Shaping the future of construction

Industries across the spectrum, from utilities to transportation, are evolving to keep up with the pace of change driven by digital innovation. While some are being forced to change, others see the opportunity of embracing new technology to deliver efficiencies, cost savings or a better service. Globally, the construction industry is on the up with forecasts suggesting sustained growth up to 2030, but the cost of delivery is getting higher. Digital construction presents an opportunity to make operations more productive and capitalise on market growth. Leica Geosystems Content Marketing Executive, Simon Hall leads Construction Worx readers on the journey to digital transformation...

While construction has been slightly slower than other industries to innovate, the adoption of technology is starting to infuse all aspects of day-today life, from the standard use of smart phones on site to digital plans. More advanced uses of technology have the power to deliver even bigger cost and efficiency benefits, so shouldn’t be ignored or underestimated.

Improved digital construction practices and tools can help bring projects in on time and on budget by making everyone involved more productive and eliminating mistakes. The sharing of information in the form of digital data between all parties, through all stages of the construction process from concept to completion, can help bring the industry into the future and reduce legacy challenges such as delays and cost overruns by aligning to Building Information Modelling (BIM) principles.

Architects and engineers develop comprehensive digital prototypes to better understand the possibilities and design limitations. Contractors use this information to feed real-world data into the project to generate coordinated 3D plans in conjunction with their subcontractor’s budgets and schedules. Site teams from all disciplines rely on accurate and timely digital information in the field to execute their tasks in accordance with the client’s original brief. At the point of completion, the client and facilities teams have a digital replica of what has been constructed, which can then be used as an evolving tool to maintain the asset.

The role of Building Information Modelling (BIM) and digital information in construction

Delays and cost overruns are challenges that can prevent the construction industry maximising profitability. The root cause of delays and over-spend is often due to a lack of up-to-date and accurate information: for instance, when site conditions aren’t as expected, or when changes to a plan aren’t communicated to a subcontractor. These challenges can be eliminated with a common and consistent flow of information between everyone working on a project, including BIM modelling and use of digital twins.

Building Information Modelling, or BIM, is the process of creating and managing digital information of a construction project at every stage of its lifecycle, enabling everyone involved to have visibility, share information, collaborate and work to the same principles. Adoption of BIM is on the increase, but in many cases it is only being used at the early stages of design and construction.

In order for BIM to work effectively, everyone involved in the project needs to use BIM collaboratively. For example, initial digital plans can be added to with information about scheduling, estimating and real-time field data. Having this at the start of a project would enable accurate planning and forecasting, reducing errors and risks. Throughout the entire lifecycle of construction, this information is continually updated to reflect the building’s actual progress, and by aligning to BIM principles, the right information can be provided to the right people at the right time, enabling better and faster decision making.

By having a central data hub of accurate and up-to date information on the vision of the desired outcome, as well as the current status of the project, there are fewer inconsistencies in what everyone involved in the project is working towards. This results in a reduction in design flaws, better budgeting and less problems with operations and maintenance integration.

Digital Twins – when BIM matches reality

Until recently, the concept of the ‘Digital Twin‘, where digitised versions of physical assets are updated in real-time with real world sensors, was thought of as science fiction. Today, we are starting to see the concept being adopted in successful building-wide installations across the globe.

Historically, the construction industry has relied on 2D datasets to create the designs and plans that are used during construction. 2D datasets alone, particularly those that are not up-to-date, provide a huge risk to companies, meaning critical decisions are based on inaccurate information. Even during construction, capturing real-world information regularly can help avoid those costly mistakes that occur.

Over the last decade, the construction industry has begun to embrace new techniques and technology that help provide rapid, real-world data capture. Laser scanning and the recent growth in popularity of UAVs, and the imagery information they provide are two examples. The biggest barrier for people is handling this large stream of data and integrating the data into their existing workflows.

Investment in a comprehensive Digital Twin technologies can help construction companies to optimize the design, engineering, construction, operation and maintenance of industrial assets. The Digital Twin is the glue that connects the information and processes used across the whole asset lifecycle on one platform, enabling the single version of the truth concept.

Connecting the Jobsite

The first stage of a Digital Twin starts with a basic set of structured data and documents defining the facility configuration, designed by engineering teams in the Project Twin. For companies near the beginning of their digital transformation roadmap, this is an excellent start, empowering better decision making from more intelligent data and improving engineering-to-operations handover processes.

The second stage of connecting this intelligent data to 2D schematics, 3D models or laser scans allows for more intuitive viewing and navigation and begins to unlock the benefits of weaving engineering, operations and maintenance information in an Operational Twin.

The third stage further enhances the Operational Twin with increased interoperability by exchanging information and providing links to other information sources in the operations landscape, such as asset performance, data historian, maintenance management and real-time data solutions.

The fourth stage is where the major digital transformation business benefits will be realized, as the asset owners and operators can leverage a Digital Twin to manage value added work processes, such as human procedures, inspections, integrated safe systems of work and management of change. This ongoing stage of value addition can also include advanced analytics, artificial intelligence, machine learning and predictive and prescriptive analytics to reduce downtime.

When a comprehensive Digital Twin is deployed, the associated data needs to be efficiently dissected to understand it and to also transform this into actionable information. To help achieve this, the Hexagon Situational Awareness solution allows personnel to clearly see what’s happened, what’s happening, what could happen, what should happen and what’s scheduled to happen in a high-level operational dashboard that includes all the visual elements of a Digital Twin.

When you talk about productivity and efficiency, there are savings to be had using the Leica system. For us in our game, specialising in agricultural buildings, we can offer the savings up to our clients, but you've also got the environmental savings as well. The system is pushing us forward ahead of our competitors. With these systems, we have completed earthworks projects that normally take a month in just two weeks, it's a massive saving

Stuart Smith - Knights Construction, United Kingdom

Overall, the goal of any Digital Twin is to increase asset efficiency and offer a digital representation of current and historic plant configurations, along with related performance information. Enlightened, datadriven decision making becomes the norm, and the easy sharing of Digital Twin data with multiple departments increases collaboration and reduces operational risk. Hexagon solutions help people design, engineer, construct, operate and maintain industrial assets, and the Project Twin, Operational Twin and Situational Awareness solutions allow asset owners and operators to build and maintain a Digital Twin ecosystem throughout the asset lifecycle, allowing for a continuous journey of operational excellence.

“With Leica solutions, we can quickly scan spaces in-house, create CAD models within a few hours and provide stakeholders the required deliverable to design, modify and install equipment in our facility. Instead of relying on external providers, we can identify the need and activate a team to provide the survey data within a day.”

Matt Thompson - Virtual Manufacturing Engineering Manager, Jaguar Land Rover, United Kingdom.