Technology could revolutionise the construction industry. Even though adapting in order to accommodate new technology could be daunting for a number of companies used to traditional methods of construction, there are a large number of potential benefits available for builders and end users from connected construction.
The Internet of Things is a part of this technological transformation of the industry and has been around as a concept for decades. The internet of things was first brought to the forefront when the first smart appliance, a toaster, was connected to the internet back in 1989.
In terms of property, many connected trends are used commonly inside the home, whether that is for networked climate control, security solutions and connected appliances. However, in the construction industry, it has been slow to adopt such technological advances. Last year, it was found that construction was one of the least digitised industries. On top of this, it has been found that construction labour productivity has not managed to keep pace with overall productivity which means that technology is a vital way of keeping the industry running.
The tools offered by technology are aimed at increasing efficiencies as well as reducing costs and ensuring as much as possible that construction projects are able to run on time. With technology appearing to be so essential, it is strange that the industry appear so resistant to change, especially when making sure that projects can run on time is one of the goals for large builders and developers.
There has been a surprising amount of technology that has been developed in order to help this resistant industry, including virtual reality and 3D building modelling. These solutions offer 3D walkthroughs in order to sell a property and 3D VR modelling that can be used to pitch architectural projects. This technology also includes BIM, or building information modelling, a Virtual Reality process that can be used to model a building’s structure and systems during design and construction.
