Key partnership facts
Key partnership facts
The Challenge & Market Need
Traditional building inspections have long been a manual time-consuming process. For large estates such as universities, police facilities, and public sector buildings, this leads to slow turnaround times, incomplete documentation, and increased operational risk. The introduction of new compliance frameworks like the Building Safety Act’s “golden thread” demands faster, transparent, and verifiable digital records of asset conditions.
Recognising these challenges and market demands, Equans combined its expertise in facilities management and digital engineering to develop an AI-powered defect capture solution. This innovation brings speed, accuracy, and accountability to inspections while supporting compliance, sustainability, and data integrity goals.
Innovative Solution & Deployment
Developed through a close partnership between Equans’ Design Engineering team and a specialist AI provider, the solution employs an agile, iterative approach involving frontline FM teams for real-world validation.
The system’s simple four-step workflow comprises:
- Capture: Rapid 360° room imaging completed within 1-3 minutes using Insta360 cameras.
- Process: Advanced AI analyses images within 72 hours, automatically detecting over 112 defect types including cracks, corrosion, and staining.
- Customise: The AI engine learns continuously from Equans’ live project data, adapting to client-specific inspection requirements.
- Report: Automated PDF and customisable excel reports that can integrate seamlessly with CAFM (IBM Maximo) platforms, linking inspection findings directly into maintenance workflows.
Beyond traditional building inspections, the solution is now being trialled for automating fire door safety checks in NHS hospitals. This application supports routine fire door condition assessments. By reducing the inspection burden on clinical staff, it improves compliance, streamlines reporting, and enhances staff wellbeing - demonstrating the technology’s flexibility and impact across different FM challenges.
Minimal user training enables fast deployment, helping clients digitise and accelerate inspections across diverse portfolios and geographies.
Tangible Benefits & Impact
The AI-Powered Defect Capture solution delivers significant time-saving and cost reduction benefits:
- Inspection duration reduced by up to 90% (from 15-30 minutes per room to just 1-3 minutes).
- Reporting efforts cut by 80%, turning weeks of administrative work into hours.
- For example, surveying 200 rooms results in approximately £6,000 labour and admin savings, typically achieving payback within a year.
- Enhanced compliance is supported through timestamped, verifiable visual evidence, reducing disputes and rework.
- Clients gain reusable, digital condition datasets to inform maintenance planning and lifecycle management.
Its successful application spans higher education, training centres, and healthcare estates, where it has improved operational efficiency and safety insights while contributing to sustainability by reducing repeat site visits and associated carbon emissions.
Testimonials
“The 360 degree camera and associated AI technology used by Equans has revolutionised the end of tenancy room inspection process at Mithras Halls. Previously, the manual process was labour intensive, time consuming and often inconsistent. Now, any damage is identified, recorded, reviewed and submitted promptly and efficiently, while also being consistent across the entire estate. Following detailed reviews, my initial scepticism during its first year of operation proved to be unfounded, so subsequent years have delivered time savings all round, with confidence on reporting accuracy leading to sample reviews, only. It’s a great piece of kit.”
- UNIVERSITY OF BRIGHTON
Our expertise
Equans supports businesses, communities and the public sector by mobilising its expertise to provide low-carbon energy solutions, offer cutting-edge technical and FM services and transformative regeneration across the UK & Ireland.
