Tyneside aquatic consultants look to make a bigger splash with AI technology

Devin Consulting has worked on high profile installations such as the aquatics centres for the London 2012 Olympic Games and the Birmingham 2022 Commonweath Games

A Tyneside engineering consultancy that specialises in swimming pools, spas and waterparks says it is hoping to make waves in its market with a new AI tool.

Devin Consulting, which is based in North Shields, has advised on high-profile installations including the aquatics centres for both the London 2012 Olympic Games and the Birmingham 2022 Commonwealth Games. As part of a five-year growth plan, the firm has worked with the technology arm of RMT Accountants & Business Advisors, to identify ways in which artificial intelligence could help it.

The result is an RMT Technology-developed AI tool which pulls out key information within project tenders to allow for the Devin Consulting team to take on more opportunities more quickly and efficiently. Bosses say the move will benefit the business, which was founded 25 years ago and has so far completed more than 600 swimming pool, spa and waterpark projects for public and private sector clients at home and abroad.

Sam Gledhill, project engineer and sustainability lead at Devin Consulting, said: “Bringing AI solutions into the business in ways that will support the expertise of our team and help us build on our long-term track record is central to our five-year growth plan. We began to look at a number of off-the-shelf AI options, but found they were all cost prohibitive for a small business like ours, so started a discussion with RMT Technology, which is already our technology partner, about how we might development something of our own together.

“With project proposal documents often running to hundreds of pages, our responses naturally take a lot of time and effort, so there were gains to be made by using AI to make the process more efficient and ensure our responses are even more aligned with clients’ requirements. The positive conversations we’ve had with the RMT Technology team during the new system’s development have really helped us see how AI can support our growth ambitions and their expertise is now assisting us in implementing new ways of working that we believe will benefit the whole business.”

Stephen McNickle, commercial director at RMT Technology, add: “As with any other technology, AI needs to be directed towards fulfilling specific business needs if it’s going to achieve the maximum impact. Working with the Devin Consulting team on this project has been a really positive experience all round and they’ve now got new AI tools in place that will have a tangible impact on their future commercial performance.”