White Ink Embraces AI to Simplify Complex Regulatory Compliance

White Ink is an employee-owned architectural practice based in Belfast, Northern Ireland. Known for its design excellence and technical rigour, the firm delivers large-scale, high-complexity projects across residential, hospitality, healthcare, education, and industrial sectors throughout the UK and Ireland.

The Challenge

With operations expanding across multiple jurisdictions—each with unique and evolving regulatory standards—White Ink is actively exploring better tools and methods to improve accuracy, efficiency, and consistency in compliance checks. Manual, knowledge-based methods remain essential but are increasingly resource-intensive. Frequent updates across Northern Ireland, England, Scotland, and Ireland add complexity and demand significant staff time. As the practice grows, so does the need for scalable solutions that ease the regulatory burden, reduce risk, and free up time—maximising capacity for detailed, technical, human-led review and checking.

The Solution

White Ink partnered with the Hartree Centre Northern Ireland Hub to co-develop a cutting-edge Graph-RAG model using Retrieval-Augmented Generation (RAG) technology. The AI solution was built in three phases: gathering and formatting regulatory documents, developing two tailored GraphRAG models, and rigorous performance evaluation. The selected model (GraphRAG 1) uses a combination of advanced language processing and a bespoke knowledge graph to retrieve accurate, jurisdiction-specific regulation excerpts in response to project queries. This empowers staff to conduct compliance checks more efficiently and with greater consistency. The model has been embedded in an intuitive software platform to ensure accessibility for staff at all levels.

Rory McCormick

Rory McCormack, White Ink Architects

“Engaging with the HCNI Hub programme has been a collaborative and positive experience. It provided valuable access to industry expertise and up-to-date knowledge, helping to shape our thinking in a rapidly evolving area. The programme has acted as a lighthouse project, accelerating our AI strategy and wider implementation within the practice, broadened our perspective, and created opportunities for longer-term commercial growth.By automating tasks like cross-referencing current and past regulations, the system will assist with ongoing compliance with evolving standards. This means the team can spend less time searching through documents and more time focusing on what matters: ensuring compliance and delivering clear, reliable advice and value to clients.”


Project Impact

The introduction of the GraphRAG model marks a major leap forward in White Ink’s ability to manage regulatory compliance. The AI-powered tool streamlines the most time-consuming aspects of compliance reviews—searching, cross-referencing, and verifying information -allowing staff to maintain rigour without getting bogged down in manual processes. By surfacing relevant regulations quickly and clearly, the system reduces risk, improves consistency, and ensures that projects across all jurisdictions meet the latest standards.

Importantly, the tool enhances rather than replaces human expertise. Experienced architects still make the final judgement, but now with faster access to accurate information and reduced administrative overhead. This frees the team to focus on delivering quality, technical precision, and client value.

As the platform continues to evolve, it lays the groundwork for broader digital transformation across White Ink’s processes, offering a scalable solution that grows with the practice and reinforces its position as an industry leader in combining architectural innovation with technical excellence.

Further Information

This work was completed as one of our data projects. Our projects are up to 12 weeks in duration. We will work alongside your business to scope your project, demonstrate proof of concept, and explore options to deploy it within your business. If you would like to learn more about the Hartree Centre Northern Ireland Hub and our Programme, please get in touch with us at: info@hartreeni.uk

Our Impact on UK Industry and Society

The Hartree National Centre for Digital Innovation enables businesses to acquire the skills, knowledge and technical capability required to adopt digital technologies like super computing, data analytics, artificial intelligence (AI) and quantum computing. The SME Engagement Hubs play a key role in offering targeted support for business challenges in their region, creating value and generating economical and societal impact for the UK.