Heavy civil and public projects have seen a significant increase in the adoption of technology in recent years. The implementation of new technologies has been critical in improving efficiency, reducing costs, and enhancing safety. This panel will provide an overview of the technology adoption trends and best practices in the heavy civil and public projects industry and some of the key challenges to these mega projects. Topics will include the use of Building Information Modeling (BIM) for project design and coordination, the implementation of construction management software for scheduling and resource allocation, the use of drones for site inspections and progress monitoring, and the adoption of 3D printing and prefabrication for construction components. The panelists will share real-world examples and case studies of successful technology adoption on heavy civil and public projects, highlighting the benefits and challenges faced by project teams. The panel will also address the importance of collaboration and partnerships in driving technology innovation in the industry. The panelists will discuss the role of technology providers, contractors, and owners in the successful implementation of new technologies and how these stakeholders can work together to achieve their common goals.
Principal and Founder. An Entrepreneur, Investor and Technologist, after exiting the Automotive sector, Thomas worked in Project Management, lead Virtual Design and Construction teams, acted as CTO, and co-founded industry non-for-profits. Thomas currently acts on the board of directors for several startups and is the President & CEO of Building Transformations, the National Building Industry Innovation & Technology Organization in Canada.
Heavy civil and public projects have seen a significant increase in the adoption of technology in recent years. The implementation of new technologies has been critical in improving efficiency, reducing costs, and enhancing safety. This panel will provide an overview of the technology adoption trends and best practices in the heavy civil and public projects industry and some of the key challenges to these mega projects. Topics will include the use of Building Information Modeling (BIM) for project design and coordination, the implementation of construction management software for scheduling and resource allocation, the use of drones for site inspections and progress monitoring, and the adoption of 3D printing and prefabrication for construction components. The panelists will share real-world examples and case studies of successful technology adoption on heavy civil and public projects, highlighting the benefits and challenges faced by project teams. The panel will also address the importance of collaboration and partnerships in driving technology innovation in the industry. The panelists will discuss the role of technology providers, contractors, and owners in the successful implementation of new technologies and how these stakeholders can work together to achieve their common goals.
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Emily Deeth is a manager within Commercial Advisory and Strategy team at Infrastructure Ontario (IO). In her role, she is focused on developing the digital twin strategy for the province, exploring how this technology can be utilized to improve how public infrastructure is planned, built and maintained. Through this initiative, IO will enable better coordination and planning, reduce utility conflicts, and create efficiencies in overall maintenance of Ontario's infrastructure assets. This commitment to applying shared data standards and increasing availability enables the delivery of projects more efficiently, making Ontario the best place to build
With substantial experience both as a senior advisor for the Government of Ontario and as a management consultant for KPMG, she developed expertise leading high-profile, politically sensitive projects from the strategy phase all the way to implementation while working in large cross-functional teams to execute challenging projects. Furthermore, she understands the breadth of challenges that the public sector faces and strives to overcome them to make government services better for Ontarians. Emily earned her BA from McGill University and her MBA from McMaster University.
I have been heavily involved in the Water Infrastructure construction industry for over three decades. My journey in this industry began as a summer internship in 1993 working on a city surveying team in Mesa Arizona while I was attending and completing my BS Degree in Construction Management & Engineering at Arizona State University. Upon graduation in 1995 I was already working for a large Midwestern General Contractor, Martin K. Eby Construction. At the time we were self-performing the construction of large water and wastewater treatment facilities throughout the Phoenix Arizona Metropolitan area which was then seeing unprecedented population growth. I started with Eby as an intern producing some of their first ever AutoCAD generated concrete lift and mechanical coordination drawings. I left them six years later as an Assistant Project Manager and having spent all those years project based and at a unique time in history when computers and basic CAD were just starting to make their way and acceptance into construction process.
My career with PCL CONSTRUCTION, Inc. began in 2002 were I continued as an Assistant Project Manager again building water and wastewater treatment plants and infrastructure both large and small within the state of Arizona. As PCL’s footprint in the water infrastructure market grew so did my career. I moved up to a Project Manager role and quickly from there to the Engineering Manager role overseeing our Construction Engineering Dept. This department that I developed started as a centralized center for construction engineering needs on all our water infrastructure projects that were now being built coast to coast within the United States. Along with traditional construction engineering needs such as formwork design, crane and heavy lift planning, etc. I added the ability for my department to produce coordinated BIM project models starting back in 2004 well before BIM models were even being produced by the Water Infrastructure Design Community. This addition revolutionized and streamlined our approach to coordinating the intricate marriage of our project structures, process piping and process equipment. Twenty year later my department has grown sizably along with the services it provides our projects. BIM of the early 2000’s has advanced into a whole suite of integrated construction services (ICS) from simple in-field sensors to AR and VR coordination. My group serves both as the deployment and training center for these services to our projects as well as one of the primary content providers with our coordinated models.
As a graduated in architecture in 1998, Mr. Tremblay's professional career has always been guided by a constant search for practices improvment. Over the past 25 years, Mr. Tremblay has developed a unique expertise related to integrated BIM and IDP practices by working in various companies including specialized suppliers, engineering firms and architecture firms. This path led him to join the Société québécoise des infrastructures in 2010, where he hold the position of Director of the deployment of integrated BIM and IDP practices.
Mr. Tremblay is the instigator of the BIM deployment at the SQI and today he is in charge of a team of experts dedicated to the development and integration of collaborative approaches to the construction and management practices of public infrastructures. He is also in charge of the coordination committee for the Quebec government's Roadmap for BIM.
Jeff is currently the Digital Consulting Lead for AECOM Canada, responsibility for the uplift of AECOM's new Digital Consulting practice and business line development in the Canada Region. Jeff also continues to support the Canada Region as a Digital Transformation Lead, driving national digital adoption of core software, data, and digital business development strategies across all of AECOM’s business lines, transportation, energy, water, buildings and places, energy, and environment.
Jeff is an accomplished digital leader, with 25 years of AEC experience at the unique interface between designed both physical and digital infrastructure. This experience includes developing digital delivery strategies, implementing on a wide range of complex infrastructure programs and projects, design-build, all forms of P3 Alternative Delivery, to delivering custom application solutions, for example Digital Twin implementation for global asset owners, managing innovation and software application teams delivering successful emerging technology solutions.
Jeff is a recognized industry thought leader on smart city and infrastructure delivery, BIM to Digital Twin Integration and Lifecycle Asset Management, Integrated Data Environments (IDE), AI/ML/RPA intelligence and automation, immersive experience technologies, regulatory information management and compliance (ISO, ESG).
This technical experience, combined with a deep passion and energy for big scale, positive, disruptive digital transformation and change management creates a solid foundation to drive and be successful digital leader in the industry..
Jeff is also actively involved with the industry digital community including sitting as a member of the National Institute for Building Sciences (NIBS) and sitting on the BIM to Digital Twin Integration (DTI) Subcommittee, which driving lifecycle data thinking and digital transformation standardization of the global industry.
