Chief engineer at Stent Norman Mure said that companies who were dealing with the "nuts and bolts" of construction were not covered by the IAI, as its work was concentrated farther up the supply chain, mainly in the design stage. "In writing the report on object modelling for small and medium-sized construction firms, we wanted to feed in our findings to an international organisation, but there wasn't one that covered the level of detail we were working at," said Mure.
"We supply components, and we need very detailed information on our models, which isn't necessary in the design stage."
Brian Zelly, chairman of the UK chapter of the IAI, admitted that the group's work hadn't got to the point in the supply chain where Stent was operating. "We work from the top down, so we haven't reached that level of detail yet, but there may be work in other parts of the world going on at that level."
"Ultimately we plan to work throughout the entire supply chain," added Zelly. "We are always looking for organisations to form groups and contribute to the work we are doing and what is being done across the world."
Former construction minister Nick Raynsford pledged support for the IAI's work in May. The DTI has now promised to back the alliance with financial support and by helping it put bids together for European Union grants.
Source
Construction Manager