{"id":31822,"date":"2025-08-13T19:48:49","date_gmt":"2025-08-14T02:48:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/balfour-beatty-invests-nearly-10m-in-microsoft-ai\/"},"modified":"2025-08-13T19:48:49","modified_gmt":"2025-08-14T02:48:49","slug":"balfour-beatty-invests-nearly-10m-in-microsoft-ai","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/balfour-beatty-invests-nearly-10m-in-microsoft-ai\/","title":{"rendered":"Balfour Beatty invests nearly $10M in Microsoft AI"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> [ad_1]<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<div class=\"text-to-speech\">\n    <button class=\"text-to-speech__button button\"><br \/>\n        <img decoding=\"async\" class=\"text-to-speech__button__icon\" src=\"https:\/\/www.constructiondive.com\/static\/img\/play.svg?500116090725\" alt=\"-\"><br \/>\n        Listen to the article<br \/>\n        <span class=\"text-to-speech__button__audio-length\">2 min<\/span><br \/>\n    <\/button><\/p>\n<div class=\"text-to-speech__controls\">\n        <audio controls=\"\" class=\"js-text-to-speech\" preload=\"none\"><source src=\"https:\/\/res.cloudinary.com\/dmgi9movl\/video\/upload\/q_1\/v1755028607\/news\/text_to_speech\/balfour-beatty-invests-nearly-10m-in-microsoft-ai_wqahwp.wav\" type=\"audio\/mp3\"><\/source><\/audio><\/p>\n<div class=\"text-to-speech__controls__text\">\n            This audio is auto-generated. Please let us know if you have <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.constructiondive.com\/contact\/\" target=\"_blank\">feedback<\/a>.\n        <\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<h3 class=\"standard-heading\"><span><span><span><span><span>Dive Brief:<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/h3>\n<ul>\n<li><span><span><span><span><span><span>Continuing on its <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.balfourbeatty.com\/media-centre\/latest\/balfour-beatty-unveils-72-million-ai-investment-transforming-how-britain-builds\/\" target=\"_blank\"><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span>push to add artificial intelligence<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><span><span><span><span><span><span> throughout its business, London-based builder Balfour Beatty has invested 7.2 million pounds ($9.6 million) into tech giant Microsoft\u2019s AI offering, Microsoft 365 Copilot, according to a July 31 news release.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span><span><span><span><span><span>Microsoft\u2019s AI-powered assistant embedded within Microsoft 365 applications will operate securely within Balfour Beatty\u2019s compliant and confidential IT environment, which is distinct from publicly available tools, according to the news release.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<li><span><span><span><span><span><span>Alongside the investment, the company plans to develop AI agents to improve its quality, health and safety and assurance processes, with the first trial at an infrastructure project in Scotland, according to the news release. Balfour Beatty announced the <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.constructiondive.com\/news\/balfour-beatty-ai-safety-microsoft-apps\/710868\/\" target=\"_blank\"><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span>AI development push<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><span><span><span><span><span><span> in March 2024, during its full-year earnings call.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h3 class=\"standard-heading\"><span><span><span><span><span>Dive Insight:<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/h3>\n<p><span><span><span><span><span><span>Balfour Beatty is running a pilot of the tech at the <\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/www.balfourbeatty.com\/media-centre\/latest\/balfour-beatty-secures-185-million-a9-dualling-contract-from-transport-scotland\/\" target=\"_blank\"><span><span><span><span><span><span><span><span>185 million pound A9 project<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/a><span><span><span><span><span><span> in Scotland, a road improvement job where the firm is upgrading a single-lane highway to two lanes, constructing four new bridges and delivering new side roads together with various junction upgrades.\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span><span><span><span><span>The AI agent, which focuses on inspection and test plans, identifies common issues that include incorrect or outdated templates reaching technical experts. As a result, the agent enhances the consistency, efficiency and quality of ITPs, according to Balfour Beatty.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span><span><span><span><span>By automating the manual review process, which traditionally takes several hours and is repeated thousands of times across the company, the tool accelerates delivery and allows engineers to focus on high-value tasks such as design assurance and technical problem-solving, which ultimately boosts productivity, per the news release.<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span><span><span><span><span>\u201cThis investment isn\u2019t just about embracing technology,\u201d said Jon Ozanne, Balfour Beatty\u2019s chief information officer, in the news release. \u201cIt\u2019s about ensuring our business remains at the forefront of competitiveness and cyber security.\u201d<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p>[ad_2]<br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.constructiondive.com\/news\/balfour-beatty-invests-microsoft-ai\/757497\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">This article was originally posted at Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>[ad_1] Listen to the article 2 min This audio is auto-generated. Please let us know if you have feedback. Dive &#8230; <a title=\"Balfour Beatty invests nearly $10M in Microsoft AI\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/balfour-beatty-invests-nearly-10m-in-microsoft-ai\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about Balfour Beatty invests nearly $10M in Microsoft AI\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[457],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-31822","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-construction-dive","generate-columns","tablet-grid-50","mobile-grid-100","grid-parent","grid-33"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31822","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31822"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31822\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31822"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31822"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31822"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}