Digital Construction Conference 2022 – Towards Construction 4.0 and the future of this sector in the digital era
On November 9th and 10th, the president of IBIMI-buildingSMART Prague participated in the "Digital Construction conference” organized by the Czech Ministry of Industry and Trade in Prague, in collaboration with buildingSMART Czech Republic, with the goal to outline the possible development paths of the sector towards Construction 4.0 .
Many representatives of buildingSMART International and of the individual national chapters attended the conference, confirming the importance of the role played by our community in the digital transformation of the building supply chain.
The construction industry is still the least digitized sector of all and, at the same time, one of the largest contributors to GDP in all European countries. Add to this the stagnant levels of labor productivity and the urgency of undertaking profound changes becomes evident.
The main purpose of this meeting was to find new solutions to stimulate the flow of data in the sector and accelerate construction processes through Building Information Modeling (BIM) and improve the technological and data ecosystem of the construction industry.
No less important, the other topics discussed included the introduction of digital transition and BIM in the public sector, the revolution in the acceleration of building permit processing, robotization, automation and prefabrication in the construction ecosystem.
The good news is that much-needed change is already underway. After decades of under-digitalization, the construction sector seems ready to start a new era. New analyzes of the construction technology ecosystem uncover emerging trends, solutions, and a growing universe of technology use cases that are revolutionizing the way we plan, design, and execute construction projects.
The development of robotics and 3D printers will be solutions not only to the lack of workforce in the construction industry but also to problems related to the safety of workers. For instance, for the reconstruction interventions in risk areas, a "hot" topic also supported by the CECE (Committee for European Construction Equipment https://cece.eu/) in relation to the recent events in Ukraine.
The discussion with Katharina Knapton-Vierlich, the new representative of DG Growth H1 construction, on "digital transition and BIM in the public sector", was very interesting. The goal is to identify a common digital development strategy between the Member States and the European Commission, which would support it with specific funding programmes. Topic of extreme relevance for buildingSMART. For this reason, the dialogue started in Prague will be deepened with the Commission during the buildingSMART summit to be held in Rome next March.
Extremely interesting was also the European Commission initiative on the Digital Building Logbook, with the goal of promoting transparency and greater availability of data for a wide range of market operators (property owners, tenants, investors, financial institutions and public administrations). The idea is to provide a guideline that catalogs and stores all the information deemed important for a Digital Building File in a format that synchronizes the methodologies used in the various member countries, also through R&I projects for the implementation of the Digital Register financed by the Commission.
At the end, it was also discussed the impact of this transformation on human resources, focusing in particular on training. The digitization of the supply chain must not be perceived as a threat by workers in the sector, but recognized as a way to improve the image and the working conditions in the industry. The right training courses and the right skills will in fact make the sector more attractive to younger workers. And it is precisely in this direction that buildingSMART International is going with the work at the tables of the Professional Certification Program (PCERT), the professional qualification program designed to provide a certificate compliant with local regulations and at the same time having international validity on skills in the BIM and openBIM.
Many of the points raised during the conference in Prague will be the subject of further debate and study at the buildingSMART International Standards Summit in Rome. We invite you therefore to continue following us and to join us on the occasion of the Summit.
SAVE THE DATE: buildingSMART International Standards Summit - Auditorium della Tecnica, Rome – 27/30 March 2023
Giulia Riccardi
Anna Moreno
Caterina Nissim
BIM and sustainability in the construction industry
The use of BIM and the holistic approach to sustainability in the construction industry
Energy savings, consciousness about natural resources, reduction of pollution and respect for the environment. The theme of green development of cities is a challenge in which the construction sector has a central role to play.
Fortunately, design and technologies are moving on an increasingly “green” track: architects are always more motivated by the desire to create buildings that create dialogues between man and nature. The cities of the future are (very) slowly and gradually developing obligations to comply with environment-friendly practices and standards which, for the sake of simplicity, we will call "sustainability".
Construction is an energy-intensive sector with a high share of global pollution: it is in fact responsible for 36% of energy consumption and 39% of carbon dioxide emissions into the atmosphere. This is the reason the sector has a huge responsibility and the duty to initiate better practices and virtuous processes to reduce its impact on the planet as quickly as possible.
Augmenting the sustainability in construction is not an easy problem to tackle and there are not fast lanes bringing there. There is a large number of different tracks to consider and we can only speak about sustainability in construction following an holistic and exhaustive approach.
Too often, in construction, the scale to measure sustainability is confused and reduced to specific energy requirements. In fact, also due to a regulatory framework that has not yet been defined in Europe and sustainability assessment procedures and methods that have not yet been established, building projects are defined as sustainable only if it somehow leads to energy savings in a phase of the project's life same.
Sustainability must instead lie in the achievement of an optimal balance between the fulfillment, at different moments in time, of economic, environmental and social requirements, often in conflict with each other. All these different factors must be evaluated in a holistic and integrated way by the designer, as by all the different actors during the lifespan of the project.
Managing this large amount of information is not simple, but the BIM approach can constitute the right solution to optimize processes and achieve all the objectives on the environmental and energy front.
BIM is still often confused with a simple 3D model of the project or even with an architectural software. It consists instead in a real integrated design methodology involving all the professional figures engaged in the design, construction and maintenance of the project, contributing to the different aspects of the work.
BIM appears as a digital representation of the physical and functional characteristics of a building. It allows to share knowledge and the complete information about the property, supplying therefore a reliable basis for any decision necessary throughout the life cycle of the structure. BIM can deliver different views and aspects of the same information, such as 2D drawings, lists, texts, 3D images, animations, as well as elements of time (4D) and cost (5D).
This information is available during the entire project life cycle: mechanical and electrical layouts, design details, materials and so on in a 3D virtual space. In particular, by also including the concept of Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) analysis, the project team is able to fully assess the environmental impact.
Using the LCA analysis, all actors involved in the construction can evaluate the trend of the environmental impact from the first steps of the work such as the production of materials passing through the installation and implementation up to their disposal. The BIM also in relation to the LCA makes it possible to optimize the performance of the building as every aspect (plant engineering, lighting, energy, etc.) is evaluated in a more conscious way, allowing the work team to turn towards sustainable and lower-impact choices on the environment.
The potential of the BIM methodology in information management can therefore provide valid support for implementing LCA directly in the BIM environment with the aim of simplifying the evaluation procedures and the understanding and use of the results. Furthermore, BIM represents for many construction companies and design companies a valid decision making tool in terms of costs, times and design solutions and by extending this opportunity also to LCA assessments, it can be used profitably as a tool for assessing environmental sustainability of civil works.
To conclude, the use of BIM in the construction industry will not save the planet. However, the impact of the construction industry is a particularly heavy one on the environment, with much room for improvement and a variety of solutions to consider, from new technologies to collaborative approaches. It is the moral duty of each of us to take the necessary steps to move forward a more sustainable future.