A DROYLSDEN entrepreneur is using artificial intelligence to tackle one of the biggest administrative burdens facing construction and utilities professionals – with technology that could cut hours of paperwork down to minutes.
Andy Clarke, who has spent his career working across the construction and utilities sectors, has developed Utility Docs AI, a new tool designed to help project and site managers produce essential health and safety and compliance documentation.
The technology uses AI and image recognition to analyse a job, identify the relevant compliance requirements and help produce documents including risk assessments and RAMS (Risk Assessments and Method Statements.)
Andy estimates that paperwork which can currently take a project or site manager four or five hours could potentially be completed in around 20 to 30 minutes using the technology.
Human approval remains built into the process at key decision points, ensuring that professionals remain responsible for reviewing and signing off the documentation.
Andy developed the idea further through the University of Salford’s six-week BUILD AI programme, which helped him accelerate the technology, refine its commercial proposition and build connections to help take the business forward.
The programme provided mentoring and practical support, as well as introductions to technical partners and potential investors.
Andy said: “What I value most about BUILD AI is that every session gave me something practical I could implement straight away.
“I’d leave with new ideas, new contacts and a clearer plan, then go away and put those ideas into practice. That momentum has been invaluable in helping turn years of industry experience into a technology business with real commercial potential.”
The next stage for Utility Docs AI will be reaching a wider market, with Andy preparing to launch the product on the Trimble Marketplace, part of a major global construction technology ecosystem.
BUILD AI – which stands for Business Uplift, Innovation and Lean Development through Artificial Intelligence – was developed by the University of Salford’s Centre for Sustainable Innovation and delivered in collaboration with NoCodeLab.ai.
The six-week programme brought together AI development, commercialisation support and mentoring to help entrepreneurs turn ideas into working products and businesses.
Across its 12 participants, four products have already reached launch or near-launch, while six working prototypes have entered testing and two existing technology ventures have been accelerated.
Dr Ann Mulhaney, Associate Professor for Change Management at the University of Salford’s Centre for Sustainable Innovation, said: “These entrepreneurs know their businesses, their industries and the problems they want to solve inside out.
“What they haven’t always had are the technical skills or resources to turn that knowledge into a product. We wanted to change that.”
Dr Mulhaney added that participants had built working products, tested ideas with customers and launched new solutions “at incredible speed”.
Participants are now moving on to the next stages of development, including customer testing, product refinement, commercial launches and investment.