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Buildwise builds the future with AI, data, and ethics

On Sep­tem­ber 10, dur­ing the Hype­r­i­on net­work­ing event in Kon­tich, sev­er­al com­pa­nies shared their vision on dig­i­tal trans­for­ma­tion.
One of the most inspir­ing con­ver­sa­tions came from Pieter Van Geite, IT direc­tor at Build­wise, and Nico­la Nauwynck, co-founder of Num­ble (part of the Hype­r­i­on group).
Togeth­er, they shared how Build­wise is putting AI, data, and dig­i­tal­iza­tion to work today to make tomor­row’s con­struc­tion smarter, more effi­cient, and more sustainable.

09 October 2025

Buildwise: innovation at the heart of construction

With over 130,000 mem­bers, most­ly con­trac­tors, Build­wise is the knowl­edge and inno­va­tion cen­ter of the Bel­gian con­struc­tion sec­tor.
Every con­trac­tor who reg­is­ters for a VAT num­ber auto­mat­i­cal­ly becomes a mem­ber and gets access to tech­ni­cal pub­li­ca­tions, train­ing, advice, and dig­i­tal tools.

Their mis­sion?
👉 Make con­struc­tion more sus­tain­able, more dig­i­tal, and more effi­cient.

With­in Build­wise, Pieter Van Geite leads the IT depart­ment, which focus­es on infra­struc­ture, data, appli­ca­tions, and, for the past few years, AI appli­ca­tions as well.

“We try to play a pioneering role in how AI can strengthen the construction sector, not just within our own organization, but also for the contractors we support.”

Pieter Van Geite IT-director bij Buildwise

From drones to data: the first steps in AI

Long before Chat­G­PT became a hype, Build­wise was already exper­i­ment­ing with com­put­er vision, drones, and 360° cam­eras to track con­struc­tion sites dig­i­tal­ly.
Robot­ics, like the Boston Dynam­ics robot, were also part of their test­ing environment.

When gen­er­a­tive AI broke through in 2022, the focus shift­ed. First inter­nal­ly: train­ing col­leagues, set­ting up sand­box envi­ron­ments, and exper­i­ment­ing. Today, Build­wise, togeth­er with Num­ble and Hype­r­i­on, is work­ing on AI impact for the entire sec­tor.

“We spent two years working intensively on adoption: training, experiments, and ethical guidelines. Now we’re taking the step toward concrete applications in construction.”

Pieter Van Geite IT-director bij Buildwise

AI with attention to ethics and humanity

Imple­ment­ing AI raised not just tech­ni­cal, but also eth­i­cal ques­tions.
Build­wise exper­i­ment­ed with AI avatars that ver­bal­ly explain com­plex doc­u­ments. That sparked valu­able dis­cus­sions about con­trol, trust, and privacy.

To struc­ture that dia­logue, Build­wise set up an ethics com­mit­tee where employ­ees can bring ques­tions or con­cerns about AI use.
Change man­age­ment also plays a major role: not every­one views automa­tion through the same lens.

Con­crete AI appli­ca­tions in construction

🔍 Smarter search on the website

Build­wise man­ages more than 50,000 doc­u­ments, tech­ni­cal data sheets, pub­li­ca­tions, and arti­cles.
With help from Num­ble, an AI-pow­ered search func­tion was devel­oped that sur­faces infor­ma­tion faster and more relevantly.

The next step? An AI assis­tant that:

  • can be used pub­licly to guide visitors,
  • and pri­vate­ly for mem­bers, with access to sum­maries, a con­ver­sa­tion mode, and addi­tion­al advice.

🏗️ Roof Interface: document intelligence for contractors

A sec­ond inno­va­tion project focus­es on flat roofs.
Roofers today have to con­sult hun­dreds of tech­ni­cal doc­u­ments to deter­mine the right roof struc­ture.
With AI, those PDFs are made read­able and turned into a user-friend­ly interface.

The result? Less admin­is­tra­tive bur­den and more auton­o­my on-site.

The key lesson: start small, but start

Pieter Van Geite closed with a clear message:

“Whether you work in IT, education, or construction, AI will impact your job. Start small, experiment, and learn. Don’t wait until it’s too late.”

Pieter Van Geite IT-director bij Buildwise

Build­wise’s case proves that even a tra­di­tion­al sec­tor like con­struc­tion can inno­vate ful­ly with AI, data, and dig­i­tal­iza­tion, with gen­uine atten­tion to ethics, human­i­ty, and col­lab­o­ra­tion.
Thanks to projects like the AI assis­tant and Roof Inter­face, it’s becom­ing clear: the future of build­ing isn’t just con­struct­ed phys­i­cal­ly, it’s also designed dig­i­tal­ly.

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