The Construction IT Alliance (CITA) Smart Collaboration Challenge took place between the 10th and the 14th of November 2014 in Dublin.
The challenge involved five teams working together to research and explore a solution to a defined challenge in construction using existing and emerging digital technologies. Participants were mostly made up of Irish professionals and university students but also included teams from the UK, Slovenia and the US.
At the suggestion of Topcon GB Business Manager David Bennett, a UK team was entered comprising professionals from Topcon, Amey and Arup, university representatives from the School of Architecture, University of Sheffield, and the extraordinary Design Engineer Construct! class from King Ecgbert School.
The students designed and digitally constructed a community building, supported by their professional peers. Dr Alan Hoare, one of the founding directors of CITA who is based in the Dublin Institute of Technology, said:
“One of the highlights from the conference was definitely the secondary school team, made up of 15-16 year old children. They demonstrated that there is no fear of technology at that age.
Their challenge involved investigating how young teenagers can quite easily adapt to and use technology. In our industry people see technology as a threat so it was great to see such a young group take to it so easily.”
