Building firm Benson Group is planning to use broadband to link up to 100 construction sites across the country.

The company is negotiating with Via Net.Works, its existing telecoms supplier, for a framework contract to simplify the provision short-term high-bandwidth connectivity for the duration of its building contracts.

So far only about two per cent of Benson Group's sites are using broadband, but there are significant advantages, says Benson Group IT manager Daniel Piggott.

'We are trying to push broadband not only so our staff have access to our internal systems, but to link up with other parts of the project team such as suppliers and architects.

'The construction industry is all about working as a team and the direction it is moving is towards collaboration with people logging onto a central server.

'It's too early to say how we will be hit in terms of broadband availability, but we will find out over next 12 months,' said Piggott.

The trial sites already using ADSL rather than ISDN have seen telephone bills reduced by 50 per cent. The extra capacity has allowed architects drawings to be sent direct to the site and has enabled staff to email photographs back to the office.

Benson Group would also like to connect up employees' homes.

'As a construction business nearly all out people are remote users because they are out on projects and often they only come into the office meet with clients.

'More homeworkers would mean staff could operate from anywhere,' said Piggott.

Since 1999 the company has replaced the leased lines linking its six regional offices with asymmetric digital subscriber lines (ADSL) and seen significant cost savings.