IT-Supported Collaboration for Structural Engineering

The construction industry, of which structural engineering is an important component, is distinguished by its organisational fragmentation and the complexity of the artefacts that it designs and builds. The fragmentation enforces a need for collaboration between the many separate organisations that are involved in a given scheme and this creates a need for meetings which are both expensive and disruptive. The complexity adds to the difficulties caused by the complexity. In addition to face to face meetings, there are more subtle forms of collaborative working such as shared files and decision spaces. This paper looks at how collaborative working can be supported using Information Technology (IT) based tools. The current leading edge technologies and forthcoming developments are discussed.