University of the West of Scotland and Lochlie Construction Limited KTP 24_25 R5

A Scottish construction firm is deploying artificial intelligence to strip inefficiencies out of its operations and accelerate growth. This Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) between the University of the West of Scotland and Lochlie Construction Ltd. tackles a practical bottleneck: businesses often lack the in-house expertise to adopt AI tools that could streamline workflows, reduce waste, and free up staff for higher-value tasks. The project embeds academic AI specialists directly into the company to build and tailor software that automates routine decisions, predicts project delays, or optimises resource allocation on construction sites. If successful, the partnership could serve as a template for how small- and medium-sized construction firms—which collectively underpin much of the UK’s infrastructure—can adopt AI without expensive in-house data teams. The immediate impact is on Lochlie’s own productivity and capacity, but the model could be replicated across the sector, quietly improving how buildings, roads, and utilities are delivered. This is applied, commercially focused work: the goal is a measurable boost to business performance, not a fundamental advance in AI theory.