The sixth season of Tools for Success, a popular series of seminars hosted by partners Krista Chaytor and Jeff Scorgie of the WeirFoulds Construction Law Practice Group throughout the spring and fall, recently concluded after five successful and well-attended webcast sessions. Daily Commercial News has once again featured seminars from Season 6, following up on their coverage of prior seasons of Tools for Success.
“AI in construction: Legal implications for the new frontier”
“AI in Construction”, the second session of Tools for Success: Season 6, addressed the implications that artificial intelligence (AI) will have on the construction industry in the years to come, and how lawyers and other construction professionals can prepare themselves for that impact. Jeff and Krista were joined by guests Clayton Feick, CEO of Ontopical, Derrick Koenig, Founder and Chief Product Office of Ontopical, and Alex Lee, Head of Partnerships and Business Development at Ontopical.
Speaking on the issue, Jeff noted that “AI is of course a new frontier for all of us and it adds a lot of potential new dimensions here to the industry in terms of benefits, but there are some legal issues to consider as well.”
He later went on to address concerns surrounding the collection of personal information, stating that, “Construction projects have a lot of stakeholders, a lot of different parties involved. When you’re collecting personal information, that does have legal implications. There are laws, there are statutes around legal issues dealing with the collection and retention of personal information.”
Krista addressed another major consideration during the webinar: the obligation of parties who use AI in their work to disclose that information in their contracts. “What kind of disclosure do you need to make sure that you’re using this tool so that everybody knows the tool is going to be there?”
“Legal Notes: Contractual arrangements for volumetric modular on a steep development curve”
The fifth and final session of Season 6, “Modular Construction”, revolved around how modular and offsite construction works, and what benefits it can offer. Jeff and Krista were joined in the webinar by Brandon Searle, the director of innovation and operations for the University of New Brunswick’s Off-site Construction Research Centre.
When the conversation turned toward the value of bringing volumetric manufacturers into the early stages of project discussions, Brandon stated that the approach that works best is “a design-build contract where the general contractor, the manufacturer, the designers and owners are all collaborating at the onset of the of the project.”
Commenting on the value of using Integrated Project Delivery arrangements, Jeff added, “You bring all the stakeholders to the table early to share risk, to share profit and to collaborate on solutions with the owner. Some folks view modular as a good opportunity to use that model.”
To learn more about the Construction Law Practice Group, please visit their page here.
Krista Chaytor can be contacted by phone at (416) 947-5074 and by email at kchaytor@weirfoulds.com.
Jeff Scorgie can be contacted by phone at (416) 619-6288 and by email at jscorgie@weirfoulds.com.
