India is going digital, so must construction: Bentley

Up to 60 per cent of time is saved by using digital workflow applications, reducing project costs.

Aidan Mercer, Industry Marketing Director, AEC, Bentley

India has the potential, like so many other countries to develop strategies for “Going Digital” to deliver more. India, going digital could hold the key, in part, to the “Digital India” initiative as set out by Prime Minister Narendra Modi as a way of empowering people and firms to become more digital.

This digital adoption will boost connectivity as well as encourage more technological adoption. In 2016, McKinsey reported that the construction industry significantly lags in their “Imagining Constructions Digital Future” report for productivity, despite accounting for 13 per cent of GDP. This “lag” in productivity is estimated to be $ 1.6 trillion of additional value that could be created through higher productivity, which would meet half the world’s infrastructure need.

Digital workflows can be extended to the field so that construction engineers can have real-time information packaged for work and construction deliverables, said Aidan Mercer, Industry Marketing Director, AEC, Bentley. He adds, “By developing work packages, construction work packages, and installation work packages, users have benefitted from these digital workflows. Up to 60 per cent of time is saved by using digital workflow applications, reducing project costs. Most importantly, digital workflows provide visibility into the path of construction, as well as reduce variance and enable action before the project veers off-course.”

Role of technology in making sustainable structures

Sustainability can be realised by delivering innovative solutions and new ways of working, BIM is an example of such an approach. The benefits of a BIM process are well documented in projects that adhere to the methodology for value perpetual. These benefits can be experienced on projects ranging from small- to large-scale initiatives that also range in complexity. From a technology perspective, a BIM strategy enables the integration of data-rich models, often in 3D/4D/5D, and project information databases to build a virtual representation of a project and all assets. This allows stakeholders access to reliable information, making collaboration easier, reducing risks, aiding decision making, improving ROI and delivering sustainable structures. If we focus on the technology aspect of BIM, and the global trends such as big data, IoT, and cloud services, then we might suggest the potential of BIM is evolving. “Despite the complexities of technology and integration with people and process, if all aspects can indeed be harnessed, I believe we are going to reach a new level of BIM – one that takes advantage of multiple data sources with the potential to not only improve project delivery, but also find excellence in asset performance to deliver more sustainable assets and buildings,” Mercer says.

Bentley’s technology for the future

A new and exciting technology called reality modelling-the process of capturing existing facilities and site conditions with the use of digital photographs and point-cloud data-enables the rapid creation of 3D, engineering-ready mesh representations of the existing, as-operated conditions. The process is simple: overlapping photographs taken with a camera either handheld or mounted on a UAV are uploaded to a cloud processing service that automatically reconstructs the 3D model for use in engineering applications. This technology is revolutionising the way users capture and consume existing site conditions with great ease and scalability, offering continuous monitoring of construction sites that further address McKinsey’s prescribed steps for a digital future.

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