality of components.

Ensure transparency and provenance of raw materials and documentation of the complete manufacturing process etc.. Objectively allow buyers to compare products against a range of value criteria; not just costBe a neutral broker, charging buyers and sellers a small fee to use the service on the market does not itself influence the price.

Allow for standard products as well as compatible enhancements.It seems almost obvious, but because it was a groundbreaking MEP design , we did comprehensive testing and modelling to make sure it would work, using computational fluid dynamics (a digital way of predicting how air will move through a building).

GSK – quite rightly – have a very strong Health and Safety culture, so the testing threshold was incredibly high.But the system passed, we installed it and it’s working very well.. Also in Stevenage, we worked with GSK on the lab grade water system.

They had a very large system, which had been put in 20 years ago.They wanted to analyse how much of its capacity was used and when, and what its overall condition was.