The U.S. construction industry often boxes itself in when facing obstacles or uncovering the newest emerging trends, while similar situations are occurring in nations across the globe. That international perspective can offer unique solutions and a sense of camaraderie as industry professionals attempt to solve problems and improve efficiencies. A prime example of this exchange of international perspectives occurred last week during the Royal Institute of Chartered Surveyors (RICS)Summit of the Americas and World Built Environment Forum in Washington, DC.
Experts from construction, real estate and financing companies from various countries focused on the industry’s future as they discussed the major trends and movements affecting construction. These three concepts were singled out as having the greatest potential to impact the future of the building industry.
Big data
Big data — which involves the collection and analysis of massive amounts of information to improve efficiency — has emerged in recent years as a source of valuable information with the potential to transform the construction process, according to Terry Bennett, senior industry strategist of civil infrastructure at Autodesk.
“Big data allows us to start with a problem at the beginning and let the information and big data figure out what the solution is,” he said during a panel. “You tell it what it needs to solve, and it does the horsepower.”
He noted that data, especially cloud computing technology and information collected from drones, can create opportunities for improved models, fluid dynamic tests and up-to-date site conditions.
“(Big data) allows us to do things that haven’t been done before with the assurance that it will happen,” he said. “That changes that concept of how we design to how we make. It’s amazing production-wise what we can accomplish with the technology that exists. This has been rehearsed, virtualized, choreographed, then executed. Just like a football play.”
However, despite these capabilities, Bennett said, “There’s a big gap between the state of capability of software and the state of practice.”
He attributed this delay in adopting the newest technologies to contractors’ tendency to “get nervous” about new ways of conducting business. Bennett cautioned that even if construction professionals’ are wary of new technology, they soon won’t have a choice in adoption. “Firms have to be wanting to walk through that door and change their processes,” he said. “Or some other firm will come in and do it for you.”
Bennett added that the analysis component of big data is crucial, as “the question is figuring out how to use the big data to get to those answers, and ignoring everything else. It’s so easy to get lost in the data.”
That factor makes it imperative that people remain a part of the process, he noted, as they can analyze the right data to come up with vital information for construction. “In today’s era, you can’t just have computers going without human input,” he said. “You’re trying to do something very complex. When you combine the two, you can have big things solved.”
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