More and more data is being generated at a global scale, making data a significant growth vector and without a doubt one of the most valuable resources in today’s world. With this in mind, what type of data does Bouygues Construction currently generate, and how is this data used?

Our construction sites generate large quantities of data from the various digital tools used on-site. The quantity of data is not fixed and will in fact increase in the years to come with the introduction of new digital tools. Bouygues Construction is currently working in partnership with Suez, Air Liquide, and the CEA (French Alternative Energies and Atomic Energy Commission) on the idea of the ‘connected operator’. They are aiming to equip construction site operators with adaptable digital tools to generate new data, including connected sleeves for the forearm, vests fitted with air analysis sensors, glasses with integrated cameras, and safety boots with GPS, amongst others. We need high-performance tools to analyse and leverage increasingly larger quantities of data. Today, a lot of data is handled during the construction site phase, but not much is stored on servers in a structured manner and consequently remains unexplored. It’s up to us to explore the potential for generating value from this data.

Where does Bouygues Construction stand on Big Data and where did the idea for the Data Lab come from?

During Data Day in September 2016, we worked with our partners on several usage cases and tests on data use, such as measuring the progress of a construction site, predicting a building’s energy consumption, and to assist project costings, i.e. rolling our fibre optics. We also tested out analysis of construction site photos, predictive maintenance for TBMs, and tracking energy consumption at site offices. Initial results were promising. We’re cognisant of the fact that knowing how to exploit Big Data is becoming more important. This is why a committee was formed bringing together all sections of the R&D Department to explore the area. Their objectives were understanding tools and stakeholders, trialling usage cases within our business lines, and then rolling out the concept by structuring and exploiting the data available within the company. The Data Lab was formed to meet the rollout objective.

How is the Data Lab organised and what are the objectives involved?

The Data Lab was created in September 2017 to help manage the digital transformation within the group’s OUs and business lines. The team will work on usage cases with business lines to improve their knowledge of the business lines and increase operational efficiency by exploiting data. What data should be used to generate added value? What can be learnt from analysing previous data captured from a broad sample of construction sites? How best can we capitalise on the data produced? What processes can be automated and what decision-making tools can be put in place to boost productivity? The team will include five people covering all of the necessary skills to respond to the above questions, including understanding the needs of business lines, database architecture, data management, app development, data science, and creating predictive models. The Big Data Committee will continue alongside the team and will look into other business lines such as Finance and HR, which are also likely to benefit from Big Data. There’s no shortage of services to accelerate our command of Big Data!