How AI can transform the built environment from the ground floor up

In this blog, Rahul Shah, Global Director - Built Environment, examines the specific opportunity AI offers to shape a sustainable, safe built environment.

How could this building optimize energy performance, or be made water efficient? What are the critical factors to ensure this project runs on time? In the built environment, such questions abound. Today, we are starting to see how AI can help address some of these questions, paving the way for a built environment that is sustainable, cost-effective, efficient, safe – and ultimately has a positive impact across society.

Making the most of data

68 percent of those working in the built environment expect their sector will use AI by 2030

According to BSI’s Trust in AI Poll[1], 45% of people working in the built environment[2] globally say their job uses AI. 68% expect the sector will by 2030. AI’s ability to rapidly synthesize information at scale, offers the potential to create more efficient buildings – both in terms of energy and how people use them. Take, for example, Buildots, which uses AI to measure on-site activities. As asset usage data influences building design and AI offers the potential to correct for human bias, now is an exciting moment.

AI can transform the built environment

AI tools could transform our built environment, allowing small teams to run large projects, transforming the way developers procure designs. There are a host of AI tools that can generate basic architectural designs which previously might have involved several professionals, freeing human expertise for more creative and complex projects. In fact, nearly two-thirds of people in the sector said AI can be used most effectively to take on tasks humans don't have time for.

Or consider the potential of AI for complex projects with thousands on-site and hundreds of subcontractors. AI systems could build more accurate projections, whether for small-scale builds or nationwide infrastructure projects.

Boosting safety, quality and productivity

73 percent of construction organizations surveyed by KPMG are already using drones in some or all projects

According to the CIOB, the fatal injury rate in the construction sector is around four times above average. From real-time safety monitoring using sensors and cameras to predictive trend analytics, AI is already helping to make construction sites safer. Take Building Information Modelling (BIM), where a digital representation of a construction site can simulate a real situation, highlighting risks before they become a reality. Similarly, nearly half of firms are already utilizing digital twins. In future, AI could make such technology more accurate.

Weak productivity is a sustained concern in the sector. In 2017 McKinsey identified that real-time data analysis is critical to boost productivity – again something AI is perfectly poised to support.

Equally, given the costs of fixing, repairing or redoing poor quality construction, contractors have begun to look to technology. For example, drones can spot quality issues before a project is complete. With 73% of firms already using drones, building this capacity through AI could offer enormous gains.

AI is the route to carbon neutrality

52 percent of people globally think AI can help us create a built environment that is more energy-efficient

The built environment accounts for over 34% of energy demand. With a growing, increasingly urbanized global population, demand for new buildings will continue. Finding ways to make construction more sustainable is critical – and more than half of people surveyed by BSI globally think AI can help us create a built environment that is more energy-efficient.

Long-term, AI could facilitate greater circularity within construction – whether by using data to assess how best to repurpose materials or building from scratch water-efficient designs to avoid costly retrofitting. There are plenty of start-ups in this space, like Satellite Vu, which uses high-resolution thermal imagery to evaluate the efficiency of buildings. For smaller firms, tools like automating carbon data collection could allow them to increase project capacity while still ensuring a positive impact.

Of course, for construction firms, developers and contractors, educating the workforce about how they can use AI to enhance their work will also be critical.

Advances in technology have the potential to make construction safer, more sustainable and designed with people and the planet in mind. The opportunity for innovation within the built environment, enabled by AI, is there to be seized.

 

This content is from BSI’s Shaping Society 5.0 campaign. Download Rahul’s full essay or access others in the collection here.    

 

Rahul Shah, Global Director for the Built Environment, BSI

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Rahul has worked in the built environment for over two decades. He is responsible for driving digital transformation, innovation, and leading on smart and sustainable infrastructure programmes globally. He is passionate about using digital innovations in the sector to better society.

 

 

[1] BSI partnered with Censuswide to survey 10,144 adults across nine markets (Australia, China, France, Germany, India, Japan, Netherlands, UK, and US) between 23rd and 29th August 2023

[2] This covers people who state that they work in architecture, construction, or real estate