What if someone told you that you could save 25% in time and cost on construction projects? And significantly improve long-term project planning? And optimise supply chain performance not just for your projects, but across the entire industry? And that you could do this without making any significant changes in your day-to-day operations?

A consortium, led by Vinci Construction UK, is midway through a two-year project funded by Innovate UK (see overleaf) to develop a tool that aims to do that.

The tool, called PLASMA, is based on blockchain – the technology behind cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin – and is being designed to make project planning more efficient, predict future problems on site and automate payments via “smart contracts”.

Could this really be the answer to construction’s long history of delays and cost overruns? Here Scott Bennison (SB), Vinci’s digital operations manager and the person leading the PLASMA project, provides some answers.

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