Beck Group's Beck: 'Big Data' Tools Beget Better Buildings

摘要

Peter Beck, a managing director with contracting firm Beck Group, is on a mission to improve our understanding of buildings. In his view, designers and contractors have no shortage of software tools to help them design and build buildings. But tools that analyze a building's performance? Not so much, he says. But that is changing with technologies such as IP-enabled sensors (the "internet of things") and Big Data tools to analyze building data. One could argue that Beck Group is helping drive that change. The firm's DProfiler software, which allows users to calculate construction costs against a BIM and build detailed budgets, is licensed by about 50% of ENR Top 400 Contractors, he says. He recently sat down with ENR to give his take on other ways tech is driving changes in the ARC sectors. The discussion is excerpted below.