The construction industry is one of the largest industries in the world and accounts for nearly 40% of global carbon emissions. The industry and owners, in particular, are making commitments and taking action to decarbonize and construct more sustainable and resilient buildings. Tiffany LaBruno will be discussing the solutions from Procore with us in this interview with TechBullion.
Please tell us your name and about yourself?
Tiffany LaBruno Director of Product – Owners at Procore. I am new to Procore, having spent the last two decades as a process and technology advisor to large public and private customers. I have broad experience in facilities and construction management systems from software selections and implementations through adoption.
Contributions on ESG partnerships and strategy by Daniella Meyer, Partner Manager at Procore
What is Procore and what solutions do you provide?
Procore’s mission is to connect everyone in construction on a global platform. With over 300 hundred partners and integrations, it is the most widely used construction management system, with over one million projects in over 125 countries. Procore is used by all construction stakeholders to manage the entire lifecycle of the asset from planning through commissioning and turnover.
With over $500B in construction waste, how are your solutions affecting the construction industry?
Procore and Procore.org is partnering with the AEC industry on many levels to solve productivity and predictability issues across construction. Our technology provides everyone on the jobsite the ability to view historic project data, keeping stakeholders working from the same, up-to-date set of project parameters and to connect material procurement and delivery data thus reducing rework, energy and material waste.
What is construction’s sustainable future?
To build sustainable and resilient structures, you have to factor in the physical and social geography of where that structure or building is going to be. Technology can help us make insights and collect data about these things and tech can help us build better, additive manufacturing (3D printing, onsite development with printers), prefab (opening up to other physical resources), robots on jobsites (increase safety, etc.). But, technology cannot make climate conscious long term decisions for us. It’s important that we, the humans using technology and making decisions, understand that and prioritize building a more sustainable and resilient built environment.
Besides construction waste, tell us other major problems halting efficiency in construction and how Procore Technologies is driving efficiencies into the construction industry?
A known gap to making climate-conscious decisions for the building industry is having access to better data and guidance on how to reduce overall emissions. The Procore platform aims to be the central source of data for the lifecycle of a project, and that includes embodied carbon data (from the bill of materials or BIM Model), energy use, water use, and waste produced on a jobsite, thus creating the operational module for climate relevant data. In the near term, Procore is excited to partner and integrate with emerging software solutions, like Building Transparency’s Embodied Carbon in Construction Calculator (EC3), to bring climate data into the Procore ecosystem.
How can Technology bridge the challenges presented by labor shortages and supply chain challenges?
From a human perspective, Procore.org seeks to expand the definition of what it looks like to work in construction. We support various industry organizations and efforts that empower our workforce, actively challenge bias, and work to grow our labor pool. On the tech side, our software digitizes processes and improves organizational efficiency and can allow companies to perform the same amount of work with less labor. Software models like BIM used in design and preconstruction stages helps companies accurately account for the materials that will be needed for the project so companies can better plan orders and shipments to the jobsite, additive manufacturing and advanced technologies like robots. There are also online marketplaces for building materials that help companies find closer sources of material suppliers for their projects, which helps mitigate the supply chain challenges.
Could you enlighten us about how construction technology impacts sustainability and green building?
Having accurate and relevant data for companies to make climate conscious decisions is crucial. A company needs to be able to benchmark their environmental impact (either as a corporate entity or for their construction projects) to be able to make guided changes to their practices to reduce their carbon footprint.
Increased supply chain spend isn’t inherently bad spend: What is your take on this?
As more owners and contractors are seeking out ways to factor sustainability into their purchasing choices, the strategic sourcing model is focused on supplier performance. Supply management professionals now have more opportunities to shop with social and environmental impacts in mind. This is providing them a way to transition from the traditional, supply chain models to alternatives. Procore is actively partnering with companies like Building Transparency that focus on fighting climate change, including software companies who offer benchmarking, assessment and reductions in embodied carbon, focused on the upfront supply chain emissions of construction materials.
Ultimately, efficiencies in construction will benefit the global economy, how true is this and how could the industry make this happen?
The building industry is one of the largest in the world and employs a massive amount of people, but more importantly it creates the communities we live and work in. If we can construct buildings and infrastructure more efficiently then we will be able to improve the day to day lives of everyone. Massive problems such as the housing shortage, the infrastructure funding gap (as well as replacing and repairing legacy infrastructure) can become less daunting with digitization and innovative technology solutions for the construction industry.
What products are you currently working on at Procore and what other trends should we expect from the construction industry this 2022 and beyond?
Providing true construction intelligence through people, process and technology is our strategy. It is not enough to connect everyone on a global platform, we are working to increase collaboration and productivity by serving as partners in transformation of the industry as a whole. By standardizing data collection through people and process, we can guarantee insights will improve as that data is retrieved and used as knowledge. This strategy includes more configurable forms and workflows, better linking of cost and schedule, further integration of BIM, insights through AI and ML, more advanced mobile features, connecting data across shared projects, and connecting businesses across the Procore Network.
In your mission to drive efficiency into the construction industry, do you have any available opportunities for more talents, investors or partners at Procore?
Procore is an ecosystem of opportunity. As our partner, you’ll have access to the largest network of construction professionals in the industry, co-marketing opportunities, and expert support with over 1.6 million users globally. We are actively seeking partnerships from technology to industry to consulting.
