An insight into the paradigm shift of the construction industry

I have recently read a book entitled "Construction 4.0 réinventer le bâtiment grâce au numérique : BIM, DfMA, Lean Management, ...". This book has ignited my interest in the digital transformation that the construction industry witnesses and how we can be able to embrace these changes. So I have gathered for you some of the best practices that can make us prepare the necessary paradigm shift and join this transition.

Nowadays, the city is evolving rapidly because the value of real estate is no longer based on its location but rather on its multiple uses and the quality of its services. The current Europe looks for a collaborative economy that constitutes a successful model and it's the only way to boost the economic growth. Then the Real Estate should evolve as well. The owners should change their paradigm by focusing on offering a quality product which combines several indicators of quality services :

• Transformation capacity of the building (multiple uses and vocations),
• Remote management of the leasing
• Remote control of the energy consumption and optimization
• Space zoning optimization, etc.

Therefore, it is high time to change our models in order to put the user at the center of the vision by creating buildings responding as much as possible to the users and enterprises needs. For this, we should create connected and smart cities that are future-oriented. The current technologies offer this possibility. For instance, the data sensors such as Bluetooth Low Energy Sensors, the Modular Prefabricated Construction, the Building Information Modeling, are all a non-exhaustive list of tools that we can integrate into our projects so as to optimize the energy consumption and minimize costs. Without forgetting that thanks to these tools, we can take into consideration the impact on the environment and the climate change. Notwithstanding, there are other technologies that have emerged from the "industry 4.0" and have invaded the construction industry that represents a starting point for the "construction 4.0".

1.1 Benchmarking with the industry 4.0 :

The industry had witnessed several revolutions. The first one was related to coal mining and use of steam machines in 1769. In the 19th century, the industry changed thanks to electricity, mechanization and development of transport. The advent of electronics, telecommunication tools and information technology had given birth to the 3rd revolution. Thus the value chain had improved and the industry had become more dependent on the ICT (Information & Communication Technologies). These changes had created the 4th revolution where the factory was more based on digital technologies to make manufacturing more agile, flexible and responsive to customers. The factory had become more intelligent and the business responded more rapidly to market changes by offering customized products. Furthermore, the whole value chain was improved and operational efficiency had increased in a cycle of continuous improvement.

The current state of the construction is far away from the actual state of the industry. So the goal is to be inspired by the industrial model in order to improve the construction industry and achieve the construction 4.0. For this, we should take advantage of the digital technologies and prepare the proper circumstances in terms of mindset and willingness.

1.2 What is construction 4.0 and building 4.0 ?

Construction 4.0 is a concept inspired from the industry 4.0 and it englobes the use of Information & Communication Technology so as to take real-time decisions. Moreover, there are some people who say that construction 4.0 goes beyond the use of technology, it is giving answers to the current challenges of the sector. Actually, the real aim of the construction 4.0 is to minimize the human intervention between the virtual world or cyberspace and the physical world based on the power of new technologies such as cloud, IA, IoT, etc.

With the advent of this approach, other concepts have appeared like Smart Buildings or Building 4.0. So what is it ? If I want to put it simple, a building 4.0 is a building that respects some criteria :

- Flexibility and Reversibility : it is a concept that defines a building as a system able to change its purpose (residential, office, retail, special purpose, etc.) thanks to a design that facilitates adaptation after construction and minimizes the cost of modifications. It is time for our buildings to be future-proof by integrating the modularity approach. That means that their spaces should be modular, reconfigurable and flexible enough to adapt to whatever the future holds. Re-usability and upgrade-ability are the key characteristics of such spaces.

- Resilience : You should design your buildings in function of the climatic, ecological and physical hazards and take this into account from the first construction stages. For instance, you can use ecological materials, you can supply the buildings with sensors of energy consumption and with energy production systems. You can also take into consideration the pollution and air conditioning.

- Building as a service (BaaS) : it is a building that is capable of communicating with its environment. For this reason, Certivea has introduced a label entitled "Ready2Services", that is a building connected to the inside by responding to its users and to the outside by being integrated into the district or the city. It provides a platform as a service (PaaS) able to ensure comfort, energy consumption optimization, environmental performances and safety.

The building 4.0 is just a part of how will be the building of the future that will leverage the power of new technologies in order to combine scalability, flexibility, reversibility, resilience, services and frugality.

1.3 Power of new technologies and their deployment into the building of the future :

Based on the evolution pace of I&C Technologies, the building of the future becomes a reality. They act as an accelerator for groundbreaking buildings that improve end-users experiences inside the building. I&C Technologies offer new perspectives to apprehend building projects by integrating new requirements into the design stage.

This digital revolution is due to several tools :

• Big Data : It is the first tool that revolutionized our digital world. Thanks to it, we are able to centralize data and to understand phenomena. The growth of data quantity has made the market more fierce with the appearance of big data players like IBM, Google, Oracle, Salesforce,etc. Nowadays, it is a question of transactions speed (ex : exchange market) and this is not possible without the technology of Cloud.
• IoT : It is system of interrelated computing devices, mechanical and digital machines able to transfer data over a network without requiring human-to-human or human-to-computer interaction. Currently, a huge number of sensors are integrated to traffic networks, electricity networks, production lines, offices, vehicles, etc so as to mentor their state permanently and detect any failure in their performances. Those data are transmitted to the internet of communication and represent an input for Big Data Analysis.
• Cloud : This technology plays a pivotal role in data collection (Big Data) and mainly in analytics. It enables companies to collect enormous data, to process it, to analyze it and get conclusions from it in terms of decision-making. It is a primordial tool for companies to collaborate, to communicate and to ensure security access to their data.
• AI : Artificial Intelligence is accompanying the fourth revolution of construction. The use of drones to do site inspection, the use of exoskeleton that protects workers from back injuries and the use of algorithms to have thousands of complex design variants are just few examples of AI power. It is time to capitalize on AI's potential so as to increase margins and improve build quality.
• BIM : a set of collaborative methods of work around a 3D model or a digital mock-up that contains enormous information enabling decision-making. What makes BIM powerful is the extent digital description of every built asset during its lifecycle.
• DfMA : Design for Manufacturing and Assembly is a method that consists on fabricating a product taking into consideration its parts to ensure the ease of their manufacturing and assembly. The purpose of this method is to minimise variability and maximise the re-use of parts for a mass-production. Among the DfMA examples, we can find standardized and modular construction. It involves producing standardized components of a structure in an offsite factory, then assembling them onsite.
• Generative Design or computational design : one of AI manifestation that is based on digital programming in order to process complex designs and advanced structures in a split second. This approach can be found mainly in BIM modeling applications.

The change of construction industry needs time and willingness to capitalise on all these technologies. It is indispensable that construction stakeholders change their way of thinking and propose OOTB (Out Of The Box) solutions based on this technologies that offer new opportunities for companies in terms of competitivity, quality, deadline respect and new services offered to customers.