How Construction Tech segments will grow by 2025 according to a new EY study ?
Ernst & Young released in march a new study analyzing hot technological trends in construction Industry. Here are some key findings :
- IoT (Internet of Things) applications and BIM (Building Information modeling) will continue to see a steady growth in the construction industry. More specialized solutions like smart building technologies and 3D printing will be experiencing a boom of adoption.
- 3D printing is the technology with one of the lowest adoption rates in the sector. The technology is mostly used for prefabrication and residential construction. But the technology adoption could jump by 246% to 2025, reaching a market value of $500 million.
- Blockchain could also be a game changer for the industry enabling better transparency. Smart contracts (contracts empowered by blockchain with automatic execution ) could be used for automatic scheduling and ordering of supplies materials. Blockchain could grow by 41% to 2025.
- IoT would allow to have more data shared between machines and humans therefore enabling more cooperation and safety. For example, Triax Technologies has developed bracelets that help workers keep social distancing during the Covid-19 pandemic. IOT could grow by 26% to 2025.
According to the study, large scale adoption of such technologies could help the industry to save between 12 to 20% in total costs. But the sector doesn’t seem to put enough efforts in enabling its own transformation. The study says only 25% of construction firms have a digital strategy and only 9% feel they are prepped for a total digital transformation.
Video inspections technologies are experiencing a big boost from Covid-19 in construction industry
Zoom, the application for making video calls, is one of the revelations of the Covid-19 crisis. In 2 months, the company has gained as many users as it did in all of 2019, it now has just over 13 million users per month.
The construction sector must also turn to video calls technologies to comply with health standards and social distancing while continuing work in progress.
Such technologies are used for work inspection according to a study from the website Construction Dive which reveals that the american construction industry uses more and more services like Skype, Google Duo, Microsoft Teams or FaceTime to carry out these common operations.
Concretely, a site worker conducts the inspection with his smartphone, a lamp and measuring tools. He is guided by an inspector who follows the process remotely by video call.
The companies point out some obstacles in the adoption process coming from senior members of the team. But overall it works very well. According to Construction Dive, among the companies using video inspection technology for the first time, many say they are ready to continue using it after the Covid-19 crisis has ended.
How the construction industry is slowly restarting after general lockdown in France ?
After several months of break, the construction industry thinks about resuming its activity in France for private and public sectors.
The OPP BTP (a professional organization responsible for the safety of workers) has released a guide illustrating good practices to implement on job sites to avoid spreading further the disease.
Last week, a pilot project was set up in Ajaccio (Corsica, France) to test the feasibility of these good practices. The two departments of Corsica hope to be able to reopen the materials stores and ensure that the construction sites restart by the end of April.
The NGE group (more than 12,000 employees) indicated that the week of April 15, 61 out of 2000 of its job sites restarted, and 80 others must restart the week of April 20.
But these new guidelines will require more organization and therefore imply an extra cost for construction companies (already penalized by delays). It remains to be seen how they will cope with these additional costs and whether it will affect the final price of constructions.
