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BUSINESS NEWS STEWART EXPANDS TO TRIAD AREA WITH NEW GREENSBORO OFFICE Stewart, an interdisciplinary design, engineering, surveying, and planning firm, announced the opening of its first office in Greensboro, marking a significant expansion of its operational footprint in North Carolina. Members of Stewart’s landscape architecture, civil engineering and operations teams are already working from the new office under the leadership of CEO and founder Willy Stewart. The space, located at 800 Green Valley Road, will ultimately house teams from each of Stewart’s six practice areas:
civil engineering, community planning, geomatics, landscape architecture, structural engineering and transportation. “We have been proud members of the Triad business community for nearly 30 years, working closely with partners like North Carolina A&T State University, UNC Greensboro, and the City of Greensboro on signature projects including the award-winning NC A&T Student Center, the new UNCG Nursing and Instructional Building and Keeley Park,” said Stewart. “Opening our first office in the area will enable us to be even more responsive to the needs of local clients, pursue exciting new projects and further our mission
to strengthen communities across the Carolinas.” Notable new projects in the Triad area include two Guilford County school projects, a dormitory at NC A&T, and the Carolina Core soccer training facility in High Point. Stewart is located throughout the Carolinas, comprising 170 employees with seven office locations. With a unique interdisciplinary collaborative approach that results in stronger and more creative design solutions, Stewart serves domestic and international clientele, offering a full range of services.
the effectiveness of our marketing tools and strategies. For example, the creator of Joist.AI is a Texas A&M grad and developed the company to help AEC professionals create proposals in the AEC space. It also gives the user insights to make better business decisions. One question we have to ask ourselves going forward is, “How will AI impact us?” This is crucial for us to know moving forward. For me, it’s hard to tell. While AI could be very helpful, it could also be harmful. I can see the benefit of innovation, in how the implementation of AI can drastically increase the efficiency of our work. Proposals, design, and construction efforts are already being impacted by AI and there is only a matter of time before new advancements are made for our industry. My biggest concern is about the possible replacement of employees or the reclassification of services and prices thereof. In my opinion, this revolution will go one of two ways: Either more work will become automated, which would lessen the need for employees, or AEC firms will join in the revolution, and retain their talent, but in an effort to stay competitive will reduce the prices of their services over time given project tasks can be done faster and more efficiently. Overall, there was so much to learn at Zweig Group’s Minds & Machine Symposium, and I thoroughly enjoyed my time spent there. Going forward, I’m interested to see how AI will impact the construction industry, particularly with the use of autonomous vehicles given human and earthly error on construction sites. I also wonder how effective AI can be in controlling and adapting to different environmental conditions and business decisions. However, considering what we explored during this event, it is difficult to determine just what AI cannot do when given time to develop. But one thing is certain: We as AEC professionals have to adapt to the change. Otherwise, we could miss out on a great opportunity to evolve the future of the AEC industry. If you find this topic interesting, I recommend you consider attending one of the next Mind & Machines Symposiums. Click here to learn more. Matthew Douglas is operations leader of The Engineering Management Institute. Connect with him on LinkedIn.
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companies like ESRI and Trimble. Additionally, Autodesk is coming out with a platform called Forma which will be a cloud-based software for early-stage planning and design. ■ AI’s role in design and construction processes. Another session discussed how AI will play a prominent role in our design and construction processes. There were three parts to this session: Part one explored how AI will enhance the design process by implementing local design standards. Part two covered AI in robotics. This was construction- focused, and detailed autonomous vehicles, drones, and how AI can be used for things like site inspections, material delivery, and construction assembly. Part three explored how AI will change energy optimization in MEP, structural, and civil design. According to Goldman Sachs, 37 percent of tasks can now be automated by AI in architecture. In my opinion, the industry that will be impacted the most going forward is architecture, since most of the work done is in design. developments happening with AI in project management. Consulting firms in particular could benefit from this when common PM processes are integrated as standards. Let’s take into account the following scenario: What if you bid on a particular project and use AI to pick out a type of consulting service based on a bank of information from experiences your firm has built up over time? Maybe you have a massive stormwater conveyance and management project. Your job is to design a new conceptual landscape in a shopping center, to convey water in a way that will impact businesses the least. What if you could enter this into your AI software, and the AI spits out a range of documents? For example, the output might include a few alternative plans, a scope sheet, a cost estimate, a proposal, etc. all with the push of a button. I think that would be pretty amazing and scary at the same time. ■ AI’s impact on business development. Now let’s get into business development. In one session, Rachelle Ray of RMR Consulting joined us to discuss some interesting things that Joist.AI and Adobe Firefly are doing to increase ■ AI for project management. There are also some
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THE ZWEIG LETTER JANUARY 22, 2024, ISSUE 1521
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