We partnered with a major construction company to pilot smart glasses and eye tracking tech. Here’s what we learned about where the tools help — and where they don’t.
Take a walk through London on any given day, and you'll see the full spectrum of construction unfolding around you. In Temple Fortune, scaffolding wraps around a Victorian terrace while contractors squeeze through narrow doorways with materials for a kitchen extension. A few miles south in Swiss Cottage, a mid-rise residential block rises floor by floor, with teams coordinating deliveries, inspections, and safety protocols across multiple levels. And in Central London, cranes tower over billion-pound developments where hundreds of specialists orchestrate everything from foundation work to curtain wall installation.
Each project — whether it's a £30,000 renovation or a £300 million tower — shares something in common: complexity that's hard to capture in spreadsheets and timelines.
I think when we talk about construction — even in its simplest form — there's often a kind of unease that comes with it. From planning the design to getting a mortgage and finding a reliable builder, it's rarely a smooth, linear process.
Now scale that up — imagine building a hospital, a data centre, or an office tower that will shape how hundreds or thousands of people work and live. That unease turns into something much heavier. Delays are almost expected. Budgets swell. If it's not environmental complications, it's supply chains or labour shortages. It's easy to point fingers — but the truth is, these pressures are very real. And they don't just affect project timelines.
In the UK, the construction industry struggles with poor mental health more than any other sector. Pre-pandemic data show that, on average, two people die by suicide every day in the UK construction industry. That devastating statistic is echoed in Australia. In the US, construction workers are five times more likely to die by suicide than workers in other professions.
So when we talk about improving construction — through streamlining, digitisation, or new technology — we can't just focus on efficiency. We have to meet people where they are. We have to understand what they're already dealing with and how ready they are to adapt. Because the best tech in the world means nothing if people don't have the time, energy, or digital literacy to use it.
Despite being one of the world's largest and most vital industries, construction has remained a digital laggard. While sectors like manufacturing and logistics have embraced automation, cloud platforms, and real-time tracking, construction sites still often rely on handwritten notes, WhatsApp messages, and scattered spreadsheets to keep multimillion-pound projects moving. This isn't because people don't care or aren't trying. It's because construction is complex. Sites are fluid. Workflows are dynamic. People are mobile. And most software wasn't built with those conditions in mind.
But the cost of this digital gap is substantial.
And yet, the opportunity is enormous. The global construction industry represents over $13 trillion USD annually, and even a modest 1% productivity gain could unlock $100 billion+ in value every year. (Source: World Economic Forum / BCG, 2020)
So the question isn't whether the industry needs innovation — it's what kind of innovation can actually work on-site, in the dirt, under time pressure, and with real people doing real work.
This is exactly the challenge we set out to tackle. As a design-led technology company, we don't start with the latest AI breakthrough or the most cutting-edge hardware. We start with people. We ask: How do construction workers actually move through their day? What information do they need? When do they need it? And crucially, what's already working that we shouldn't disrupt? It's probably not as glamorous as claiming we've built "the AI tool that will revolutionise everything," but it's honest. And in construction, where humans are still doing most of the critical work, honest solutions tend to be the ones that actually stick around.
When we had the opportunity to work with a construction company with a rich heritage in building high-quality hotels and commercial buildings, we knew this was our chance to test that philosophy in the field. Can wearable, eye-tracking-enabled smart glasses support the work of surveyors, site supervisors, and technical inspectors — without adding friction?
Over the course of a month, we ran trials across multiple active construction sites with different user roles. Our focus was on use cases such as:
And perhaps most importantly: smart glasses proved usable and valuable within the flow of construction — not outside or around it.
Want to see what this looks like in the field? Explore the full pilot, with user stories, visuals, and reflections: Read the Case Study →
Of course, we're not the only ones tackling this challenge. In recent years, a wave of construction tech platforms has emerged to digitise project management, site documentation, and collaboration.
OpenSpace.ai - automatically captures and stitches 360° site images as workers move around, enabling remote site walkthroughs and progress tracking.
OpenProject - an open-source platform focused on project management, timelines, and resource planning.
Other major players like Trimble, Autodesk, Procore, and PlanRadar have also contributed essential tools to the digital construction ecosystem — but most depend on data collected separately, outside the flow of actual work.Construction is a high-stakes, deadline-driven environment where delays, misunderstandings, and gaps in documentation can result in serious consequences.
What we learned in the pilot suggests that wearable, human-centred tech can:
Of course, smart glasses and helmets still have a long way to go. I followed the journey of DAQRI, once a prominent player in construction tech. Their Smart Helmet, equipped with an augmented reality display, was one of the most talked-about wearables in the industry. But the company ultimately shut down, laying off staff and selling off assets. It was a tough reminder that even great-looking technology can struggle with real-world adoption — especially in complex, high-pressure sectors like construction. And it’s not just DAQRI. Other major players like Microsoft’s HoloLens and Magic Leap have had their own challenges in scaling, usability, and delivering consistent value on job sites. But that’s another story.
What matters now is building tools that don’t just look futuristic — but actually fit into the flow of work, support the people doing it, and improve the outcomes that matter.
We take humans first and try to support them in any way we can to make sure they are confident in using what we built. Our product, Vision by Another Set of Eyes, doesn't replace existing tools — it enhances them. Where platforms like OpenSpace.ai show what's happening, our technology helps teams understand what workers saw, noticed, and responded to in real time.
