A weekly round up of news relevant to digital construction professionals
Drones are being used to inspect the UAE’s Barakah nuclear power plant, improving workplace safety and reducing the time it takes to conduct inspections. Drones are able to access difficult to reach areas and mean that there is less requirement for onsite inspections that require people to wear anti-contamination suits.
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Future construction sites will operate using more autonomous vehicles. Startups are working to bring this to reality by retrofitting standard vehicles used on construction sites so that they can work autonomously.
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A challenge for construction is to understand how it can in future use blockchain technology. Its potential use includes for more automated payment mechanisms as jobs within a construction site are completed and signed off – matching a purchase order with an action.
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3D printing is changing the way residential and commercial buildings are being built, says a report in CNBC. Its use will reduce the number of people onsite as well as the amount of waste and carbon emissions generated by the industry.
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The global BIM market is forecast to grow by $4.5bn by 2025, becoming an $8.8bn sector. Drivers for growth include rapid urbanisation, the sector increasingly realising the benefits of using BIM and mandates by government that it must be used in projects. But the report says that low levels of digitalisation are a threat to the adoption of BIM.
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A report looking into companies based in Vancouver, Canada says that there are at least 66 companies developing construction technology in the city, with focus including robotics, IoT, modular and digital twins.
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