{"id":25520,"date":"2024-04-19T13:34:10","date_gmt":"2024-04-19T20:34:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/aec-business-newsletter-april-2020\/"},"modified":"2024-04-19T13:34:12","modified_gmt":"2024-04-19T20:34:12","slug":"aec-business-newsletter-april-2020","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/essential.construction\/news\/aec-business-newsletter-april-2020\/","title":{"rendered":"AEC Business Newsletter April 2020"},"content":{"rendered":"

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As we\u2019re now doing as much work remotely as possible, the value of having digital technologies has become indisputable. I think that today\u2019s experiences will also speed up the adoption of\u00a0process automation in construction.<\/p>\n

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Automation needs data. It has to be accessible\u00a0and in a format that makes it useful. Recently, I\u2019ve talked with experts from Trimble, Aalto University, and Aiforsite about data and how it can be used to improve the performance of construction.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m writing articles for Aalto University on research projects about\u00a0the digitalization of construction. For the article titled\u00a0On the Way to a Digital Revolution in Construction<\/em>,<\/a>\u00a0I interviewed Jukka Suomi<\/strong>,\u00a0digital construction manager at Trimble. He talked about what Trimble is doing in the DiCtion<\/a> (Digitalizing Construction Workflows) R&D project. Trimble is aiming to make data consumption as effortless as possible within the connected ecosystem. BIMs are key elements of Trimble\u2019s vision.<\/p>\n

For another article<\/a>\u00a0about DiCtion, I interviewed a team of Aalto researchers. They are using a\u00a0large quantity of video and other data from a construction site of\u00a0Fira, a Finnish contractor. They\u2019re trying to figure out how to use data to automate construction processes in the future.<\/p>\n

The third example of construction\u00a0data comes from our client Aiforsite. They use machine vision for various purposes. You can\u00a0watch a short video<\/a>\u00a0that explains use cases for AI in construction and demonstrates Aiforsite\u2019s solution. The company typically collects 40-45 gigabytes of data every week from each site.<\/p>\n

PS.
I attended a high-rise construction workshop of the Building 2030 consortium in March. Check out my report\u00a0How to Make High-Rise Construction Perform Better<\/a>.<\/p>\n

From AEC Business<\/h2>\n
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Study: Construction Organizations with the Highest Levels of Trust Perform Twice as Well on Crucial Business Metrics<\/h3>\n

Autodesk, Inc., in partnership with management consulting firm FMI Corporation, released the results of an industry study. It shows that higher levels of trust within organizations and across project teams correlate with increased profit margins, employee retention, and repeat business that can all add up to millions of dollars of profitability annually.<\/p>\n

Read more<\/a><\/p>\n

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6 Months of Free Access to WeBuild Construction Software<\/h3>\n

Director and Co-founder of WeBuild,\u00a0Jason Kamha<\/strong>: \u201cWe\u2019re pleased to release our support package to help those businesses who can benefit from our technology. Until 30 August 2020, all new subscribers will receive six months of free access to our online platform. This offer applies to all WeBuild products.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more<\/a><\/p>\n

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From Our Columnist: The Unthinkable Has Happened. How Should Contractors Respond?<\/h3>\n

Bruce Orr<\/strong>, the CEO of ProNovos,\u00a0chatted with Dr.\u00a0John Killingsworth<\/strong>, a construction management professor at Colorado State University who has conducted extensive research on how contractors can weather economic downturns.<\/p>\n

Read more<\/a><\/p>\n

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From Our Columnist: Do We Need Blockchain in Construction?<\/h3>\n

In her AEC Business column,\u00a0Cristina Savian<\/strong>,\u00a0the founder and managing director at BE-WISE, writes about blockchain technology and interviews\u00a0Belinda Hodkinson about how Australia embraces it.<\/p>\n

Read more<\/a><\/p>\n

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Digitalizing the Building Permit Process<\/h3>\n

In this podcast episode, I speak\u00a0with\u00a0Francesca Noardo<\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0Rick Klooster<\/strong>\u00a0who gave presentations at this year\u2019s first WDBE pre-event which took place in Tallinn, Estonia. The event was about BIM-based Building Permit Process Automation. The event recording is available at wdbe.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Listen<\/a><\/p>\n

Other News<\/h2>\n

Technological advancements disrupting the global construction industry<\/strong><\/h3>\n

This is an interesting construction technology white paper by Ernst & Young, co-authored by\u00a0Eric Ottinger, Harshit Minglani,<\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0Mark Gibson.<\/strong>\u00a0The research provides a high-level overview of the technology landscape and potential future state of the construction industry. It is the first of a series of papers.<\/p>\n

According to the paper, only 25% of real estate and construction firms have a digital strategy and only 9% feel as though they are prepped for a total digital transformation.<\/p>\n

Download the paper<\/a><\/p>\n

How prefab can enable the design and construction industry to bring much needed beds to hospitals, faster<\/h3>\n

Amy Marks<\/strong>, Head Of Industrialized Construction Strategy & Evangelism at\u00a0Autodesk, wrote this interesting and timely\u00a0article.\u00a0Healthcare is already ahead of other sectors in adopting prefabrication\u2014and wider uptake could help the industry deliver much-needed beds, and faster.<\/p>\n

Read more<\/a><\/p>\n

Can the circular economy make construction more sustainable?<\/h3>\n

Only 9% of the world is circular and carbon emissions and material use have consistently maintained an upward trend. Circulation in construction has has both ecological benefits and a business case.<\/p>\n

Read more<\/a><\/p>\n

Oslo\u2019s first zero-emissions construction site in action<\/h3>\n

Local authorities in Oslo have stipulated that all public buildings must be built with fossil-fuel-free construction machines.<\/p>\n

Read more<\/a><\/p>\n

Trimble\u2019s SiteVision Turns Your Phone Into an Augmented Reality BIM Coordination Machine<\/h3>\n

Shane Hedmond<\/strong>\u00a0of\u00a0Construction Junkie writes about Trimble SiteVision, which combines an Android smartphone with special hardware to enable 1 cm accuracy for augmented reality. In addition to the ability to overlay BIM models onto the jobsite, users can also log clashes and omissions, take quick distance measurements, take geo-referenced pictures, assign tasks, and measure grade and cut\/fill.<\/p>\n

Read more<\/a><\/p>\n

What It Takes to Run a Great Virtual Meeting<\/h3>\n

I\u2019m sure that by now everyone has experience of virtual meetings that were not so great. In this Harvard Business Review article,\u00a0Bob Frisch<\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0Cary Greene<\/strong>\u00a0share 12 tips on making virtual meetings better.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Read more<\/a><\/p>\n

Innovation in construction falls to the lowest level since the credit crunch<\/h3>\n

What we need now is innovation in the construction sector. Unfortunately, the number of UK companies in the construction sector who say they are actively innovating has fallen from 44% to 30% in the last two years. Is this perhaps a global trend? Maybe not.<\/p>\n

Read more<\/a><\/p>\n

Are coworking spaces doomed?<\/h3>\n

We had our previous office in a co-working space. It was kind of handy, but the benefits were not perhaps as great as we expected. The pandemic has made many people question if the model is feasible in the future as this article by Julia Neuman illustrates.<\/p>\n

Read more<\/a><\/p>\n

After coronavirus: The office of the future is the office of the past<\/h3>\n

This article accompanies the previous co-working space discussion nicely. It states: \u201cWider corridors with one-way foot traffic, better air filtration, touchless elevator controls, antimicrobial materials in new construction and videoconferencing, even within the office, to avoid the conference room.\u201d<\/p>\n

Read more<\/a><\/p>\n

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