The architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) industry like any other sector is prone to change and with each passing year new opportunities and technologies erupt to replace the out-dated technologies to make human life more convenient and efficient.

The U.S. construction market, the second largest construction market in the world, is steadily embracing the technological advancements like 3D Printing, modular and prefabrication construction, and is poised to see a growth of 330 basis points in 2020. To meet or match the growth in the construction industry, the companies will have to adopt latest technologies and software to increase efficiency and make the process faster and error-free.

Here are the 2020 construction industry trends that companies need to look into to enhance its work progress and building design:

1. Modular & Prefabrication Construction:

Modular and Prefabricated construction methods are a faster, hassle-free and convenient way to build a residential or commercial property. This method of construction is making an explosive entry in the industry with a promise of faster on-site assembly and higher quality. This is possible because of the technological advances in high-tech design and construction tools which will allow an increased number of components to be manufactured off-site with fewer materials wasted.
The industry will also see more developers building their own factories to accommodate and meet the increased demand of housing with modular and prefabrication construction ways.

2. 3D Printing:

3D Printing is picking pace in the construction industry because of its ability to either prefabricate off site or directly on-site over traditional building methods. 3D method reduces waste and offers labour and material cost benefits. It is the most enthralling trend to watch in 2020.

3. Building Information Modeling:

The year 2019 saw a lot of relevant technological updates for the architectural, engineering and construction industry. BIM, or Building Information Modeling, is a 3D model-based process that is evolving with every latest update to help make the lives of architects, engineers and construction teams convenient and construction process more efficient, faster, error-free and more accurate.

4. Robotics:

According to World Economic Forum’s prediction, 2020 can be the year of Robotics, making bigger impacts in the construction industry. Robots are increasingly becoming a part of the workforce at construction sites because of the suggested benefits it offers. Use of robotics during construction or demolition has made the process safer and cheaper. Robotics are also being seen as a way to manage and maintain buildings post construction and occupancy for building maintenance like window cleaning or other activities.

5. Sustainability:

The construction process involves building and demolition of structures that involves wastage of material. The reason for wastage may be due to intentional or unintentional reasons but they have severe environmental impact. The building regulation authority will be taking stricter actions against construction companies who will not adhere to making building design more sustainable and environment friendly.

Construction sites are also working towards building structures that are energy efficient and has a drive for low to zero carbon emissions. Construction companies are working towards building new and better thermal performance materials that may make the buildings of the future incredibly well insulated for a fraction of the cost of current solutions. Reducing waste or recycling old materials is another area where sustainability is helping drive innovation in the construction industry.

6. Exoskeletons:

“ABI Research predicts the robotic exoskeleton market alone will reach $1.8 billion in 2025, up from $68 million in 2014. This year, about 6,000 suits will be sold, mainly for rehabilitation. By 2025, ABI expects to see about 2.6 million on the market.” – Constructible.
Exoskeleton as the name suggests is an outer skeleton build to protect an animal’s body from any shock or damage and add more power to it. Exoskeleton has made its benefits very obvious in the construction industry- construction workforce can carry higher load than usual, lower and more efficient man-hours involved and the safety at site will be enhanced.

7. Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality, Mixed Reality

The construction industry is all set to make the most benefit of the AR (Augmented Reality), VR (Virtual Reality) and MR (Mixed Reality) in 2020. The technology has enabled the architects and construction teams to detect design errors and improve designs. However the complication a building becomes, the AR/VR/MR technology is able to greatly improve building design through interactive design and gesture interfacing.
With continuous growth and advancement, the range of AR/VR/MR services can expand to design phase or even HVAC system design. The use of AR/VR/MR technology is not limited to:

• Allows the client to explore designs before construction
• 3D Modeling of Buildings and Structures
• Improve and Innovate BIM Visualization
• AR/VR/MR allows to ‘See through Walls’ for Maintenance workers and service engineers

TechnoStruct LLP is a leading name in the architecture, engineering and construction industry. It specializes in providing mechanical and engineering solutions, designing, solar engineering solutions, and construction solutions to commercial projects across industries, with a diversified range of services including but not limited to BIM, MEP engineering and designs, Mechanical Subcontractor, Solar, Electrical Subcontractor, and many more.

BIM 360 Design Collaboration Module was launched to make exchange of information amongst the stakeholders an easy task. Collaboration over any media either online or offline allows the member to communicate about the project and share relevant information to take the project further. In the architecture, construction and engineering (AEC) industry, collaboration plays an even significant role as BIM 360 provides the project managers and team members, the platform to exchange work-in-progress design data, mark-up flows and more.

With this latest update of BIM 360 Design Collaboration, project managers will be able to seamlessly integrate all type of Revit models into workflows, take a quick overview of the project status, automate certain admin tasks, improve the efficiency of the project effectively and more. Here’s a quick overview of the latest update:

1. Support for all Revit files:

Previously, the designers were unable to view, navigate or share on-cloud models in the UI as the Design Collaboration module supported work done only overcloud. But with this latest update the design team will not be limited to cloud work-shared files anymore while using the project model visualizer in the Project Timeline; they software will support Revit files, including files that have been uploaded using desktop connector or dropped directly into BIM 360 document management. So, basically the designers will be able to aggregate models, compare changes, and will be able to get package support no matter which Revit file they are using. The designers will be able to speed up the work and streamline the work seamlessly.

2. Simplified Admin Workflow:

The faster the process the more efficient a project becomes. The latest Design update has simplified the team creation process for project managers (admins) by automated suggestions. Basically, the design collaboration will now detect if and when the cloud work-shared Revit models exist in a folder in the Document Management, and then suggest a quick and an automated way to create a new team for the folder. The admins can select which teams are required to be created and then adjust them with names and colours. This process will work in background and only push recommendations to Admins via the Project Admin Module.

3. Email (Push) Notification:

The team members can now stay updated if any new package has been delivered to them without logging into BIM 360 with this latest update. A proactive email (push) notification is sent to all the team members who have access to Design Collaboration when a package is shared to the Project timeline, along with the direct link to access the package. The sharer will also be notified once the package has been received by the recipient. This update will eliminate any sensitive wait-time and move the project to next stage in no-time, and also remove any anxiety of checking in into the mailbox over and over again if there is any new information is shared.

4. Quick Project Overview:

The quick project overview table makes it easy for the stakeholders to understand the project status, to further help the stakeholders troubleshoot if any potential model issues and not hamper the project running. The overview log allows the stakeholders to any information like status update, details of each model that are published in Design Collaboration, and more. This high-level overview will allow admin stakeholders in engineering, construction or architecture companies to quickly review the publish status against deadlines so they can plan the next steps.

5. Hyper Navigation:

The latest update in BIM 360 has added another level of context to the previous mini-map in the plan view for the 3D model. This will allow the stakeholders who have access to Design Collaboration to easily navigate through the project model, see an expanded and side-by-side view of the project and also the ability to show sheets whenever available.

Conclusion:

The latest update in BIM 360 Design Collaboration will enable the stakeholders to work efficiently and effectively implement any work process without any delay and save the project running time. The software will now keep updated the stakeholders through email notifications if there are any changes or any addition in the project. BIM 360 previously only facilitated multi-company collaboration, and now will not be limited to it but will also include internal team collaboration. It also allows those models to be shown or hidden while aggregating data in the Team Space.
Overall, this is a very significant update for all the stakeholders, especially for teams who want to better track how they work together to improve efficiency, and for managers who want a better overview of how teams work across a larger project.

TechnoStruct LLP is a leading name in the construction industry. It specializes in providing mechanical and engineering solutions, designing, engineering, solar engineering solutions, and construction solutions to commercial projects across industries, with a diversified range of services including but not limited to BIM, MEP engineering and designs, Mechanical Subcontractor, Solar, Electrical Subcontractor, and many more.

Today, technology has enabled the architects, contractors, subcontractors, vendors, and owners to connect and collaborate more effectively. According to research done recently by T. Wang in the USA, approximately 42% of the stakeholders involved in the construction process are using BIM enabled programs and software to understand the information.

But the need of the hour is to go beyond understanding information, it is about leveraging the information by all the stakeholders who may or may not know how to use the software/programs or understand the information, thus the need of an integrated pre construction approach. It will allow the vast amount of data generated from Revit to be used more accurately.

An integrated pre construction approach will allow the stakeholders to better communicate to speed up the construction process and will allow faster decision making, updating and regulating the information and arriving at a more optimal cost, schedule, and construction sequence.

To enhance preconstruction and leverage all the information for maximum understanding, Assemble can help boost Revit in 3 ways. Here they are:

1.  Assemble (data):

In the construction industry, the numbers of professionals/construction firms who depend on BIM or any other construction software are yet below 60%. We can say that a substantial number of people do not have the skillset to drive and navigate through the information using BIM Revit software.

Assembling information into the Revit BIM model has helped to understand data throughout the entire construction lifecycle and has saved time and minimised project risk. It has helped break the barriers of entering into the BIM in construction by simplifying quantity take-off and improving 3D model visualization and access information through the cloud, where all the project stakeholders could view 3D BIM models take relevant quantities of information, and leverage conditioned models for project sequencing and tracking.

2. Build Roadmap for Construction:

Programs like BIM Revit help in planning and designing to enhance visualization wherever there are any constructability issues. Revit 3D BIM Modeling is not just about enhancing estimation efficiency and creating 3D BIM models. It’s also about building a roadmap for construction that maximizes cost and schedule savings, maintaining transparency with the owner and the project team. With tools like Assemble, the construction industry can build a roadmap for construction, and it can take the Revit models to the next level by enabling users to condition, query and connect BIM data to construction workflows.

3. Enhance Value Engineering:

The AEC (Architectural, Engineering, and Construction) projects have adopted Value Engineering as a common practice. Value Engineering is a cloud-based model data management that allows the project stakeholders with instant access to model information. It ensures that all the building elements, quantities, and costs from anywhere in the world can be seen, learnt, understood and visualized. Cloud collaboration through BIM facilitates team collaboration and transparency. The process of Cloud collaboration has provided a system where all the AEC project stakeholders can share their computer files to a central “cloud” for storage and that can be accessed by others. Using 3D models from Revit, you can get accurate and updated project data that supports an optimized cost efficiency and Value Engineering for construction.

Conclusion:

To make the information available and accessible to all the stakeholders in a construction process and that can easily be extracted, learnt and understood, one can connect its BIM Revit program with Assemble. This has allowed the construction companies to expand their resources and maximise connection. It uses cloud collaboration to assemble information, helps enhance value engineering, and helps build a roadmap for construction. With this advancement, all the project stakeholders will be able to quickly make changes and control impact on cost, time, and constructability.

TechnoStruct is a leading name in the construction industry. It specializes in providing design, engineering, and construction solutions to commercial projects across industries, with a diversified range of services including but not limited to BIM, MEP engineering and designs, Mechanical Subcontractor, Solar, Electrical Subcontractor, and many more.