Our team took a 16,000-person firm from access to adoption.
AECelerate is an independent, platform-agnostic advisory for AI adoption in the built environment. We built and ran the first enterprise-wide AI transformation in the sector — the strategy, the system, the governance and the adoption — at a global AEC firm of 16,000 people. We now do that work for AEC firms and the investors who own them.
Breadth
3,600
of 16,000 · in 90 days
Completion measured as sustained use, not attendance — carried by a peer-champion network, not a mandate.
Depth
+470%
sustained usage increase
In the power-user cohort, against its own baseline: bid prep cut from roughly 36 hours to 7; 93% still active a month on; 68% volunteered to teach others.
Architecture
3-year
board-adopted roadmap
An AI roadmap now steering the firm, a Digital & AI Center of Excellence with KPIs on the corporate scorecard, and board-adopted targets of +15 points win rate and +1–2% EBIT.
Measured, not asserted. That is what withstands diligence.
Principal-led in every engagement. We are at the table from day one to handover.
Dr. Jason Vollen, AIA, NCARB
Founding principal · strategy, operating structure and change
Jason builds executable strategy and the operating structure that turns it into delivery. At SJ Group, as Global Head of Innovation and Digital Practice, he built the enterprise AI roadmap for the group CEO and board, secured the investment behind the move to AI-first, and stood up the governance that carried it. Earlier, SVP and Global Director of AECOM’s Innovation Laboratory, leading futures work across AI infrastructure and net-zero built assets. His doctorate in architecture technology grounds a career spent turning computational method into how a practice actually works.
B.Arch, Cooper Union · M.Arch II, Cranbrook · PhD Architecture Technology, TU Delft
Dr. Maria Aiolova, EdD, LEED AP
Founding principal · knowledge capture, adoption and fluency
Maria builds capability that holds after the engagement ends. At SJ Group she led the people side of the enterprise transformation — a three-tier fluency program carried by peer champions, and a Digital & AI Center of Excellence carrying board-level KPIs. Earlier, Global Principal of AECOM’s Innovation Lab, and led research, learning and innovation across the Americas for Arup. Her doctorate studied how AEC firms build the cultures that make AI adoption stick.
B.Arch, Wentworth · MAUD, Harvard GSD · EdD, Northeastern University
Practitioners, AEC leaders and educators — with deep experience in R&D, ventures of our own, and delivery in the built environment at every level: project, practice, enterprise.
The infrastructure this industry delivers is what a livable future runs on.
Clean energy. Water systems. Resilient buildings and grids. Getting them built faster and better isn’t only margin — it’s impact. That is the work we care about accelerating, and why we built AECelerate.