From its roots in 1884 as a standalone nationwide UK dredging company, Tilbury Douglas has grown into a major player in the construction sector, with a vast footprint in projects involving health, education, highways, justice, defense, water, government, manufacturing, and industrial builds. This established construction mainstay now sees the future in the seamless integration of innovative technology solutions.

Alan Moylan, Solution Manager of Digital Implementation at Tilbury Douglas explains that the company has a systematic approach to technology implementation, ensuring that it delivers the best outcomes for clients while maintaining efficient workflows for team members. The company carefully vets each technology to ensure it aligns with their digital strategy, focusing on data sharing, data handoffs, and overall accessibility for the extended team.

In recent years, the construction industry has undergone significant changes, with the implementation of BIM (Building Information Modeling) being a major milestone. Moylan believes that the industry will continue to evolve, with AI integration, automation, and the increasing use of robots shaping the next decade.

There are several challenges faced by modern day construction firms, some of them being increasing project complexity, condensed programme timelines, and the need by firms to identify and assess site specific project risks well in advance of mobilizing on site. To tackle these challenges, Tilbury Douglas leverages 3D BIM and 4D planning technologies, which offer numerous benefits to their clients, subcontractors, and ultimately their own business by streamlining project delivery, enhancing communication across the broader team, and improving efficiency on site with digital simulations.

“The optioneering capabilities in cmBuilder are powerful. So, I can try a scenario to test one large crane to service the whole building and then run another scenario that services the building by moving a lighter crane around the site and it's really quite quick and easy to do that and set it up. More quality information, quicker, allows for better decision making and ultimately a better deliverable.”

- Alan Moylan - Solution Manager at Tilbury Douglas

As part of their digital transformation, Tilbury Douglas has partnered with industry leading technologies like Unity and cmBuilder.io to take their business to the next level. With Unity, Tilbury Douglas has developed a building design configurator called TDConnect, which significantly speeds up the concept design stage. This custom-made tool, allows them to embed their kit-of-parts system with rapid design iteration to determine the best possible design of the project. This, when combined with cmBuilder’s powerful 4D site logistics planning and simulation capabilities, allows the company to create a holistic system for managing projects from the building design stage to on-site logistics and delivery.

“ We are excited to expand our working partnership with Tilbury Douglas over the coming years. Tilbury Douglas has a storied history and is building incredible projects as a leader in the UK market and we believe cmBuilder will be a key tool in their digital toolkit to deliver their most ambitious of projects for their industry leading clients.”

- Javier Glatt - Co-Founder at CadMakers/cmBuilder.io

Moylan highlights the benefits of using cmBuilder for site logistics planning, including efficient crane location, phasing/sequencing visualization and safety analysis. The cmBuilder platform's scenario planning feature enables quick and easy optioneering of the proposed means and methods, leading to better decision-making and improved project outcomes.

Tilbury Douglas and cmBuilder have entered into a multi-year enterprise-level partnership, and Moylan envisions further integration of cmBuilder into their operations. He emphasizes the importance of a "circular economy of information," allowing seamless data handoffs between different project stages, teams and tools.

The fact that the cmBuilder platform is 100% web-based, can be loaded on any smart device in the field or office, and allows for unlimited users across the entire organization, Moylan sees these aspects as crucial for effective collaboration. The live environment allows team members to access the most up-to-date information, improving overall information management and communication within the company.

Tilbury Douglas’s adoption of the cmBuilder platform for their operations demonstrates its commitment to technological innovation and continuous improvement. By harnessing the power of cutting-edge technology, the company aims to deliver the best possible outcomes for clients and continue to shape the future of the construction industry, further entrenching itself as one of the leaders of the UK construction industry for many decades to come.

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