BIM pioneer, construction consultant, and multi-award winner, Marzia Bolpagni wears many hats as an Associate Director for BIM consultancy at Mace. Her accolades include the 2022 Inspiring Fifty Europe, 2022 Rising Star Award in Infrastructure Transport & Logistics, and 2022 runner-up Digital Woman of the Year. 

 Mace is a global construction and consultancy company with four different engines for growth: Develop, Consult, Construct and Operate. The company’s corporate priorities encompass innovation, sustainability, and value to society, with a 31-year-old history and a roster of iconic projects including the London Olympics and Paralympic Games 2012, London Eye, Expo 2020 Dubai, and Battersea Power Station. 

 Marzia will present at the forthcoming edition of the Disrupt Symposium from 1st – 3rd November 2022. In this article, we discuss Marzia’s virtual presentation, “Industry 4.0” which will be held on 3rd Nov at 19:35 CET.

Disrupt Symposium is a first-of-its-kind event, promoting the Business of Architecture by bringing together renowned names and practice leaders from the AEC Industry across the world.

While business is one of the key ingredients of a successful practice, architects often shy away from it. With design and client management being put in the spotlight, this particular facet of running a firm is the most overlooked. Disrupt Symposium is a platform created for people in the AEC industry to open an array of opportunities that facilitate business and career development. 

How can we help?

Business is at the forefront of our event, keeping in mind the many practices that need only a push in the right direction. Disrupt brings together world-renowned firms, personalities, and eminent leaders from architecture and its related domains to speak about and educate us on the most trending topics and crucial directions our businesses can take. We hope to give you a platform not only to learn but also to generate scope in architecture. Be a part of the event and buy your tickets at www.disruptsymposium.com 

What is the business structure of Mace?

Mace is a global construction and consultancy business that consists of four engines: Develop, Construct, Construct and Operate.

Purpose and Priorities

Mace is a purpose-led business that looks to ‘Redefine the Boundaries of Ambition’. The driving force behind Mace is to always pursue a better way by challenging and energizing every project to innovate, improve and exceed expectations. The company does this through three priorities – to pursue a sustainable world, grow together and deliver distinctive value.

Sustainability is a priority for the sector – and Mace is leading the way in this area with an ambition to reduce corporate carbon emissions by 10% year-on-year as well as saving 1m tonnes of client carbon. Company growth is key to a successful business and Mace aspires to be the most diverse employer in the industry, recognizing that true success comes when you draw from a genuinely diverse pool of talent. Delivering distinctive value will be achieved by exceeding expectations for clients and leading the industry by challenging convention and embedding innovative solutions.

Photo Credits: Mace    

Value: 

Value is often linked most closely to cost, time or quality. But, there are many ways in which our industry offers value. And the UK government has released various reports, such as a Construction Playbook in 2020 and Transforming Infrastructure Performance: Roadmap to 2030, which are pushing the industry to analyze other dimensions of what it means to be valuable – such as helping clients reduce their carbon emissions, introducing innovative solutions or improving safety.

Photo Credits: Mace    

Marzia says,

“Value is also thinking about the impact we have on the local communities, especially when creating a building or infrastructure internationally. The legacy that we are giving to them teaches innovative building and design, delivering best practices so that value is not just social and economical – but environmental as well. This is linked to our ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) criteria. We also contributed to The Value Toolkit for the Construction Innovation Hub which is a tool not just for clients to measure the start and end of a project but also for firms to understand how they manage the value that a company brings to the project and to the client.” 

While value is easily measured for tangible outcomes, sometimes it is not as clear.

Marzia Bolpagni is a part of the consultancy for Mace’s Design&BlM with a team, consisting of almost 30 people focusing on BIM. The newly elected RIBA president Muyiwa Oki is also a part of the Design&BIM consultancy team which has a core team in London but is rapidly expanding internationally. Marzia’s role as Head of BIM international means she is responsible for the digital side at an international level. 

“I specialize in information management using BIM. A report published by the Construction and Innovation Hub discusses 104 names for the same space across different Governmental Clients. This is not very effective. Therefore, before digitalization, we need standardization of information.”  

Photo Credits: Mace    

Photo Credits: Mace    

Clients from both the public and private sectors want to improve how they manage their assets. Clients want to understand and link information between phases like design, procurement, construction and facilities management. Ideas like The Golden Thread of Information can be helpful to track information about an asset from concept to operation.

 “If they need to repair a boiler, they want to understand the performance of the boiler, where is it located and where it came from. Similarly, the designer defines the requirements of the project.”

Photo Credits: Mace

Photo Credits: Mace 

Digital strategy comes into play when a client wants to implement digital technology for their projects. It starts with an assessment and BIM strategy considering the technology, people, and processes. 

 “It’s easy to buy the software but if you don’t have policies and don’t update your contracts, you will be in trouble.”

Photo Credits: Mace    

Photo Credits: Mace    

After setting a strategy and creating the tender material, the deliverables produced by designers and contractors are checked to see if they meet client requirements. Marzia’s team also helps with the handover strategy by linking information to transfer to the facility management systems. The team mainly works as client consultants and client advisors in the entire lifecycle of a project. 

In her presentation at the Disrupt Symposium, Marzia Bolpagni will explain how Construction 4.0 can help with design, practice, and implementation technology, before going into depth on how it can be implemented in robotics, 3D printing, linked data, and the Internet of Things.

Marzia will be joined by architecture practices like Grimshaw, Herzog & de Meuron, HKS, HOK, Mace, Office Untitled, K-Studio, and more. The Disrupt Symposium will take place from the 1-3rd of November 2022 where you can be a part of engaging conversations and presentations that will take your business to the next level.  www.disruptsymposium.com is where you can still purchase your tickets.