International consultancy Omnium International (Omnium) and technology firm Innovaite have launched IOX, a new technology solution that’s designed to help the built environment respond to a fast-changing market with stronger data, better tools and trusted AI.
According to a statement from Omnium, the solutions’ founding principle is ‘technology built by the people who lived the challenges’.
The joint venture is said to bring together two complementary strengths. Omnium contributes 50-years of deep industry expertise, trusted client relationships and valuable project data drawn from work on some of the world’s most significant developments, including the Burj Khalifa, One Za’abeel, Atlantis the Royal, the Expo 2020 Pavilions, Jeddah Tower and Al Ula. Innovaite meanwhile contributes the technology, product and AI capability to transform that expertise into scalable intelligence, rapidly turning ideas into solutions that create measurable impact, said the statement.
The result is technology shaped by real industry knowledge, not generic tools pushed into the market from the outside, it added.
“For more than 50 years, Omnium has been trusted to support some of the most ambitious and complex projects in the region and beyond. IOX represents an important next chapter in that journey. This is not about replacing the expertise, judgement and relationships that have made Omnium who we are. It is about strengthening them, giving our people and our clients better tools, clearer insight and greater opportunity to create value. We are building IOX from a position of real strength, with a clear understanding of the challenges our industry faces and the role we can play in helping to solve them,” said Nicholas Harris, Managing Director of Omnium International.
Omnium said that IOX is launching with a platform focused on CapEx cost intelligence, beginning with four capabilities: IO Procure; IO Insight; IO Master and IO Translate. The firm said that IO Procure is an AI-enabled tender analysis solution that turns complex submissions into clearer, faster commercial decisions. By automating analysis and identifying commercial risk earlier, it can reduce the time required to complete a full commercial tender evaluation by up to 80% while creating reusable procurement intelligence for future benchmarking and supplier insight.
IO Insight provides a searchable rate and cost intelligence library with an AI assistant for instant, data-backed answers, while IO Master is an AI-enabled cost modelling and benchmarking tool that produces early estimates in hours rather than weeks. IO Translate meanwhile offers translation between measurement and design standards, reducing delays and improving consistency.
Tim Shelton, Operations Director for Technology and Advisory at Omnium and CEO of IOX
The firm said that the solution’s longer-term ambition is broader: a connected platform that supports multiple parts of the construction value chain, from project management and schedule risk to claims and dispute resolution.
“Across our industry, data is everywhere but it’s fragmented, and our people spend too long chasing information that should be at their fingertips,” said Tim Shelton, Operations Director for Technology and Advisory at Omnium and CEO of IOX.
He added, “IOX removes those speed bumps. Every tool is shaped through workshops, user feedback and the expertise of the people who do this work every day. We’re not adding AI for effect. We’re using it where it genuinely helps and always with human judgement at the centre.”
The statement noted that a core commitment of IOX is responsible, governed AI. The platform is said to run advanced AI models within a controlled architecture designed to protect client and corporate data, with human review built into every output. The approach reflects the wider industry direction, including the role of professional bodies such as RICS in promoting responsible AI and future professional skills.
“Too much technology entering the built environment is built by people who have never delivered a project. IOX is different. By combining Innovaite’s product and AI capability with Omnium’s deep industry knowledge, we can build solutions around real problems, not assumptions. “This is what happens when technology and industry expertise are designed together from day one: tools that are practical, relevant and built for the people who will actually use them,” commented Gavin Britton, CEO and Co-Founder of Innovaite and Chief Product Officer at IOX.
Omnium notes that IOX will continue to evolve with input from across the business and the wider market, supported by an ambassador programme, an external advisory board made up of leading voices from the construction industry and beyond, as well as a growing pipeline of new capabilities.
Source: ME Construction News