Disruption is almost inevitable
Jaimie Johnston, Board Director and Head of Global Systems at Bryden Wood is talking at BIM Show Live 2019 on Day 1, at 11.15am on the Sir Bobby Robson Stage.
Here, Jaimie gives us an insight into what we can expect from his Next Generation seminar, ‘Disruption is almost inevitable: the question is how we as an industry choose to respond’, and why it’s a must-see!
Construction is on the cusp of radical change; the technologies that have disrupted other industries will soon do the same to our own. The shift to digital design will become more profound thanks to sophisticated, data-driven tools that go beyond BIM. Algorithmic simulation, machine learning and generative design will vastly accelerate the process. Better still, they will generate far more possible solutions, which means better solutions – and these are what really count, not just delivery and documentation.
By embracing the latest digital techniques, design for construction will harness the strengths of a new generation of digital natives, make use of digital libraries, and provide a repository for IoT sensor data. The benefits of this new kind of design will be maximised with a new way of building that’s a lot like manufacturing.
Other industries use the term “platform” to describe this approach. In automotive, for example, every car in a model range sits on a common chassis. Essentially, sets of components interact in well-defined ways to allow a range of products and services to be produced. In construction, these component sets can be used across sectors creating high, constant demand and economies of scale.
It’s this approach that we have been working on for the last two years at Bryden Wood, and in my talk I will answer (and invite comment on) some fundamental questions:
- What are the potential cost savings and productivity benefits of using a platform approach?
- How could SMEs in the supply chain meet high, ongoing demand for platform set components?
- How can DfMA dramatically reduce training time and help solve the skills shortage the industry faces?
- How has a route to “automated construction” been laid out by government? And why is 2019 the deciding year for our industry?
