Cardiff Metropolitan University wins Delivering Sustainability with Digital Innovation at the Digital Construction Awards
19 March 2026
Heathrow wins Digital Team of the Year at the Digital Construction Awards
19 March 2026
Heathrow Airport’s digital asset delivery team won Digital Team of the Year, sponsored by nima, at the Digital Construction Awards 2026 last night (18 March).
Heathrow is one of the world’s most complex infrastructure environments. It has a £4.5bn portfolio, including 450 projects, and 412 project managers, along with thousands of staff from delivery partners.
Capital projects delivery has faced significant risks due to fragmented and poor-quality asset data, causing delays, cost overruns and inefficiencies. Implementing changes was further complicated by the need to operate within Heathrow’s live environment, where disruptions could affect millions of passengers.
Additionally, all digital upgrades require full cyber-safety approval before implementation. Siloed project work, unclear information needs and use of unmanaged tools meant there was no single source of truth, risking data duplication and loss of value.
What the judges said
“A strong, targeted programme at scale in a complex environment. The solution exemplifies the massive quantified organisational impact that implementing information management best practices can have from finding information faster to improved onboarding to risk reduction.”
To address this, the Heathrow team developed a four-phase approach: Discover, Design, Build and Deploy. In the Discover phase, the team engaged across the organisation and with the supply chain. They gathered more than 150 user stories to identify major challenges.
During the Design phase, a small expert team grouped these stories into process, organisation and people, technology and information, and created a roadmap to strengthen foundations for data-driven decisions.
The Build phase updated standards and contracts to industry best practice and ISO 19650. A CDE was implemented across Heathrow SharePoint, Autodesk Construction Cloud and M-Files. Templates and centralised dashboards were introduced, and health and safety design risks were managed according to 19650‐6. Automated asset assurance processes were established, while the team explored AI use for document search and standards mapping.
The Deploy phase rolled out pilots across key projects. Feedback from these was used to create minimum viable products for wider adoption. These initiatives improved progress tracking through systematic reporting and digital workflows, with change management guided by the Prosci ADKAR model with super-users, tailored training and stakeholder engagement.
Other finalists
- AtkinsRéalis | Digital R&D unit
- Balfour Beatty | Copilot transformation team
- Balfour Beatty Vinci | HS2 Area North BIM team IFC processing
- Bowmer + Kirkland | Digital construction team
- LSI Architects | Digital technology team
- Mott MacDonald | Information management team
- SSEN Transmission | Accelerated Strategic Transmission Investment digital team
Behavioural resistance was addressed through simplified messaging and benefits‐led demonstrations.
Around 90 projects have adopted the new approach with a total of £6.7m in productivity benefits, achieving a return of £2.10 for every £1 invested. Project managers save around one hour daily on locating information, while 85% of high-level health and safety design risks have been reduced to medium or low.
The Digital Construction Awards are organised by Digital Construction Week, the Chartered Institute of Building, DC+ and Construction Management. Read about the rest of the winners.
To find out more about the Awards and enquire about sponsorship or entering next year’s event, visit digitalconstructionawards.co.uk.
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