in construction?

What’s next for VR in construction?

With VR working its way into the construction industry, Tridify’s Nigel Alexander looks at some of the developments likely to be in store in the next 12 months.

Virtual Reality (VR) has become ers. A headset presents numerous restricsomething of a buzzword – or, tions: it is clunky and prohibits movement strictly speaking, two words – – and movement is crucial to the use of among tech enthusiasts and VR in construction and development. companies looking at how they can ride Being free to walk around a virtual buildthe wave of this new technology. ing in real time or ‘real space’ is one of

While the entertainment industry, par- VR’s unique selling points, one that would ticularly gaming, is the most obvious tar- most benefit from a wireless approach. get for VR, it is increasingly of interest to a However, at this point in VR’s involvebroad cross-section of indus- ment in construction, it’s tries, including medicine about proving that this tech(where it’s already being used nology is possible and how it as an alternative to human can be applied. cadavers as a learning tool for We’re already seeing medical students), retail (in Augmented Reality (AR) e-commerce) and, most notably, headsets being pioneered for architecture and construction. the construction industry, but

VR is defined as the “comput- its uses are a world away er-generated simulation of a from those associated with three-dimensional image or environment that can be interacted with in a seemingly real or ‘‘ VR will help VR. AR works by displaying information as you look at a space, whereas VR takes the physical way.” To date, there are many different types of VR technology, save costs by reducing data and models it right in front of the viewer, giving them something to which ranging from 360-degree imag- wastage and they can relate. es and ‘on the rails’ video fly- rework, by What we are likely to see through, to fully interactive virtual worlds. Each application has its own making it easier for all are the beginnings of a communication between various technologies and devices that technology to go with it. For parties to can work harmoniously and example, the devices everyone collaborate simultaneously. There are is currently talking about are headsets such as the Oculus Rift and HTC Vive, which are on the design and layout of developments such as haptic technology, which when used with a touchscreen device, being pitched primarily at gam- buildings will give you physical feeders as they provide the most immersive experience currently available. However, the technology back through vibrations in order to relay information. We are also likely to see the evolution of ’’ behind VR will be changing over the com- what is effectively a massive multi-player ing year, moving from heavy computer capability, where multiple people interact and headset-based systems to flexible, with each other in a VR environment. interactive systems based on mobile At present, we already have ‘agents’ that devices such as iPads and smartphones. are deployed to simulate people moving

Becoming ‘unwired’ is critical to VR’s around a building and depict how it might success and not least in construction. work in real life. The agents operate by Though it’s likely to emerge in the gaming becoming increasingly intelligent; for industry first, an untethered, standalone example, they start to optimise routes device is going to be a priority for develop- through a 3D visualisation of a building, just as users are likely to in real life. This will have a massive impact in terms of planning and reducing rework during construction.

Imagine, for instance, that you want to understand the difference between a large office development having one or two lift shafts: you would actually be able to see, at any given time, if a certain number of people are trying to access the building and what the result might be. It might reveal that putting in a second lift shaft means a door needs to be widened, for example, or that you perhaps need an additional entry point into the lift lobby. Essentially, what you are doing is modelling people between two points and reviewing the consequences in advance.

This technology will simultaneously empower the sales and marketing side of the construction industry, by enabling developers to showcase projects early on. It will also help save costs by reducing wastage and rework, by making it easier for all parties to collaborate on the design and layout of buildings.

VR meets the IoT As smart cities become increasingly popular with developers, we’ll be creating environments that can be easily linked to VR. Buildings are being fitted with vast numbers of electronic chips for smart monitoring. One of the results of this is that you start to collect data – an aspect of which is ‘movement’. At any given period of time, you might have X number of people moving through a particular area, but what might this actually mean and what are the possible outcomes? With collected data, you can assess where your congestion points will be and therefore calculate accurately how many doors you need to provide. You could consider managed access – doors that open and close at given times – that controls the flow of traffic to ease congestion, similar to a smart motorway.

This technology also helps with ‘excep-

tion planning’, where you use 1 Using 4D simulation, VR unless you file every single what are essentially avatars to can help improve safety piece of paper. work out the likely impact on construction sites If, for example, you had a 2D associated with a change in 2 VR can be used to identify potential hazards plan of an office, you could movement patterns. For exam- in office environments look at it, and consider what ple, how would you deal with might be hazardous about it – an incident that results in an exit being but imagine if you had instead a virtual, blocked – where do you physically put three-dimensional environment where it 6,000 people who need to evacuate a was easy to add or subtract objects and building quickly? Lots of these issues can elements. You could visualise how a desk be simulated and planned for using VR. blocks an emergency exit, or show that an As it stands in construction, many people electrical box is not secured. From there, it solve these issues with prior knowledge would just be a question of going around and a deep understanding of their indus- and looking at the hazard, and identifying try. However, it becomes increasingly dif- what measures were needed, perhaps a ficult and expensive to pass on this level of desk exclusion zone. comprehension across a whole building or This approach might go further still, to development. include fencing, cones, modelling the swing of a crane on a site. You might even Health & safety model an event across time. When you Currently, planning and training for health begin work on a building site, the safety and safety management is done in a two- requirements associated with a hole dug dimensional analogue format. Essentially, in the ground and the movement of traffic it’s being carried out on pieces of paper and through the site are very different from then bringing in the objects that you need – the safety requirements you need to cona laborious method, with no audit trail, sider with a completed building. Green construction Finally, there are important environmental considerations, too. If you can create a building in data before you construct it, it’s quite simply much cheaper to make any necessary modifications. Not only are you free to play around with a virtual environment, you can present it to the end user and gain relevant feedback to know exactly what is needed. No developer has the omniscience to predict every element of what a customer will need – a surgeon in a hospital for example, is going to have a far better knowledge of what they will need from an emergency environment than a developer ever will.

From helping to reduce wastage by allowing materials to be more accurately planned and preventing costly reworking, to allowing developers to create immersive property showcases, thereby reducing the need for travel to visit sites, the impact can be far-reaching. VR will become increasingly the construction industry’s ‘green weapon’ of choice.