This is important not just for our industry, but for our clients as increased productivity and efficiency will translate into lower costs, quicker delivery and added value. Other key drivers are meeting sustainability and net zero goals, creating social value, and improving accountability and building safety.
Achieving these outcomes requires fresh insights into the performance of built assets, from concept design, construction and handover, to operation, retirement and disposal. We can obtain these insights through the collection, measurement and interpretation of data. With better data, we can manage built assets more sustainably and cost-effectively. We can make better, faster and more informed decisions over the whole life cycle of an asset.
While other industries may be ahead of the property and construction sector on the digital transformation journey, globally we are seeing an acceleration in the roll-out of digital and smart technologies. These are being pioneered by large-scale projects which can build a strong business case for investing in new tech.
But once proven, advances can be replicated and adopted more widely. Digital innovation is not confined by borders or geography.
The rising expectations of clients, influenced by their everyday use of smartphones, are also driving demand for self-service solutions and apps that give users the information they want when and wherever they need it. People increasingly want data in real time, not static ‘point in time’ documents, to ensure relevance in a more agile world.
We are unlocking more benefits for our clients by investing in artificial intelligence (AI). Generically available AI tools are now being used widely within property and construction for development, for improving productivity, and for tasks such as minute-writing and compiling tender documentation.
The growing application of data, coupled with the power and capability of AI and machine learning, will lead to the biggest transformation in our industry since the invention of the internet. It is a question of when, not if, our sector will digitalise. Every aspect of construction and asset management will benefit.
At RLB, we are excited by this change and are embracing the opportunities it brings by fostering a culture of collaboration, openness and innovation, creating a better digital tomorrow for our industry, clients, stakeholders and communities.
Counting cranes on the city skyline is a simple way to understand the health of the construction industry – and it is now even easier with the online RLB Crane Index®.
When we launched the RLB Crane Index® in Australia a decade ago, it rapidly became a barometer for Australia’s largest industry and the country’s economic growth. By tracking the number of construction cranes sighted within each city on a biannual basis, we could analyse construction activity in 11 sectors and 12 cities across Australia.
The new digital edition for Australia and New Zealand enables users to drill down on digital maps of each city and see the physical location (with address and sector) of each crane. Maps offer a pictorial representation of the collected data for each city using a pin locator for the approximate location of cranes. Existing crane activity analytics – data, trends and commentary across cities and sectors – is also presented online.
