More than 40,000 construction workers worldwide can now see through walls with their smartphone. The new Dalux Field app can show a mix of reality and 3D construction models much like the HoloLens. “It has great potential and both workers and clients are excited”, says Digital Manager from Willmott Dixon Construction, who tested the augmented reality on four projects.
The new Dalux app is leading the way worldwide in showing 3D construction models with augmented reality (AR) on smartphones. The software company – who targets the UK as one of their main markets – has now made their solution available to all modern Android and iOS phones.
This means that the tens of thousands of construction workers at companies who already use Dalux, like Willmott Dixon Construction, can see a mix of reality and the 3D model depending on their location and what they are looking at – by simply pointing the mobile camera at various elements in an ongoing construction.
Digital Manager at Willmott Dixon Construction Limited, Andrew Gamblen, has tested Dalux and the augmented reality on four projects varying in size from 4 to 25 million pounds.
– The technology is absolutely brilliant. It is very easy to use and can be accessed on a large number of devices – making it much easier for everyone on-site to visualize exactly what we are building, Andrew Gamblen says.
International interest
Dalux co-founder Bent Dalgaard reports that construction companies from all over the world have been calling Dalux to hear about their new groundbreaking technology.
– Earlier, it was only one type of Android phone that could show augmented reality. Now it is open to a huge workforce, so we expect to see augmented reality spread fast in the construction industry, says Dalux co-founder Bent Dalgaard.
Willmott Dixon Construction: Dalux has great potential
Willmott Dixon expects to be more efficient and experience less issues on-site because workers can see where each element should be, how they should look and be installed – all in real-time. It can also help solve issues a lot quicker, since it is always clear who is responsible for each task on each element in the system.
– The workers on-site are excited. Even though not all are using it every day, they still check each time something has been installed and see if there are any issues. They no longer have to run back and forth to the office, Andrew Gamblen says.
Since most people outside the construction industry struggle with imagining how a building will eventually look by seeing 2D-drawings, Willmott Dixon is experiencing enthusiasm from clients who have been using Dalux to see what their contractors are building for them and how far they are in the process.
– We work with a lot of information heavy construction models and if a system cannot handle large amounts of data we have no use for them. Dalux displays everything in a fast, simple and stable application, Andrew Gamblen says.
The company behind the AR-technology, Dalux, has grown from 20 to 55 employees in one and a half year and is present in 100 countries with the UK as a key market. Dalux was highlighted in the GO Initiative of the Year Award as the BIM solution used when Armagh Campus won the GO Award for Procurement Innovation in May 2018.
