Construction goes high-tech

MANILA, Philippines — First Balfour Inc., the Lopez Group’s construction and engineering arm, has adopted an artificial intelligence (AI)-powered construction management system (CMS) that integrates into a single platform the planning, execution and monitoring of projects for faster and more efficient management.

First Balfour thus became the first construction company in the Philippines to tap Autodesk Construction Cloud (ACC) with AI-powered cost management and advanced analytics dashboards.

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“In the past, it took days or even weeks to gather project information. Now, with this platform, everyone can be online in just minutes,” says Rey Villar, the firm’s managing director for construction operations.

Anthony Fernandez, First Balfour vice chair and CEO, explains that this represents the company’s “first major step in adopting cutting-edge technologies designed to enhance project management and operational efficiency.”

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John Peralta, the company’s overall CMS project champion, says this “brings all the aspects of our projects together in one place—from tender, planning and scheduling, to cost tracking, document management and collaboration.”