Balfour Beatty – Copilot transformation team

Balfour Beatty set out to harness AI, empowering innovation, better decision-making and competition by committing to a £7.2m investment in Microsoft Copilot – one of the largest AI investments in UK construction.

In March 2025, Balfour Beatty formed the Copilot transformation team to design and deliver an AI transformation programme for its 13,000-strong UK workforce. The company needed to build confidence among employees with varying digital skills, address concerns about AI’s impact on jobs, and maintain robust data protection and compliance.

To achieve this, the team completed a rigorous technical readiness assessment and prepared more than 13,000 laptops for Copilot use, completed a data privacy impact assessment, and updated policies on generative AI and IT acceptable use. Network and infrastructure performance were baselined and monitored ahead of go-live, with detailed cutover and rollback plans.

The executive committee was coached through the investment decision and each member was paired with a former apprentice for one-to-one Copilot learning. This ensured leaders understood the tool’s potential and modelled digital adoption.

Among the team’s achievements were:

• mobilisation of a Copilot leader community of 50 and a champion network of 490;
• the training of IT, Copilot leaders and the programme team, creating a pool of 350 support experts;
• delivering sequential core training series for all employees, and tailored learning for early adopters and senior leaders via webinars, in-person sessions and self-help resources;
• running multi-channel communications, including social media, CEO blogs, FAQs, myth busters, a dedicated Copilot Hub and more; and
• launching 33 in-person sessions with 320 attendees in-person and a further 760 online.

In just 12 weeks, the project delivered 46 training sessions reaching 6,345 users, with an average attendee feedback score of 4.5 out of 5. Adoption exceeded the 50% engagement target with 6,354 people using Copilot at least once since launch. This translates to 336,237 Copilot actions taken, assisting 31,248 hours of tasks. Document accuracy improved and duplication was reduced. Early results show faster decision-making and streamlined workflows, including a 5% quality improvement on a £100m contract.

[This case study is reproduced with kind permission of the Digital Construction Awards, and is for a 2026 finalist shortlisted for Digital Team of the Year – a category sponsored by nima.Read all the shortlisted profiles on Digital Construction Plus. The winner will be revealed at the Awards dinner on 18 March at the London Marriott Grosvenor Square.]