Product Innovation of the Year shortlist

The Digital Twin in a Box core innovation lies in its integration of Internet of Things (IoT), AI and digital twin technologies into a single platform that offers scalability and accessibility.

The product was successfully deployed at Cardiff Metropolitan University. The university saved more than £5.1m in capital costs and £102,000/year in operational costs thanks to the live data and actionable insights produced by the Digital Twin in a Box.

Since this successful project, other UK universities, local councils and commercial real estate clients have also adopted Digital Twin in a Box, including Vodafone, which SmartViz says has already saved more than £30m in property costs as a direct benefit of using this product.

Developed by civil engineer René Morkos and launched in 2024, ALICE Technologies' CORE construction optioneering software uses artificial intelligence to analyse a project’s complex building requirements, generate efficient building schedules and adjust them as needed during construction.

The ALICE platform allows teams to understand how long a project will take, the cost and what is needed to deliver it. Because it is parametric, the scheduling models can be adapted throughout the project whenever something changes.

ALICE enables contractors to reduce build times by an average of 17% and construction costs by 11%. It helps remove bias from these decision-making processes by assessing all inputted ideas and providing an independent analysis that is supported by data.

Thanks to ALICE Core, users can upload an existing baseline schedule from Oracle Primavera P6, P6 cloud or Microsoft Project, reducing the amount of manual information entry.

The ALICE platform is already being used by tier one contractors in major projects, including the Skanska, Costain and Strabag JV, Bouygues Travaux Publics, and the Sir Robert McAlpine and VolkerFitzpatrick JV.

There are approximately 73,000 bridges in the UK. Once these structures hit 50 years of age, they begin to deteriorate and require regular inspection and maintenance.

However, until now, no technology has been available to assess internal damage and differentiate safe bridges from those in critical condition. Because of this, 50% of bridges are decommissioned unnecessarily, which wastes significant amounts of money and concrete.

To address this challenge, the National Highways Structures Moonshot programme sought to apply GScan’s muon tomography and AI technology to bridge infrastructure to demonstrate what internal components and damage could be identified in a representative bridge sample.

GScan has developed a novel non-destructive testing (NDT) technology to enhance bridge inspection, empowering asset owner-operators to make data-driven decisions. Existing NDT methods are only capable of assessing structural health up to a depth of 40cm in reinforced concrete. This leaves many maintenance and decommissioning decisions up to assumptions.

Instead, GScan’s AI-enabled muon tomography (muonFlux) can produce a detailed map of chemical and structural components inside a structure. It is capable of penetrating up to 10m with an accuracy of 1mm.

During the project between June 2024 and February 2025, the team demonstrated that muonFlux can identify the internal mechanics of post-tensioning ducts, as well as signs of weakness and deterioration, producing an interactive 3D visualisation.

The next stage of development will assess live bridges managed by National Highways and AtkinsRéalis, as well as starting new projects with ConnectPlus/ConnectPlus Services at the bridges of the M25 and also in the tunnels and retaining wall domains.

Traditional methods for assessing the feasibility and suitability of Saint-Gobain’s InteWall’s prefabricated partition systems have usually been costly, time-consuming and labour-intensive, typically taking several days per project floor.

In addition, late-stage design phases frequently excluded the possibility of adopting offsite solutions without significant redesign. This conventional approach increased the demand for bespoke components, inflated manufacturing costs and elevated project risk.

Saint-Gobain recognised an urgent need for a rapid, digitally-driven solution capable of quickly and accurately evaluating the viability of prefabrication within established designs. The primary challenge was to minimise bespoke manufacturing requirements without substantial impacts to existing designs, ensuring that offsite prefabrication could remain competitive and viable even at advanced design stages.

Software company KOPE AI worked with Saint-Gobain to create a bespoke product configuration platform that allows teams to quickly evaluate the suitability of InteWall’s partition system on existing project design models.

This product streamlines decision-making, reduces costs, minimises onsite waste by up to 92%, and significantly increases the standardisation and productivity of offsite manufacturing methods.

By digitally encoding the InteWall panel logic and placement strategies, the product was better aligned with manufacturing realities, enhancing the overall project productivity and enabling Saint-Gobain to offer a more competitive, sustainable and efficient solution.

RLB UK’s sustainability team and RLB Digital’s technology team came together to develop a scalable digital platform for measuring and reporting social value that integrates real-time data visualisation, automation and predictive analysis to improve decision-making.

The Social Value Digital Platform enables a standardised, automated and scalable approach to measuring social value, significantly enhancing efficiency, transparency and stakeholder engagement.

This partnership has successfully combined RLB UK’s sustainability expertise with RLB Digital’s technical innovation, resulting in a platform that provides what was previously impossible using traditional methods.

The platform is designed for customisation and industry-wide integration and aligns with major social value frameworks such as United Nations Sustainable Development Goals, Social Value UK, and the National Themes, Outcomes and Measures (TOMs) framework.

With anticipated time savings of up to 50% and projected cost reductions of 30%, this initiative is expected to revolutionise internal processes at RLB and establish a replicable industry model.

The winners will be revealed at the gala dinner on 1 July at the Brewery in London.

You can join the shortlisted entrants by booking your seats at the awards.

The Digital Construction Awards are organised by Digital Construction Week, the Chartered Institute of Building, Construction Management and DC+. The first sponsor to be announced is Bluebeam.

To find out more about the Awards, visit digitalconstructionawards.co.uk.