Fridley, Minnesota, August 30, 2025
News Summary
Mortenson has opened BLUlabs, a 40,000-square-foot research and development center in the Northern Stacks industrial park in Fridley, Minnesota. The configurable facility houses fabrication bays, 3D printers, CAD workstations, CNC machines, a plasma table and trade-specific tools, with on-site engineering and fabrication staff to support prototyping and low-volume manufacturing. The center supports cross-functional teams—including Mortenson’s solar group—aiming to accelerate field-ready innovation. Separately, a crane-mounted sensor provider released a Control Center dashboard with weather-integrated analytics for steel erection, and Buildots announced a three-year enterprise deployment with Juneau Construction for AI-powered visual progress tracking.
Mortenson opens 40,000-sq-ft BLUlabs R&D center in Fridley; Versatile and Buildots roll out new jobsite analytics and enterprise deployments
The construction industry continues to evolve as a large regional contractor opens a new in-house research and development facility intended to accelerate testing, prototyping, and product development. The new center, a 40,000-square-foot operation, is located in Northern Stacks in Fridley, Minnesota. It was designed and built in-house and is configured to adapt to real-world testing needs with adjustable bays and workspaces. The facility is accessible to all Mortenson team members and project teams, making it a shared space for exploration and development across the company’s portfolio.
BLUlabs is described as an incubator for ideas that could shape future construction practices. It is outfitted to support experimentation, prototyping, testing in controlled settings, and even low-volume manufacturing. A dedicated staffing team in engineering and fabrication will assist with designing, prototyping, and operating the equipment. The center is full of tools and machinery suitable for multiple trades, enabling hands-on work in a single environment.
Equipment in the facility includes 3D printers, CAD software, CNC machines, and a plasma cutting table, along with tools for carpentry, metal work, concrete work, and electrical work. The combination of hardware and software is meant to streamline the path from concept to field-ready solutions. The project teams at Mortenson will be able to move ideas from paper to practice within BLUlabs, reducing development cycles and enhancing collaboration across disciplines.
BLUlabs also supports a cross-functional approach by providing a space where diverse teams can test tools, technologies, and processes in a controlled setting before broader deployment. The innovation program at Mortenson is structured to empower project teams to develop and scale new products, technologies, and businesses across its portfolio, with ideas evaluated, prototyped, and tested in real-world conditions prior to wide use.
Mortenson’s history includes early adoption of virtual design and construction (VDC) in the 1990s, a track record of innovations in electrical integration and precast concrete, and explorations into AI tools. A solar-focused team operates within BLUlabs, working full-time on utility-scale solar projects and developing custom tools, robotics, and software to improve safety and efficiency on remote and large-scale sites. The center is presented as another step in the company’s ongoing journey toward innovation and industrialization in construction.
The new BLUlabs space is also positioned as a hub for cross-functional collaboration, with the goal of enabling teams from multiple disciplines to work together on experiments, prototypes, and product development efforts. This approach aligns with a broader industry trend toward accelerated technology adoption and the integration of digital tools across design, fabrication, and construction processes.
Versatile updates to crane-mounted analytics with Control Center
In a parallel development, a crane-mounted sensor and jobsite analytics platform received a notable update in July, introducing a new Control Center. This dashboard is the first of its kind built specifically for steel erection professionals, consolidating crane activity, sequence progress, and milestone tracking into a single view. The update aims to give project managers, particularly those overseeing steel erection, a clearer picture of site performance and timing without the need to chase updates from multiple sources.
The Control Center integrates data from crane-mounted devices and aligns it with the project plan, helping managers and foremen stay aligned with the schedule and respond quickly to potential delays. The goal is to provide clarity to project executives as well, reducing the volume of field reports, calls, and scattered spreadsheets that typically complicate progress tracking. In addition to core data, weather information has been added to the Explore and Calendar views to help teams anticipate how environmental conditions may affect lifts and other critical operations, with sensors feeding updates at frequent intervals.
Buildots expands AI-powered platform with Juneau Construction Co. agreement
Another development in project analytics involves Buildots, which announced an enterprise agreement to implement its AI-powered platform across a builder’s entire project portfolio. The three-year arrangement with Juneau Construction Co. will enable data-driven insights drawn from the company’s construction data to inform planning and execution. Buildots’ platform automates on-site progress tracking using AI and computer vision, providing up-to-date project data and predictive performance metrics to help teams stay organized and proactive. A large-scale student housing project hub in Knoxville is cited as context for Juneau’s experience, illustrating how the platform can support complex multi-building developments across portfolios. The leadership behind Juneau emphasizes that the immediate visibility and predictive insights from the platform can fundamentally alter how teams operate, potentially improving organization-wide processes and experiences for teams and clients alike.
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FAQ
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What is BLUlabs and where is it located?
BLUlabs is a 40,000-square-foot in-house research and development facility located in Fridley, Minnesota, within the Northern Stacks industrial park. It serves as an incubator for testing, prototyping, and product development across Mortenson project teams.
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What is the purpose of BLUlabs?
The facility is designed to enable experimentation and real-world testing, support low-volume manufacturing, and accelerate the transition of ideas into deployable tools and processes for construction operations.
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What equipment and capabilities are available at BLUlabs?
The space is equipped with 3D printers, CAD software, CNC machines, a plasma cutting table, and tools for carpentry, metal work, concrete work, and electrical work. It also has dedicated engineering and fabrication staff to assist with design and prototyping.
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What recent updates involve Versatile?
Versatile released the Control Center, a project dashboard for steel erection that consolidates crane activity, sequence progress, and milestones, providing a unified view for project managers and field teams, with weather integration added to support planning.
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What is Buildots doing with Juneau Construction Co.?
Buildots entered a three-year enterprise agreement with Juneau Construction Co. to deploy its AI-powered platform across Juneau’s portfolio, enabling on-site progress tracking, data-driven insights, and predictive performance metrics.
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How do these developments fit into Mortenson’s history?
These initiatives align with Mortenson’s tradition of early technology adoption, including VDC and other innovations across electrical integration, precast concrete, and AI tools, while expanding collaboration and innovation through BLUlabs and related digital platforms.
Key features and capabilities table
| Feature | Description | Relevance |
|---|---|---|
| BLUlabs size | 40,000-square-foot facility designed for testing, prototyping, and product development. | Enables rapid iteration and low-volume manufacturing in a controlled environment. |
| Location | Fridley, Minnesota, inside the Northern Stacks industrial park. | Strategic access to regional project teams and suppliers. |
| In-house design and build | Mortenson designed and built BLUlabs internally to control quality and schedule. | Supports integrated workflows and faster deployment of ideas. |
| Configurable bays | Bays and workspace arranged for flexible testing and prototyping configurations. | Adapts to diverse project needs and workflows. |
| Core equipment | 3D printers, CAD software, CNC machines, plasma cutting, carpentry, metal, concrete, and electrical tools. | Broad tooling supports multidisciplinary development and real-world testing. |
| Dedicated staff | Engineering and fabrication specialists dedicated to design, prototyping, and equipment operation. | Ensures consistent support and accelerates project timelines. |
| Accessibility | Open to all Mortenson employees and project teams. | Fuels cross-functional collaboration and idea sharing. |
| Innovation program | BLUlabs serves as a venue to test and scale new tools and processes across Mortenson’s portfolio. | Supports ongoing industrialization and modernization of project delivery. |
| Historical context | Part of Mortenson’s broader history in VDC and advanced construction innovations, including AI and solar tool development. | Demonstrates a long-standing commitment to technology-driven improvement. |
| Versatile integration | Control Center provides centralized, real-time project visibility for steel erection. | Improves management of crane activity, sequencing, and weather-informed decisions. |
| Buildots deployment | AI-powered progress tracking platform rolled out under a multi-year enterprise agreement with Juneau Construction Co. | Offers predictive metrics and on-site data insights across a portfolio. |
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Additional Resources
- ENR: Tech Roundup — Mortenson opens BLUlabs center; Versatile debuts dashboard
- Wikipedia: Mortenson
- ENR: Mortenson BLUlabs image
- Google Search: Mortenson BLUlabs image
- BD+C: Mortenson opens research and development center
- Google Scholar: Mortenson research and development center
- Twin Cities Business: Mortenson opens advanced research facility in Fridley
- Encyclopedia Britannica: Mortenson
- Mortenson (official site)
- Google News: Mortenson BLUlabs
