GAMMA AR takes part in Digital Construction Week
Share this post
About Digital Construction Week
Digital Construction Week is the UK’s event dedicated to digital construction, engineering, design, manufacturing, and operation. The focus of Digital Construction Week is to help the construction industry to use technology to build better and smarter. It is more than 6000 visitors over 2 days that are interested in building better buildings with technology.
This year, DCW puts the spotlight on one of the most important issues: sustainability. For this matter, a new stage has been open, The Net Zero Stage with speakers from Amazon, WSP, Class of Your Own, and more to discuss the importance of connecting, collaborating, and innovating to deliver a net-zero future. It will be also the occasion to meet an innovative construction management software that revolutionizes the AEC industry, GAMMA AR.
The Digitalization of the EU Construction sector
The European Construction Sector Observatory has led a report in April 2021 that aims to describe the state of play of digitalization in the EU construction sector and identify some of its main drivers and challenges. In total, 115 construction stakeholders from 24 countries have participated in the survey; it includes 54% from the private sector, 20% from the public sector, 9% from construction associations, and 7% from academic institutes. We will analyze this study to understand how advanced the digitalization of the EU construction sector is.
Construction is a key of the EU economy, accounting for 18 million jobs and contributing to almost 9% of the GDP. More than that, it has also a major social, environmental, and climate impact. Other studies have already shown that digitalizing the industry increases the overall productivity by 50-60 percent. It is now more than ever a requirement to implement new technologies and to set a digital strategy for construction projects.
Adotion of BIM
Apart from Building Information Modelling (BIM), few digital technologies are adopted. However, the digitalization of the construction sector goes beyond just this adoption and includes data acquisition, automating processes, and other digital information and analysis-related technologies, which are the technologies we are going to review later.
In Europe, 29% of construction companies use BIM 3D while 61% have never used it. BIM 3D includes information sharing and the creation of graphical and non-graphical information. BIM is the most developed and used digital technology in the construction sector. The European BIM market was valued at 1.8 billion in 2016 and is predicted to grow by 13% to reach 2.1 billion in 2023. As the study reports, BIM contributes to important efficiency gains, lower costs, lower possibility of mistakes, faster delivery with less miscommunication, inaccuracies, and delays, growing business opportunities, and lower emissions and waste. It also allows reducing overall costs by around 7%. In general, 75% of companies adopting BIM reports positive returns on investment with shorter project lifecycles and savings on paperwork and material costs.
In conclusion, we can say that BIM is essential for future construction projects to build better and smarter buildings. There are however other technologies that can be combined with BIM, that the study reviews.
Digital Technologies
The study separates these digital technologies into three categories:
- Data acquisition which includes sensors, internet of things, 3D scanning
- Automating processes which include robotics, 3D printing, drones
- Digital information and analysis which include BIM – we have reviewed it, VR and AR, Artificial intelligence, and digital twins
The study showed that among data acquisition technologies, sensors are the technology with the highest level of market maturity, followed by 3D scanning who is being increasingly used, while IoT is not yet widely adopted although it is developing rapidly.
Among the automating processes technologies, drones are being increasingly used, notably through the development and improvement of the sensors that are equipped with, while robots and 3D printings are still at the development phase and utilized only for very specific and limited tasks.
Finally, for the digital information and analysis technologies, BIM is the most utilized technology, however, it is often limited to the design phase of large projects. VR and AR, and digital twins are the technologies that can be used during the construction phase and that will disrupt the construction industry. The European VR/AR market is estimated to grow significantly with an annual growth rate of more than 36% in the 2019-2025 period. Only 12% of the construction companies declare using virtual or augmented reality in their projects. However, its use is going to grow since it provides many benefits, as we are going to review it with the construction management software GAMMA, as an example.
How GAMMA AR helps the construction industry
GAMMA AR is a construction management software that aims to improve the productivity and efficiency of construction projects. By using augmented reality, it places the BIM models on the construction site. GAMMA AR helps the transition between the design and the construction phase be easier, without any unambiguous communication, and manage an efficient maintenance phase. Here is a review of its benefits:
Prevent errors and rework
GAMMA AR allows to bring the BIM models on the construction site, and thus, go paperless. Using augmented reality enables one to view the whole planning through a phone or a tablet and overlay it over the jobsite to see if everything is executed as it should. It means that it is possible to check on the construction site that every element (doors, windows, pipes) is constructed as it is supposed to be on the BIM models.
Collaborate and communicate easily between the office and the jobsite
Communicating between the various stakeholders of a construction project may be a headache, while the construction manager is on-site, and the project manager is in the office for example. With GAMMA AR, it is not a struggle anymore, as it allows to create issues directly on the building component of the BIM models and to assign tasks to any person of the project. All this information is then on the GAMMA BIM PORTAL and can be exported as BIM Collaboration Format (BCF) to continue working in transparent and clear communication.
Issue Management and Progress Tracking
Tracking the progress of your construction site and maintaining clear issue management is easy with GAMMA AR. Working with traditional methods is a waste of time, as it is complicated to coordinate with the right people, and it is a constant balance between the office and the site. Having GAMMA AR on a tablet or phone allows collecting all information on the BIM building component, thus, tracking efficiently the progress of the construction.
Easy and Precise Building Handover
For a classic building handover, the client and the contractor go to visit the construction site and check manually that every object is positioned at the right place. To keep track of this checking, a lot of paperwork is used. GAMMA AR is a paperless construction management software that allows conducting an efficient and quick handover by checking elements or creating issues. This enables to determine whether or not that element of construction is valid while having all the data stored at the same place and safely kept.
Request information about GAMMA AR
Meet GAMMA AR at DB31 stand
It is important for us to bring awareness to the use of augmented reality on the jobsite. In this event, we intend not only to inform but to give the public an opportunity to use the app and experience how easy it is to navigate through a 3D BIM model. Therefore, we will be hosting a Digital Scavenger Hunt, in which participants will be able to download the app and overlay the reality with a virtual model of the GAMMA AR stand.
Participants will be able to navigate through our virtual model, explore it, and identify hints to find prizes and surprises. We look forward to seeing you there!
In the meantime, train yourself to find issues!
About GAMMA AR
GAMMA AR is a Construction App that brings BIM models to the construction site using Augmented Reality. Check out the features of the software and start your 30-day free trial now.
If you have any questions or need support, send us an email at info@gamma-ar.com
Start your 30-day free trial now
