nDCAD: a virtual change agent for professions and procurement systems?

Prof. Urry was always forward looking in his view of the industry and visionary in the way he drew ideas and concepts from other disciplines and applied them to construction. Coming, as an aeronautical engineer, with no baggage he was able to step back and look at how ideas and concepts could be 're-applied' in construction and how the nature, structure and ethos of the industry might be changed. The use of OR techniques from the 1950s onward drove the industry forward with a great leap into a more structured view of the construction process - current uses of IT in visualization and animation have the potential to stimulate a similar great leap forward. The driver for change identified here is multi-dimensional computer aided design (nDCAD); this is a technology that not only animates conventional 3DCAD but invests attributes in its elements, such as cost, structural design and even safety data. It is argued that nDCAD has the potential to become the change agent that will drive the industry participants towards relational contracting procurement systems and provide the basis for truly collaborative design, construction and facilities management. In so doing, the traditional roles played by professionals will be unfrozen, so producing the context within which the professions can embrace a sea change in the way that they are governed and sentient barriers can be broken down.