Digital Innovation Keynote: Leeds Beckett University Josie Rothera, Course Director, Civil Engineering

The pace of change has never been this fast, yet it will never be this slow againJustin Trudeau at Davos in 2018

Content• Current research at Leeds Beckett University • Digital innovations

• Prefabrication and modular construction• Advanced building materials • 3D printing and additive manufacturing• Autonomous construction• Augmented reality and visualization• Big data and predictive analytics• Wireless monitoring and connected equipment• Cloud and real-time collaboration• 3D scanning and photogrammetry• Building Information Modelling

• Challenges• Take away

Current research at Leeds Beckett University• CITB Funded Research:

• Skills for digital transformation • Pathways in construction (under-represented groups, military background)

• Student dissertations• Leeds Sustainability Institute (e.g. building fabrics) – SEEDS, RISE• Student dissertations

• Adoption for digital technologies in industry

• Welcome Robotics & Automation and Electrical Engineering and Electronics

• 2018• A survey of UK construction executives revealed very low investment to date in offsite manufacturing,

and few expectations that offsite would have much impact within five to 10 years• WPI Economics: only 7% construction market is off site – if this could increase to 25% it could mean a

3.6% increase to the sector by 2020 including growth outside London of £15bn

Pre-fabrication &Modular construction

1

• In a typical urban area there is over 1 million tonnes of construction materials / square mile (ibuild, 2015)

• 33% masonry (residential, building, heritage)• 28% aggregates (road & rail)• 20 – 25% concrete (infrastructure)

• Material production, transport and construction = carbon footprint• Sustainable and smart

Advanced building materials

2

•3D Printing

•Additive Manufacturing•The worldwide market for all Additive Manufacturing products and services in 2015 was worth £3.59 billion and is growing at a compound annual growth rate of 31.5% in the last three years – energy generation equipment & rail

3D printing &additive manufacturing

3

•Vehicles with additional:•Cameras•3D LIDAR•GPS•Collaborative BIM software

Challenge: cyber security

Autonomous construction

4

• Stakeholder visualisation using 2D or 3D models• 4D field driven project planning• Safety viewer• Project Technical Requests viewer: Non-conformance or Requests for

Information (RFIs) can be augmented over the real-world site environment using 3D pop-up icons

• Systems training / Operations & Maintenance

Augmented reality & virtualization

5

Big data & predictive analytics

6

Big data set to grow 85% to £15.5 trillion by 2030• Mining• Mapping (geospatial)• Mashing – mapping with combined data sets• Open data:

• Transparency• Innovation • Reduction in FOI• Risk perception paradox

• Freemium model – data set free, social/professional interest• Freemium + data set license – share findings back with data originator• Cross subsidy – business operations included, consultancy services based on data sets • Challenges: lack of knowledge, administrative costs, procedural change

Wireless monitoring & connected equipment

7

• Applications during all phases of a project lifecycle• Technology now becoming cheaper and available to a wider population• Challenge: data management and understanding data sets. Skills. Maintenance• Use in emergency situations: Whalley Bridge, Toddbrook Reservoir fast action

response• Rail industry leader in wireless monitoring and connected equipment • Issues around safety in the long term

• Models• Communications• Drawings• Google sheets, OneDrive

Cloud & real time collaboration

8

Applications:• Pre-construction as-builts• Building Information Modelling• Virtual Design Construction (VDC)• Quality Control during construction• Comparing design intent to as-built conditions

In 2016 only 20% of survey respondents said they were changing their business models to accommodate growth

Usefulness vs. ease of use considerations to be given to each situation

3D scanning &photogrammetry

9

Building Information

Modelling10

Challenges• Trust

• Data sets• Interpretation

• Value• Agility• Openness• Skills

Thank you

Digital Innovation The pace of change has never been this fast, yet it will never be this slow againSlide Number 3Slide Number 4Slide Number 5Slide Number 6Slide Number 7Slide Number 8Slide Number 9Slide Number 10Slide Number 11Slide Number 12Slide Number 13Slide Number 14Slide Number 15Slide Number 16Thank you