The first part of this paper, by S. G.Moseley, L. F. Garcia, O. Griessingerand K-P. Bohn, describes the applications and base materials being drilled in the building construction, mechanical- and electrical installer trades in the European construction industry, highlighting a selection of technological developments and the performance improvement made possible in the last 15 years by the use of polycrystalline diamond-tipped core bits. The second part addresses some important aspects from the integrated system development of the latest Hilti DD110-M tool and PCMNew bits developed specifically for the trades noted. The advantages of such a system development for diamond impregnated segment bits and tools have been published elsewhere [1] and this paper quantifies the productivity and cost savings achieved, as measured by holes per day(influenced by speedand vibrations) and drilling costs per hole(influenced by bit-life and costs), compared to the previous tool plus consumable system. Model predictions from a semi-empirical physical drilling model based on indentation theory are compared with actual drilling test results and the production technology used in the manufacture of the PCMNew bits is also briefly described.