Anne Kemp named Digital Construction Champion of the Year
Nima chair Anne Kemp has been named as the Digital Construction Champion of the Year for 2026. The award was announced at the Digital Construction Awards dinner in London on 18 March 2026, citing her industry leadership roles with international standards as well as with nima.
Justin Stanton, editor of Digital Construction Plus, read the citation, highlighting Anne’s roles in the standards sphere and with nima:
Our champion wears a number of hats, and it’s two hats in particular that this award reflects.
The very standards that define this sector, the concepts and processes by which the sector measures itself – our champion has oversight of those. Indeed, they’ve had oversight for more than a decade: our champion has been the convenor of the ISO 19650 standards suite since 2015.
As well as overseeing those standards, our champion chairs nima. They’ve been at the helm of nima since the inception of its previous life as the UK BIM Alliance in the summer of 2016.
Our champion’s passion for information management’s ability to empower and drive change in construction feels like a personal – not just professional – mission.
Our champion is also: the data and digital lead on the Construction Leadership Council, a strategic advisor to BuildingSmart UK & Ireland, and a director and fellow at AtkinsRealis. …
In nominating our champion, one digital construction professional wrote: “They get the bigger picture/blue-sky thinking around information management, but they’re also a realist and understand that best practice and its value needs to be communicated to – and adopted by – as many players in the built and managed environment as possible, not just major clients and tier one contractors. Their passion and pragmatism is crucial.” …
Anne was unable to attend the awards dinner but said she was “shocked but delighted” to receive the accolade (sponsored by the Chartered Institute of Building). The award will be marked when Anne attends the Digital Construction Week show in London in June.
Digital Team of the Year
From an eight-strong shortlist, Heathrow Airport’s Digital Asset Delivery Team was named as Digital Team of the Year – a category sponsored by nima (news).
Around 90 projects have adopted the new approach with a total of £6.7m in productivity benefits, achieving a return of £2.10 for every £1 invested. Project managers save around one hour daily on locating information, while 85% of high-level health and safety design risks have been reduced to medium or low.
Read more about Heathrow’s winning entry, and about the other awards in DC+.
