High flying ideas upon us

Architect Nick Terry raised it in our pages over the summer and the response from one reader, who claimed he had first heard the prediction 20 years ago, probably summed up the continued scepticism over a new magic computer programme that will suddenly work out copper-bottomed cost plans. Surely the industry needs to get the basics of consistent products and co-ordinated working sorted out before dreaming up a new whizzy way of coming up with costs? Probably, but when the head of the UK’s biggest QS and PM raises the possibility of aviation technology transferring to construction in the near future it’s time to sit up and notice. Rob Smith is not one to jump on a bandwagon or get over-excited with a new trend, and he reckons major clients will soon be demanding such technology. It may only begin to affect the top-end of the industry but the digital revolution could be upon us sooner than we think.

I see that the president of the ICE, Gordon Masterton, is offering to pay a TV scriptwriter £10,000 to include a civil engineer in a storyline. Apparently if Ross or Rachel from the US comedy show Friends had been an engineer there would have been a flock of new recruits coming into the profession. I’m not sure the show has actually done much to increase the headcount of the palaeontology profession (that’s what Ross was, apparently) but it’s an intriguing idea, and one our trade bodies could match. Surely a QS could feature prominently in EastEnders given the amount of destruction reaped on Walford in recent years? – oh, and the Queen Vic badly needs a refit. And what about a project manager in US show Lost who could foster team spirit and successfully build a boat from palm fronds and bamboo sticks. The possibilities are endless.