The digital revolution is already happening and the construction industry is striving to flow along in this digital era. With the vision of ingraining smart technologies and green construction practices, the construction industry is targeting to reduce costs, reduce greenhouse gas emissions, increase focus on safety and complete projects quickly. To achieve these ambitious goals some fundamental changes must be made to the traditional methods of the industry. The construction industry involves high risk and high hazards. It is also fragmented with multiple disciplines involved and is currently facing a shortage of skilled labourers and digitally skilled professionals. To resolve these issues and achieve the vision of the industry it is highly important to digitally transform the way the industry functions. Although digitalization has been trending for years, the transformation seems to be accelerating faster than before now due to the urgency created by the pandemic. The pandemic has helped the inherently conservative and slow to adapt industry to envision its future in the digital age. Hence, the industry is slowly trying to unlearn and relearn the new ways of the modern fast-paced digital world.
What is digitalization in the construction industry?
Digitalization is the use of digital tools and technologies in the planning, design, construction, operation, maintenance and management of the built environment. It requires competent professionals skilled in both hardware and software. The industry has already shifted from physical plans to more efficient and easily modifiable Computer Aided Designs (CAD) that can be effectively integrated with multiple devices and tools to easily access and assimilate the projects. However, the modern-day expectations of the clients/customers are far beyond this and the technological capabilities have far more to offer, leaving the industry with a massive digital transformation potential.
Digital technology- changing the industry for good
- Digital Surveying and Geolocation High definition photography, electronic distance measurement devices, 3D laser scanning, Geographic Information Systems (GIS) enabled by drones and unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV) bring about massive improvements in accuracy and speed of data collection. These high quality images and geographic data can be integrated with project planning tools such as the Building Information Modelling (BIM) to get a bigger picture, cutting down the losses caused due to errors and reworks.
- 5-D Building Information Modelling (BIM) 5-D BIM is a 5 dimensional virtual representation of physical and functional characteristics of the projects that forms visual and analytical data that can help make decisions during the project’s life cycle. The 5-D BIM consists of 3-D information regarding the structure, aesthetic, thermal, acoustic, and spatial properties of the project. And links it to the execution schedule (4-D) and budget (5-D) of the project giving a complete picture of the project construction process.
- Mobile Technology in Construction Process digitalization moves information from paper to online platforms, helping share real-time data to maintain transparency, record timely progress, assess risks, monitor and assure quality for better project outcomes. This helps all stakeholders of the project to stay updated and aware of the project progress. Also, it helps to remotely supervise the execution of the project. There are various phone apps available to keep track of on-site activities such as resource management, scheduling and work crew progress. The pandemic restrictions have boosted the use of mobile technology.
- Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR) The use of VR and AR can help visualize, mimic and simulate the projects, giving insights and virtual walkthroughs to all stakeholders. This is generally integrated with BIM, allowing efficient digital 3-D representations of structures, instead of traditional blueprints.
- Artificial intelligence(AI), Digital twin and Advanced analytics Today the construction industry has access to a huge amount of data and this data can be used to run through AI systems to predict and create reports on how much work has been done and how much work can be done. This can also help prevent errors and any shortcomings. The digital twin is a digital copy of any physical asset with its complete properties and this helps to simulate, predict, operate and maintain the project during its life cycle. Data analytics helps predict resource cost variations, picture possible risks and analyse suitable risk mitigation strategies, hence creating an efficient construction system.
Digital transformation- a pathway to success
Digitalization is occurring at an accelerated rate today. Digitalization in the construction industry has various benefits such as reduced costs, increased safety, time efficiency and increased productivity. Digitalization will soon be a necessity and not an option. Failing to adopt newer technologies can only cause more loss.
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