Redefining AEC Across Project Lifecycle

Infrastructure development is an uphill task involving multiple stages & stakeholders. Tech solutions are making it smoother, faster, and smarter.

By Sachin Awana and Titas Roy

"America's roads are good not because America is rich. America is rich because of its good roads"

John F Kennedy.

Indian construction market is set to become the third largest in the world by 2030, contributing 15% of the country’s GDP and employing more than 70 million people, as per a KPMG report.

Delhi-Mumbai Corridor, National Infrastructure Pipeline, BharatMala Pariyojana, and the PM Gati Shakti Master Plan are some of the ongoing flagship government infra projects aimed at massive connectivity.

From conception to completion stage, the rapidly growing AEC sector involves collaboration between architects, engineers, construction managers, contractors, urban planners, and various other specialists. The multi-stakeholder participation and inter-disciplinary approach makes mega AEC projects extremely complex and at times tedious tasks. ‘

Unsurprisingly, in a recent interview with a leading national daily, the outgoing L&T (Larsen & Toubro) Chairman, AK Naik, called ‘Infrastructure building the most difficult job in the world’.

Geospatial visualizations, 3D models, data aggregation, and the use of BIM, aim to make things somewhat easier, simpler, faster, and efficient in the sector whose perception is of a lumbering giant, immune to new changes.

Going with the times and to stay ahead of market competition, the AEC industry has been

Global Geospatial Market in AEC Industry, 2019-2023 (US$ Billion) increasingly adopting technological advancements like Building Information Modelling (BIM), virtual reality, and sustainable design practices to enhance efficiency, communication, and sustainability in project development.

Tech Averse?

Just like risk-aversion is a basic human behavioural instinct, and a determinant in most economic decision-making, AEC has traditionally been identified as a tech-averse sector. Though now, things are changing radically due to the pervasive reach and extent of technology integration across processes and workflows.

The cumulative geospatial industry’s value in AEC is in pre-COVID-19 situation is estimated to be US$ 71.28 billion in 2019 and is estimated to reach US$ 117.59 by 2023, growing at a CAGR of 12.69% between 2015 and 2023.

Building Information Modelling (BIM), Computer Aided Designs (CAD), drones, virtual reality, 3D printing, LiDAR, GIS, and Digital Twin are some technologies that are being integrated into various stages of planning, design, construction, and management processes.

These technologies help improve collaboration, streamline workflows, enhance project visualization, and optimize resource utilization.

“We need to adopt technology at a much faster pace, and we do not have much time,” said Sunil MK, Sales Head, Autodesk.

However, like any industry, there might be some resistance or challenges in implementing new technologies due to factors such as cost, training, and adapting to new processes.

On the issue of cost, Rajan Aiyer, MD, Trimble India says "Resistance will also be in the form of whether Capex should be spent on these technologies (as an after-thought) which is wrongly believed to affect margins negatively. The truth is that the TCO is greatly reduced by using these technologies, the customer can bid more intelligently using the data from projects, and finish projects with higher quality and ESG, in shorter time and with greater safety."

AEC Workflows

The cumulative global AEC market witnessed the slowest growth in 2019 and is estimated to be US$ 11.13 trillion, growing at a CAGR of 3.3% during the forecast period. Asia-Pacific and North America emerge as dominant markets with 66.97% and 11.9% of the global AEC market in 2019. The global construction sector is expected to grow, albeit at a slow pace despite economic uncertainties. Revenue growth will be highest in China, followed by India – the new engine of global growth or construction and other south-east Asian economies – Indonesia, Vietnam and the Philippines.

The AEC industry has a stepwise workflow that is largely followed by organisations across. The fourstep flow guarantees smooth operations, minimizes errors, and helps in identifying barriers.

However, due to irregular workflows, non-uniform softwares, multiple divisions, and lacking interoperability makes the projects inefficient and costly.