Lovell: Leveraging Artificial Intelligence & 360° photo capture for Building Safety Compliance Excellence

Lovell Partnerships, a wholly owned subsidiary of the Morgan Sindall Group, is a partnership housing expert and a leading provider of innovative residential construction and regeneration developments across England, Scotland and Wales.

In 1971, they built the first ever affordable partnership homes. Over 50 years later, this pioneering spirit sustains their commitment to working with communities as they transform themselves.

The Challenge

To help meet their commitment of working to transform communities and respond to the ever-evolving landscape of construction regulations and quality assurance, Lovell has sought for innovative ways to streamline their processes and achieve compliance excellence. This desire to work more efficiently has only been heightened by the introduction of the Building Safety Act.

Lovell had faced challenges related to progress tracking, compliance documentation, and demonstrating adherence to regulations; particularly focusing on the ‘golden thread’ approach. The need to efficiently manage vast amounts of data, ensure compliance with the Building Safety Act, and address issues like fire safety and construction delays were among their primary concerns.

Preparing for the Building Safety Act

Lovell took proactive measures to prepare for the Building Safety Act. This included enhancing competencies, implementing training programs, updating QA sheets, and incorporating fire consulting reports.

“We needed to get ahead of the curve and get prepared” says Chris Wallace, Construction Director at Lovell.

They turned to Symetri for their expertise and guidance around digital data capture. Symetri’s consultants came in to deliver a number of workshops to Lovell’s project teams across various different sites, to emphasise and educate them on digital capture and how this can support in delivering the golden thread.

The Solution

Symetri’s experts also introduced Lovell to Oculo: a visual project progress tracking and evidencing solution which combines artificial intelligence (AI) with 360° hard hat cameras.

Tony Clissold, Project Manager at Lovell saw the immediate benefits of Oculo, seeing it as one of the first steps they needed to take on their journey to Building Safety compliance as it would significantly elevate the quality and quantity of their data capture for documenting the golden thread.

All you need to do is strap on the camera, and it will automatically capture your surroundings and accurately locate them in your design drawings; allowing you to spot errors pre-construction, whilst documenting and verifying project progress.

The implementation involved a phased approach. Lovell initially rolled out the system on a single project, continually refining and adapting it based on internal feedback and usability. Adjustments were made to simplify data capture, eliminate duplication, and ensure quality checks.

“We trusted the system and Symetri so much that we literally put all our eggs in one basket. If it didn’t work, we were back to square one. We took a risk and are now rolling it out on various jobs as it makes our lives so much easier.” says Chris.

Capturing Evidence: Creating a golden thread of information

Lovell has experienced a paradigm shift in progress tracking, employing weekly walks and leveraging the system to showcase weekly job progress to clients. This has not only facilitated transparency but has also aided in managing delays and evidencing required compliance detail effectively.

Oculo has since become pivotal in capturing crucial data at various stages for Lovell, ensuring compliance and aiding in retrospective assessments. It also helps provide a clear picture of installations for acoustics for fire stopping and fire cavity barriers. The system’s capability to create timelapse sequences and compile detailed reports with clear visuals has further enhanced Lovell's ability to showcase the golden thread across projects.

“The real game changer for us was the overlay feature which provides a visual identification of any inspection gaps we might have, which is pivotal in enhancing our overall project management efficiency – but particularly for high-risk projects where there really is no room for error” adds Chris.

The overlay feature helps Lovell ensure they have all the inspections they need room by room in an apartment, apartment by apartment, plot by plot.

Beyond the Building Safety Act

In addition to assisting Lovell in demonstrating the golden thread of information and eliminating project risk, they are also seeing many time saving benefits with Oculo.

“From a progress point of view, if I had to scan 140 apartments, I would need at least five pictures of each apartment which could result in 700+ pics. With Oculo, all I need to do is simply click on a room, and I can see the progress of the whole room at any point in time” says Tony.

“Upload times with hundreds of pictures is also an issue, let alone the time spent searching for them and then linking them to the model afterwards. It saves us weeks of time” he adds.

This is also helping Lovell save time with issue reports and providing them with clarity. For instance, by utilising the AI within Oculo, the location of the issue is automatically captured along with a description and photo meaning they can pinpoint exactly where the issue is physically and digitally.

Remote reviewing capabilities are also empowering Lovell to assess project progress remotely, ensuring a more comprehensive oversight of multiple sites and reducing their carbon emissions with less visits to site.

“You can never beat going down to site, but Oculo will play a big part in helping us reduce the need to travel onto site as much, everything is just there within a click of a button” states Tony.

Most importantly, it is now enabling them to build stronger connections with their clients as they can show the progress of their projects on a weekly basis as the as-built evolves. It is also demonstrating to potential new clients exactly how an apartment can be built in just 20 weeks, for example.

The Future

Lovell has proven the value of Oculo within their business so much that they are now looking at recruiting a quality manager to help them monitor all their projects with the tool going forwards.

The partnership between Lovell, Symetri and Oculo is ongoing and enabling a transformative shift in construction operations as they continuously feedback their future needs.

The team are now looking at developing a workflow for Part L, a UK building regulation that applies to all new construction projects and any changes in the use of a home or other building, which requires builders and developers to provide photographic evidence at every stage of construction.

“I feel listened to. It’s been a two-way street. We are making changes and developing the system together not only for the better of us, but for the whole industry” says Chris.