Category: Features
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When Everyone Zigs, Zag: Peter Vesterbacka on Standing Out
Peter Vesterbacka did not introduce himself as CMO. At Rovio, his title was Mighty Eagle. Every time he handed out a business card, people asked what that meant, and that curiosity opened the door for a story. For Vesterbacka, whether you’re building Angry Birds, founding Slush, or pitching at the Nordic PropTech Awards, branding and…
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Why Messy Data Won’t Cut It Anymore
I attended the annual building services event, “Talotekniikka NEXT,” in Helsinki last Thursday. It was an afternoon filled with timely insights on topics ranging from preparing for national emergencies in design to the ethical guidelines of AI usage and the future of data center construction. Everything we learned at the event highlights a key issue: data…
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LLMs in Construction: Where They Fail and Where They Shine
At the Building 2030 Summer Seminar, doctoral researchers Tuomas Valkonen and Roope Nyqvist from Aalto University shared fresh insights into how Large Language Models (LLMs) like ChatGPT and DeepSeek perform in construction-related tasks. The results highlight a simple truth: used wisely, LLMs can accelerate knowledge work; used unwisely, they can produce nonsensical results in areas…
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Construction Suicide Prevention Week: Addressing the Mental Health Crisis in Construction
The construction industry builds our communities, but too often the people doing the building are struggling in silence. September 8 – 12 is Construction Suicide Prevention Week, and we’re shining a light on the darkness far too many men and women face in the industry. Construction workers face tough conditions every day — long hours,…
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From BIM to Site: A Digital Chain for Takt Production
How do you measure the performance of a takt construction project? That was one of the research themes presented at the Building 2030 summer seminar in Espoo, Finland. The Finnish Building 2030 consortium held its summer seminar last Thursday and Friday. The event was the culmination of Building 2030 Week, which my company had helped…
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Making Volumetric Modular Construction Work
Is volumetric modular construction on the verge of a breakthrough, or will it remain experimental or occasional, as it has so far in many countries? Finnish contractors have used concrete prefabricated building frames regularly since the 1960s. Now, we’re seeing growing interest in volumetric modular construction, especially for certain types of spaces. My early experiences…
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Building New Data Bridges in AEC
The AEC sector’s longstanding problem is the lack of data flow among processes and project participants. We’ve tried to fix it with shared file repositories, shared BIM models, and APIs that enable software data exchange. Despite new AI tools, the issue remains. But there may be a solution. Anthropic released MCP (Model Context Protocol) in…
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The Timber Tech Playbook: Lessons from Greg Howes
In this episode of the AEC Business podcast, I sit down with Greg Howes, co-founder of CutMyTimber and the AEC Hackathon, and the founder of Oregon Mass Timber Network. Greg’s journey spans from Silicon Valley tech to high-precision timber fabrication. We talk about: Why the U.S. could become the world’s biggest mass timber market The…
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From Data Mess to Market Edge
What do 3,503 construction leaders from 27 countries think about the industry’s tech future? Autodesk’s latest global survey reveals the trends shaping GCs, owners, trade contractors, and designers. You can read the results in the 2025 State of Design & Make – Spotlight on Construction report. Data is key, but poorly utilized The report demonstrates…
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Best 40 Construction Technology Podcasts
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