The AEC industry is in an all-out tech frenzy, and the giant firms are at the leading edge. Given their size, these firms possess the resources and scale to research and test the bevy of software and hardware solutions on the market. Some have created internal innovation labs and fabrication shops to tinker with emerging technologies and create custom software tools. Others have formed R&D teams to test tech tools on the job site.

Here’s a roundup of BIM/tech-related innovations reported by AEC giants as part of the Giants 300 survey:

TOP BIM ARCHITECTURE FIRMS

2014 BIM Revenue ($)
1. Gensler $833,024,000
2. HOK $395,000,000
3. Skidmore, Owings & Merrill $338,257,865
4. Perkins+Will $322,194,600
5. HDR $314,877,500

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TOP BIM ENGINEERING FIRMS

2014 BIM Revenue ($)
1. Jacobs $2,761,837,228
2. Burns & McDonnell $144,794,135
3. Thornton Tomasetti $124,815,343
4. SSOE Group $121,870,541
5. Leidos $85,658,000

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TOP BIM CONSTRUCTION FIRMS

2014 BIM Revenue ($)
1. Turner Construction $6,960,000,000
2. Whiting-Turner $3,767,284,852
3. Skanska USA $3,391,297,339
4. PCL Construction $3,013,868,713
5. Balfour Beatty US $2,793,025,783

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Little’s digital media team is exploring the use virtual and augmented reality tools for design visualization and coordination meetings with clients. For advanced applications, the firm is utilizing the Unity video gaming platform to produce highly interactive, immersive building models for clients. The resulting models can function on a website, as an app, through a Wii/PlayStation, or through a virtual reality headset like the Oculus Rift.

For more basic VR sessions, the firm is testing Google Cardboard, an inexpensive (as low as $2.50) cardboard template that turns almost any smartphone into a VR headset. When combined with special lenses, Google Cardboard allows users to view stereo panoramic renderings that immerse them in a given space, allowing them to look left and right, up and down.

Skanska, Suffolk Construction, Gensler, and Turner Construction are among the growing number of AEC giants that are embracing the hacker/maker culture, and are encouraging their employees to develop and test advanced tech tools. Through its Innovation Grant Program (launched in 2010), Skanska provides employees with financial support and resources to help turn their ideas into repeatable solutions, in partnership with local universities. The program has led to the development of a number of proprietary tools and apps used by Skanska employees across the country.

The Innovation Grant Program’s most recent successes include a pair of mobile applications: Safety Coach, a pre-task planning tool, and Project Corners, a job site communication app. Both software tools launched in early 2015 and already have more than 1,000 users across 20 project sites.

Gilbane’s VDC Group, headed by John Tocci, Jr. (a BD+C 40 Under 40 honoree, Class of 2011), continues to explore advanced applications for 3D laser scanners. The technology has been especially useful as a QA/QC tool, says Tocci.

“The technology around laser scanning has become so user-friendly that we have project teams—supers, project engineers, and assistant project managers—using these $50,000-plus scanners as part of their normal day,” he says. The contractor owns multiple laser scanners and is planning to purchase three more units during the next three months to support various project needs.

Gilbane’s next steps for laser scanning include mounting scanning units on tracked robots to speed and automate the reality capture process. Applications include the scanning of no-access spaces, such as abandoned structures and structurally unsound areas. “Once we get that use case squared away, we’re hoping future SLAM [simultaneous localization and mapping] robotics developments will allow us to scan job sites and open floors with automatic routines that find ways around blocked off areas, debris, construction materials, and parked scissor lifts,” says Tocci.

Fortis Construction formed a six-member BIM team, in part to help develop the processes and tools for delivering total building life cycle BIM models to owners and facilities teams. The goal is to help clients streamline O&M activities through operation-ready models that integrate deep data and links to key documentation.

The firm’s most recent success: an enhanced O&M BIM package for Oregon State University’s $51 million Learning Innovation Center. The deliverable was found to be so useful that OSU is adopting the package for campuswide facilities management.

A host of firms reported developing custom tools. BDG Architects created a project tracking application to more accurately monitor projects in real time, with a focus on maximizing profitability. Sundt Construction’s software innovation marries customer cost databases with more than 20,000 parametric equations to enable the firm to perform digital design, scenario planning, and full estimating at the conceptual stage. HKS developed a computational method for space optimization. Using the tool, the firm was able to achieve efficiency gains in a recent Promedica hospital tower plan, where, for instance, the nurses’ walking distances were cut in half based on simulated paths.

TOP BIM ARCHITECTURE FIRMS

	Company	2014 BIM Revenue ($)
1	Gensler	$833,024,000
2	HOK	$395,000,000
3	Skidmore, Owings & Merrill	$338,257,865
4	Perkins+Will	$322,194,600
5	HDR	$314,877,500
6	Stantec	$296,939,992
7	HKS	$252,277,490
8	CannonDesign	$165,000,000
9	SmithGroupJJR	$147,900,000
10	EYP	$144,727,249
11	Callison RTKL	$132,800,000
12	ZGF Architects	$118,520,258
13	Corgan	$99,858,000
14	Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture	$79,000,000
15	HGA Architects and Engineers	$78,157,000
16	Flad Architects	$73,300,000
17	Perkins Eastman	$73,160,000
18	DLR Group	$71,500,000
19	Page	$70,000,000
20	Gresham, Smith and Partners	$67,847,000
21	Clark Nexsen	$58,700,400
22	Cuningham Group Architecture	$55,069,991
23	Ennead Architects	$52,275,000
24	Harley Ellis Devereaux	$51,218,000
25	Kirksey Architecture	$49,310,320
26	Cooper Carry	$46,927,920
27	Fentress Architects	$45,751,367
28	Moseley Architects	$42,211,162
29	Hord Coplan Macht	$41,833,043
30	S/L/A/M Collaborative, The	$41,310,000
31	LS3P	$40,192,940
32	Payette	$38,248,821
33	BSA LifeStructures	$37,784,799
34	BWBR	$35,161,000
35	Shepley Bulfinch	$33,695,880
36	Westlake Reed Leskosky	$32,600,000
37	HNTB	$32,407,740
38	CTA Architects Engineers	$31,071,355
39	Morris Architects	$31,040,000
40	Ballinger	$30,432,909
41	Heery International	$30,236,504
42	tvsdesign	$30,000,000
43	Ziegler Cooper	$29,310,545
44	JLG Architects	$29,214,880
45	FKP Architects	$29,000,000
46	Solomon Cordwell Buenz	$28,284,704
47	SRG Partnership	$28,182,623
48	VOA Associates	$28,049,364
49	NORR	$27,674,000
50	CO Architects	$27,121,500
51	EwingCole	$26,978,000
52	FXFOWLE Architects	$26,562,029
53	Huckabee	$26,240,000
54	FreemanWhite	$26,142,100
55	Array Architects	$25,500,000
56	Moody Nolan	$24,918,260
57	Francis Cauffman	$24,899,061
58	Ware Malcomb	$24,145,796
59	OZ Architecture	$23,665,000
60	LPA	$23,323,450
61	Wilson Architects	$23,000,000
62	LMN Architects	$22,638,600
63	Mithun	$22,443,000
64	WDG Architecture	$22,197,000
65	Cambridge Seven Associates	$22,100,000
66	Symmes Maini & McKee Associates	$21,864,035
67	Integrus Architecture	$21,811,724
68	FGM Architects	$21,351,443
69	Hnedak Bobo Group	$18,680,428
70	STG Design	$18,136,000
71	BRPH	$16,600,850
72	Wight & Company	$16,435,386
73	Lord Aeck Sargent	$16,356,435
74	Legat Architects	$15,571,000
75	KSQ Architects	$15,562,620
76	NAC\|Architecture	$15,055,520
77	Bergmann Associates	$15,000,000
78	RS&H	$14,070,000
79	GWWO	$14,060,715
80	Quattrocchi Kwok Architects	$13,860,000
81	Dattner Architects	$13,441,992
82	Davis Brody Bond	$12,817,186
83	HMFH Architects	$12,721,846
84	Goettsch Partners	$12,629,000
85	Architects Hawaii Ltd.	$12,467,000
86	Carrier Johnson + Culture	$12,230,000
87	MG2	$12,131,000
88	Albert Kahn Associates	$12,000,000
89	Luckett & Farley	$11,832,325
90	GBBN Architects	$11,735,300
91	Fanning/Howey Associates	$11,142,614
92	RBB Architects	$10,820,000
93	DesignGroup	$10,783,076
94	Hastings+Chivetta Architects	$10,664,072
95	Becker Morgan Group	$10,356,845
96	Beyer Blinder Belle	$9,852,220
97	MBH Architects	$9,522,000
98	Schenkel & Shultz	$9,077,000
99	Margulies Perruzzi Architects	$8,900,000
100	GSB	$7,800,000
101	Baskervill	$7,653,249
102	Ashley McGraw Architects	$7,304,749
103	Anderson Mikos Architects	$7,136,256
104	Vocon	$6,466,538
105	Good Fulton & Farrell	$6,340,900
106	PBDW Architects	$5,900,530
107	DLA Architects	$5,683,620
108	FRCH Design Worldwide	$5,427,000
109	Mancini•Duffy	$5,225,000
110	WD Partners	$5,200,000
111	SB Architects	$5,145,809
112	FitzGerald Associates Architects	$5,130,000
113	PBK	$5,120,000
114	Schrader Group Architecture	$4,639,175
115	TK Architects International	$4,263,636
116	Rosser International	$4,011,813
117	BBS Architects and Engineers	$3,890,000
118	Sheehan Partners	$3,600,000
119	Harvard Jolly	$3,600,000
120	Massa Multimedia Architecture	$3,335,444
121	Sherlock, Smith & Adams	$3,177,000
122	GreenbergFarrow	$3,170,000
123	Inventure Design Group	$3,156,091
124	KZF Design	$2,820,737
125	Zyscovich Architects	$2,783,045
126	ai Design Group	$2,650,255
127	Environetics	$2,622,733
128	Nelson	$2,500,000
129	LK Architecture	$2,350,000
130	Rule Joy Trammell + Rubio	$2,000,000

TOP BIM ENGINEERING FIRMS

	Company	2014 BIM Revenue ($)
1	Jacobs	$2,761,837,228
2	Burns & McDonnell	$144,794,135
3	Thornton Tomasetti	$124,815,343
4	SSOE Group	$121,870,541
5	Leidos	$85,658,000
6	Vanderweil Engineers	$83,723,900
7	KPFF Consulting Engineers	$82,000,000
8	Dewberry	$79,106,299
9	WSP \| Parsons Brinckerhoff	$60,000,000
10	KJWW Engineering Consultants	$57,430,000
11	BR+A Consulting Engineers	$46,000,000
12	Henderson Engineers	$45,129,475
13	ME Engineers	$45,000,000
14	Magnusson Klemencic Associates	$43,651,196
15	Walter P Moore	$42,030,337
16	TTG	$40,573,200
17	Smith Seckman Reid	$36,538,845
18	TLC Engineering for Architecture	$34,360,981
19	Jensen Hughes	$28,500,000
20	Epstein	$23,991,400
21	Cardno Haynes Whaley	$23,207,485
22	Heapy Engineering	$23,132,853
23	Degenkolb Engineers	$22,769,783
24	Affiliated Engineers	$22,332,000
25	Hixson Architecture, Engineering, Interiors	$20,000,000
26	Syska Hennessy Group	$19,443,297
27	STV	$18,782,000
28	I. C. Thomasson Associates	$17,600,000
29	H.F. Lenz Company	$14,000,000
30	DeSimone Consulting Engineers	$12,030,795
31	Environmental Systems Design	$11,790,000
32	Walker Parking Consultants	$11,740,000
33	Simpson Gumpertz & Heger	$10,500,000
34	GRAEF	$10,000,000
35	RDK Engineers	$9,915,000
36	Ross & Baruzzini	$9,000,000
37	Dunham Associates	$9,000,000
38	CJL Engineering	$8,500,000
39	Bala Consulting Engineers	$7,800,000
40	Wallace Engineering	$7,500,000
41	Zak Companies	$7,288,507
42	M/E Engineering	$7,136,813
43	Bridgers & Paxton Consulting Engineers	$6,930,604
44	Barge, Waggoner, Sumner and Cannon	$6,150,000
45	Rist-Frost-Shumway Engineering	$5,000,000
46	Apogee Consulting Group	$4,724,172
47	Highland Associates	$4,200,000
48	RMF Engineering	$3,500,000
49	Primera Engineers	$3,500,000
50	LaBella Associates	$3,211,745
51	P2S Engineering	$3,210,000
52	CRB	$2,943,018
53	Newcomb & Boyd	$2,941,243
54	KLH Engineers	$2,834,052
55	SIGMA7 Design Group	$2,569,499
56	KCI Technologies	$2,000,000
57	GRW	$1,594,885
58	Wendel	$1,527,734
59	Wick Fisher White	$1,423,000
60	William Tao & Associates	$1,403,835
61	Allegheny Design Services	$1,403,286
62	Core States Group	$1,276,329
63	ThermalTech Engineering	$1,000,000
63	Aon Fire Protection Engineering	$1,000,000
65	Carlson Design Construct	$400,000
66	G&W Engineering	$360,000

TOP BIM CONSTRUCTION FIRMS

	Company	2014 BIM Revenue ($)
1	Turner Construction	$6,960,000,000
2	Whiting-Turner Contracting, The	$3,767,284,852
3	Skanska USA	$3,391,297,339
4	PCL Construction	$3,013,868,713
5	Balfour Beatty US	$2,793,025,783
6	Gilbane Building Co.	$2,562,000,000
7	Hensel Phelps	$2,465,810,000
8	Lend Lease	$2,268,281,000
9	McCarthy Holdings	$2,253,640,597
10	JE Dunn Construction	$2,012,573,205
11	Mortenson Construction	$1,977,778,800
12	Clark Group	$1,862,982,912
13	DPR Construction	$1,793,000,000
14	Hoffman Construction	$1,528,274,204
15	Suffolk Construction	$1,505,933,298
16	Walsh Group, The	$1,357,634,163
17	Structure Tone	$1,283,092,300
18	Walbridge	$1,264,845,000
19	Barton Malow	$1,243,539,000
20	Clayco	$1,140,000,000
21	Austin Industries	$953,140,898
22	Power Construction	$868,000,000
23	Brasfield & Gorrie	$855,573,176
24	Weitz Company, The	$765,632,000
25	Messer Construction	$764,077,743
26	Beck Group, The	$753,070,275
27	Consigli Building Group	$714,742,356
28	Yates Companies, The	$615,800,000
29	Manhattan Construction	$594,366,000
30	HITT Contracting	$553,000,000
31	Bernards	$522,500,000
32	Sundt Construction	$500,000,000
33	C.W. Driver	$471,960,000
34	James G Davis Construction	$469,954,794
35	Kraus-Anderson Construction	$402,000,000
36	Gray Construction	$399,111,914
37	Shawmut Design and Construction	$365,000,000
38	Pepper Construction Group	$352,283,000
39	Adolfson & Peterson Construction	$347,735,906
40	Level 10 Construction	$339,745,092
41	Robins & Morton	$330,854,638
42	LPCiminelli	$313,316,849
43	Flintco	$285,000,000
44	McGough	$284,000,000
45	Hoar Construction	$280,234,000
46	Linbeck Group	$254,000,000
47	Fortis Construction	$231,300,000
48	Clune Construction	$220,011,708
49	Paric	$220,000,000
50	O'Neil Industries	$216,097,677
51	James McHugh Construction	$215,802,869
52	Haselden Construction	$204,855,931
53	Alberici Constructors	$199,848,150
54	W. M. Jordan	$193,668,671
55	Rodgers Builders	$145,957,320
56	Choate Construction	$125,234,767
57	S. M. Wilson & Co.	$113,008,058
58	Hill & Wilkinson	$112,261,400
59	Coakley & Williams Construction	$109,972,489
60	Leopardo Companies	$99,574,200
61	Batson-Cook	$97,078,298
62	Hill International	$97,000,000
63	Wight & Company	$69,418,222
64	LeChase Construction Services	$68,500,000
65	KBE Building Corp.	$53,798,015
66	Donohoe Construction	$53,443,258
67	Doster Construction	$38,600,437
68	BlueScope Construction	$37,840,000
69	Weis Builders	$17,831,345
70	Stalco Construction	$6,100,000

BIM GIANTS: Robotic reality capture, gaming systems, virtual reality—AEC Giants continue tech frenzy