The construction industry has always been a frontier of innovation, pushing the limits of engineering and design to create structures once thought impossible. From soaring skyscrapers to expansive underwater tunnels, the ability to turn ambitious ideas into reality is a hallmark of human ingenuity. Today, technological advances are reshaping how and where construction can take place, opening doors to new possibilities and reimagining the very definition of a building.

Breaking Boundaries with Modern Technology

Recent advancements in construction methods, materials, and digital tools are enabling projects that were once considered infeasible. Techniques such as 3D printing, modular construction, and robotics are not only making construction faster and more cost-effective but also allowing engineers to explore more complex and extreme environments. These innovations are setting the stage for projects that challenge conventional norms.

For instance, there is ongoing research by companies like Deep into creating structures that can support human habitation underwater. While such concepts remain in the planning and development phase, they demonstrate how far technology can go in solving problems related to pressure resistance, oxygen supply, and long-term durability in challenging environments. These lessons are directly applicable to land-based construction, particularly in regions exposed to harsh climates or natural disasters.

Lessons from Extreme Environments

Building in extreme environments, whether underwater or in arid deserts, requires resilience, adaptability, and the ability to work with the surrounding ecosystem. Engineers designing for underwater habitats must consider factors such as structural integrity under pressure and sustainable energy systems, challenges that are mirrored in land-based projects like disaster-resistant housing or energy-efficient skyscrapers.

For example, the development of systems to maintain livable conditions in underwater projects could inspire innovative solutions for improving ventilation, energy efficiency, and resource management in buildings. These technologies can be adapted to create smarter, greener urban structures that prioritise occupant comfort while reducing environmental impact.

Advanced Materials and Data-Driven Design

One of the most significant drivers of innovation in construction is the use of advanced materials. In both extreme and conventional projects, materials such as self-healing concrete, lightweight composites, and corrosion-resistant alloys are helping to improve durability and reduce maintenance costs. These materials not only enhance the lifespan of structures but also make ambitious designs feasible by reducing constraints related to weight or environmental wear.

Additionally, data-driven design powered by artificial intelligence (AI) is revolutionising how projects are planned and executed. Tools that model and predict environmental interactions enable architects and engineers to anticipate challenges and optimise designs before construction begins. Whether applied to underwater habitats or high-performance urban buildings, these technologies ensure greater safety, efficiency, and sustainability.

Paving the Way for the Future

The push to “build the impossible” is driving a wave of innovation that benefits all facets of construction. From underwater research facilities to eco-friendly buildings in dense urban areas, these projects demonstrate the power of technology to transform ideas into reality. By applying the lessons learned from extreme environments and leveraging advanced tools and materials, the construction industry is creating structures that not only meet today’s needs but also anticipate future demands.

As the boundaries of what is possible continue to expand, the industry is proving that no challenge is insurmountable. With the right technology and vision, construction is not just about building structures—it’s about redefining what it means to create.

Written by Sandra Kirsch from Craeftig

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has become the go to for anyone looking to achieve advancement and simplification in business processes specifically in back-office operations such as project management, purchasing and accounting in any kind of business may they be small or medium to large businesses/enterprise. Medium to large Enterprises can easily consume such new technology as application suppliers are ploughing the field ahead. Whilst small to midsize businesses such as plumbers, heating engineers, electricians, carpenters, builders, handyman, landscapers and many more, struggle to make sense of such and how to consume/use this new technology as application partners are sitting on the fence. This is where external application and software partners need to step away from ”business as usual” but think outside the box to enhance their existing solutions to include automation through artificial intelligence, reducing manual processes that negatively impact business profitability and management even in small construction businesses.

AI can challenge and provide greater ability to manage projects/jobs, schedule staff, project/ job specific purchasing, cost management, customer financials and finally bookkeeping.

Let’s discuss in detail each of these areas in this 2-part article. You will see enablers to support any construction business from contractor, one man band businesses to medium size construction businesses.

The second part of the article will focus on the project/job scheduling, project/job specific purchasing and bookkeeping.

Scheduling for projects/jobs

We have seen many advancements in the past years in field service operations for large scale companies, these can also be applied to small construction businesses to optimise their job scheduling and project scheduling ability.

I’m sure you have encounter times where you have to many jobs/projects and not enough time to deliver all of these or having to work overtime and weekends to get your scheduled work done to ensure we are keeping your customers happy.

So how could a solution solve issue occurring out of scheduling the right staff member at the right time to the right job? Let’s reflect what may be required to figure out the complexity.

So how could a solution solve issue occurring out of scheduling the right staff member at the right time to the right job? Let’s reflect what may be required to figure out the complexity.

1. Who can manage the job?

To ensure you are sending a staff member who are knowledgeable you need to consider their qualifications, level of experience and problem-solving skills to name just a few. When training an apprentice, you will need support from more experienced members of your crew ensuring support as and when required.

2. Who is availability?

There is two dimensions of availability: members of your crew and parts. You don’t want to sacrifice another customer’s job at short notice but offer the service to the customer at the time that suits your customers, so they don’t seek another construction business out to perform the work. Beside the availability of your staff members, we also need to ensure we got the right parts available, please see below project/job specific purchasing for more information.

3. Where is the location?

The proximity of staff members in an emergency callout, how do you reduce travel hours and how can you provide a service at short notice?

Now these are all viable questions and a fair few more need to be addressed when looking at scheduling jobs and projects so you can provide to your new and old customers the best customer service at the timeframe that fits to your customer’s needs.

This is where artificial intelligence can provide a strong support framework. It supports your business activity by investigating and understanding the jobs / projects and take account of who is in your crew, which skills they have and in which proximity(location) they are based, as well as understanding the job requirements. AI can provide the decision support framework that allows you to schedule your customers jobs/projects to the needs of your customer. Let’s talk an emergency call out for a heating engineer. The diary is full of jobs and the workload is at 100% of the capacity but the business has also got an apprentice which has learned a lot over the past few years to the point they can be self-sufficient in many scenarios. So, taking all these aspects into account a scheduling solution can understand the requirements of competing jobs and analyse who of your team is available the quickest and has the skill to fix the heating systems. Therefore, providing a suggestion in your weekly schedule. This could also mean an existing job customer can be rescheduled fast and easy through embedded automation to ensure both jobs can be finished at expected times that suit the customers.

Benefits

So, to sum up the Benefits for you to look out for in a solution/app that includes abilities such as mentioned above:

• Providing a better customer service;
• reduction in jobs being passed on due to availability issues;
• automation of possible complex rescheduling scenarios;
• flexible upscaling of your construction crew to your projects and jobs.

Project/Job specific purchasing

Project/job specific purchasing where AI can greatly support any construction business of any size are the optimisation of pricing and inventory (i.e. stock in your van). Whilst investigating project/job specific purchasing there is the pricing dimension and the inventory dimension to consider.

Dynamic Pricing

In the past few years, we have seen material cost fluctuating significantly due to market conditions. AI systems can monitor changes in material prices in real-time and identify the most cost-effective times to purchase supplies. This capability allows small construction businesses to take advantage of lower prices and special offers, significantly reducing overall project costs.

Inventory Management

AI can dramatically improve inventory management by tracking material usage rates and automatically reordering supplies when levels fall below predefined thresholds. This not only ensures that projects do not face delays due to material shortages but also helps maintain a lean inventory, reducing storage costs and minimizing waste.

Benefits

The benefits of such a solution include:

• Never run out of parts again that you need for your jobs;
• replenish your stock when prices are good without overstocking;
• reduce costs for your customer and provide better quotes.

Bookkeeping

The last area to discuss in this series is bookkeeping, often a love / hate relationship of construction business due to its complexities. The necessary evil that most construction business outsource to a third party or make it somehow work by spending hours and hours in the office when it’s time to do VAT returns or invoicing customers.

But fear not the future is bright and AI provides a great framework of support that can automate up to 90% of your paperwork processing.

Here are some off the aspects on how AI is helping you to keep your books without needing a degree in bookkeeping and/or an accounting degree. The three area where AI can support and automate your world are:

1. Automated Data Entry

Traditional bookkeeping requires manual entry of transactions into accounting systems, a process that is time-consuming and prone to human error. AI technologies, such as optical character recognition (OCR) and machine learning (ML), can automate the extraction of data from receipts and invoices. This not only speeds up the process but also reduces the likelihood of mistakes, ensuring more accurate financial records.

2. Real-time Transaction Categorization

As painful as it can be you have business purchases that don’t fall into the chargeable space for our customers, such as buying new tools, coffee meeting with customers etc. AI systems can be trained to categorise transactions automatically as they occur. By analysing data patterns and previous categorisation decisions, AI can apply similar logic to new transactions. This capability allows for real-time financial insights, helping businesses understand their spending and earning patterns instantaneously.

The benefits of such a solution include:

• Reduction in man hours to complete your books to spending and income;
• real-time analysis of your cash flow and profit & loss;
• automation to simplify your monthly and annual reporting to tax authorities.

As the Internet of Things (IoT) transitions from an innovative concept to an integral part of daily life, its influence on society is significant, reshaping everything from personal routines to professional and leisure activities. IoT has been a transformative force in urban areas, bringing advancements like intelligent homes that improve living standards and wearable gadgets that monitor our well-being.

This technological revolution is steering cities towards being more intelligent, creating environments that are safer, healthier, and happier.

How IoT is Keeping Cities Safer

As the world’s population continues to rise, cities are becoming increasingly crowded and complex. This density brings new challenges for urban areas, such as security and safety concerns. However, IoT has proven to be a valuable tool in addressing these issues.

Intelligent Security Systems

IoT systems utilize a network of cameras and sensors, allowing for real-time monitoring of areas, identification of unusual activities, and even predicting possible incidents before they happen. However, as these technologies gather and analyze extensive data, implementing strong privacy measures is crucial.

Today’s IoT systems include data encryption, strict access rules, and clear policies for data storage and usage. This ensures that while enhancing security, the surveillance technologies safeguard individual privacy rights.

Infrastructure Monitoring

IoT sensors placed on various structures, such as buildings, bridges, roads, and more, can detect structural problems in real-time. This detection allows for quick action, averting potential accidents and aiding in better maintenance.

When these issues are identified, the relevant authorities can be immediately alerted, safeguarding public safety and infrastructure integrity.

How IoT is Keeping Cities Healthier

With the help of IoT, city officials can gain insights into a community’s health and safety to implement effective measures for disease prevention, waste management, air and water quality control, and other important factors that affect public health.

Monitoring the Quality of Air and Water

Using IoT sensors, we are able to acquire immediate data on environmental pollutants, offering crucial insights into the health of our environment. This detailed understanding allows us to make better-informed decisions to protect and improve our surroundings.

For instance, IoT devices can include sensors that detect harmful air pollutants, providing real-time updates on air quality. Similarly, IoT systems for water quality can detect impurities in our water sources, promptly notifying us if contamination levels rise above safe limits.

Smarter Healthcare Integration

In healthcare settings, IoT is transforming patient care and the management of diseases. Remote monitoring systems are increasingly common, enabling medical professionals to observe patients’ vital signs and health conditions remotely.

This technological advancement not only improves patient outcomes by allowing for timely intervention but also reduces healthcare costs by cutting down on hospital visits and overnight stays.

How IoT is Keeping Cities Happier

Cities are becoming much more enjoyable for residents and their inhabitants, thanks to the integration of IoT. Some ways IoT is contributing to happier cities include:

Innovative City Planning

Urban designers are now using IoT to improve public areas and improve community engagement. By gathering and analyzing data from various sources, such as tracking pedestrian movement in parks with IoT sensors, they can determine the busiest times and plan upgrades accordingly. This method of using data ensures public spaces are not only well-utilized but also enhance the happiness and wellness of the community.

IoT also paves the way for a more interactive approach to city planning. Residents can offer their input via IoT devices or apps, playing a role in shaping their city’s future. This active participation creates a stronger community bond and improves overall city happiness.

Enhanced Public Transportation

IoT advancements have transformed public transit, streamlining the efficiency and punctuality of buses, trams, and trains. Travelers now benefit from live tracking and scheduling, allowing for more efficient trip planning and minimizing waiting times. This improvement in reliability eases commuter stress and greatly improves the overall travel experience.

Additionally, IoT allows for smarter routing for public transportation, reducing urban traffic. Transport authorities can now adjust routes on the fly by analyzing live traffic data, resulting in faster and more fluid travel for passengers. This not only saves time but also lessens the environmental footprint of transportation.

Smarter Lighting Systems

Smart lighting systems, driven by IoT, also play a significant role in elevating the quality of life in cities. These systems adjust to various conditions, like time and weather, offering ideal lighting settings. They’re energy-efficient, too, activating lights based on necessity and location, which cuts down on energy use.

Smart lighting also helps tackle growing pollution levels, a commonly neglected issue in urban areas. By ensuring light is used judiciously and dimming when not needed, these systems keep the skies darker at night, enabling residents to enjoy clearer views of the stars while reducing light and improving sleep.

Creating More Intelligent Urban Environments

The emergence of the IoT has been reshaping urban living across the globe, leading to smarter, more sustainable, and more secure cities. By utilizing data from a network of sensors and devices, city authorities can now gain a deeper understanding of urban dynamics. This influx of data provides the foundation for improved decision-making aimed at improving public safety and the overall living standards of city residents.

Author:

Guido Voigt is the Director of Engineering, at Lantronix, a global provider of turnkey solutions and engineering services for the internet of things (IoT). Guido’s and Lantronix’s goal is to enable their customers to provide intelligent, reliable, and secure IoT and OOBM solutions while accelerating time to market.

Automation is the future, or so many experts are predicting. What we do know is that automation is fast improving our lives and making things far more accessible and convenient, with the technology only set to improve as it develops.

As the owner of a commercial building, you are no doubt constantly looking for new and improved ways to run and manage your property. Automation can be the perfect solution. Let’s take a look at three automations you can add to new commercial buildings.

Automated Windows

Commercial buildings often have hundreds of windows, opening and closing all of these by hand can be impractical and extremely time-consuming. However, regularly opening and closing windows is essential to allow for proper ventilation in a space. Failure to do so can have a detrimental effect on your property and the people within it.

By installing electric window openers you can fully automate your windows and see a number of fantastic benefits. Electric windows can be set to timers that tell them when to open and when to close. This can save you a lot of time and means you will not need to go around manually closing your windows at the end of the working day.

What’s more, electric window openers can be automated and programmed to open or close depending on certain environmental conditions. This means that they will open when it gets too hot and close when it’s cold or raining. This can help maintain a consistent temperature and climate inside your property for the benefit of your staff and any sensitive equipment you might have.

Automated Lights

Commercial spaces need to be brightly lit. Proper illumination is required so that employees can see what they’re doing as they work and so customers can browse goods and products. Automated lights can be programmed to switch on and off depending on the time of day, or they can be programmed to turn on when they detect movement.

Using automated lights in your commercial building can see you make big savings on your energy bills. Electricity prices are higher than ever before, it’s essential you have an energy consumption policy in place to ensure that you are not overspending. This won’t just help you financially, but it will also help the planet and aid the fight against the climate crisis.

Automated Locks

Commercial buildings often house expensive equipment and machinery, as well as potentially sensitive data and documents. As the owner of a commercial space, it is your responsibility to protect these items and ensure they are not targeted by thieves and criminals.

Automated smart locks can be programmed to lock the doors of your commercial building at specific times. This can prevent a member of staff forgetting to lock the door as they leave, creating a potential entry point for criminals. Smart locks can also be operated remotely, you can check whether they are locked or not through the use of an app and lock them if needed.

Commercial buildings are often targeted by criminals due to the likelihood of valuables being present inside. Installing automated smart locks is one of the best ways to protect your property against theft and criminal damage.

Conclusion

We’re seeing automation becoming more and more widespread across almost every aspect of our lives. Choosing to automate your commercial building can be incredibly beneficial. Automated windows can save you valuable time and protect your property against weather damage. Automated lights can be used to make savings on your energy bills, and automated locks can improve your building’s security systems.

Working on construction projects needs contractors to continuously work and monitor various parameters of quality construction in order to ensure timely execution and profit generation. And one of the most crucial factors that help to achieve the quality is the use of the right technology, especially construction management software that can help automate the task related to workforce management, resource allocation, and operational goals. 

Using an integrated construction management software with cloud functionality and built-in intelligence features allows an optimized workflow cycle eliminating any chances of pilferage and unwanted overheads. 

Business Intelligence & Construction Project Management

Business intelligence is a technology designed to process data allowing improved operational management. Construction firms can leverage this technology to prevent any error-prone processing of the data to ensure maximum transparency. 

This is why Business Intelligence technology has managed to gain a significant position in the development of construction ERP software. The use of Business Intelligence technology in the construction project management process allows working on project schedule, cost overruns, and critical project resources giving a save on time and improved maintenance.

Features Of A Construction Management Software with BI

• Dynamic Dashboard: Working on a business intelligence-based construction management software allows easy graphical representation of data for quality decision-making.
• Customized Reports: Get an intuitive view of the project data and progress.
• Convenient Data: Have universal accessibility and convenience you need to control data.
• Transparency: From employee data to approvals and billing, BI allows you to ensure maximum transparency.
• Predictive Analytics: Using BI technology in construction management software allows managers to keep a check on business opportunities. Also, it gives you the advantage to analyze any lost bids and investigate them to make educated decisions and use the information for having consistent and promising results.

The Benefits Of Using BI Based Construction Management Software

When you are having a business intelligence-based system that can analyze data and process it to add value to routine operations, contractors get the benefit of improved decision making and a more accessible resource utilization strategy. 

1. Reduced Risk: when it comes to risk reporting managers need immediate access to data and when this data is managed through business intelligence, working on the risks and losses becomes much more streamlined.
2. Minimized Error: unlike legacy practices that are purely based on human intervention, using business intelligence allows users to overcome any error through automated data processing which ultimately helps to improve transparency and faster data transmission. 
3. Cost Control: business intelligence in construction management could help with cost control practices as contractors get the ability to pre-plan their budget and time for maximum profit margin while ensuring rapid and sustainable progress.
4. Third-Party Integration: another good reason to use smart construction management software is the ease of implementing third-party integrations that can help to simplify operations with advanced technology features like IoT, voice operations, etc. 
5. Save More Time: last but not least, using Construction management software with built-in intelligence allows contractors to have maximum save on time without compromising on efficiency and effectiveness of the operations. Also, using such a system can help office staff and project managers to experience versatile data analytics to enjoy an improved project pipeline. 

The Crux

All in all, using construction management software with BI can help the contractors to keep all the data organized and managed. This is why more and more construction firms are relying upon the technology aiming for better project management, resource control, and accounting. 

And if you are having trouble sustaining projects or facing a tough time working on opportunities, all you need to do is plan for an intelligent BI-based construction management software that can help you meet your business needs without compromising at any stage of the project lifecycle.

Author Bio: Ed Williams is the Senior Team Lead at ProjectPro, an integrated construction accounting software. He holds a massive industry experience and is a Microsoft Dynamics expert who is focused on successful implementations. He is a visionary leader and always aim to deliver the best to the construction and project-oriented industries.

It’s not easy for construction companies to keep track of employees when they’re out on site or in the field.

Work practices can be subject to manipulation and abuse, leaving a company out of control, so it’s vitally important that construction companies find a way of ensuring best practice when it comes to time and attendance.

Sean Quinn, founder of time and attendance software company, TimeKeeper, believes that digital construction timesheet apps are the best means of both retaining control of employee timesheets and adherence to company procedures.

He said: “When you’re busy building your business – and particularly when building is your business – it’s vital that you keep your eye on the ball and, for most companies, the answer is going digital.

“One way to do this is to utilise a digital construction timesheet app. These apps are used by businesses across the UK and Ireland and can help with many aspects of running a construction company: from ensuring the health and safety of employees, to streamlining payroll and invoicing.

“We have identified seven ways in which a digital construction timesheet app can benefit construction companies in today’s market.”

1. No more manual timesheets

Paper is becoming something of a major commodity these days, but regardless of the environmental factors, paper timesheets can be notoriously inaccurate – and that’s when they’re filled in at all.

“The traditional time and attendance systems certainly served their purpose,” said Sean, “but we’re in a digital age now and the technology is there to improve work practices and processes. In addition to being more time consuming, paper timesheets can also make it harder to track accurate details of when your employees or contractors are on site.

“Paper based timesheets make it easier for workers to cover for each other when they’re not there. A digital timesheet app can help a company to eliminate this problem by creating a digital, paperless audit trail, ensuring both accurate timekeeping and optimal working practices.

“A construction timesheet app is also very versatile in that it can be adapted to suit both multiple workers on a building site, by allowing everyone to clock in through one device – an Android or iOs tablet, for example – and for individual workers, who may be travelling to jobs.”

2. Eliminate ‘buddy clock-ins’

When employees are working on sites, it can be difficult for companies to monitor procedures, such as clocking in. A construction timesheet app not only tracks where employees are, it also provides the administrator with the added option of facial recognition, which verifies that every clock-in is legitimate.

“Every construction company boss wants – and needs – to know where every employee is at any point in time,” said Sean, adding: “and, more importantly, that they’re doing what they are supposed to be doing.

“Every boss, for example, knows that, given the opportunity, some employees will clock in for a work colleague. Traditional time and attendance systems have meant that employees could easily fool the system by clocking in for their colleagues, but, with a digital timesheet app, the problem is eliminated since the app’s use of facial recognition will alert the administrator of any buddy clock-ins that may be going on.

“The app also enables bosses to check in throughout the day to watch where employees are going during the working day, so there’s no need to call the site manager to check if an employee is in.”

3. Job costs & profitability can be monitored

Labour costs can make or break a business, so it’s important for any construction company to ensure that job costings and outlay are exact and accurate.

“A digital timesheet app enables you to track data in real time by removing inaccurate costings and unrealistic timings,” added Sean, “and, since the app automatically keeps track of the time spent on each job, it’s easy to see – and to monitor – if the time spent has been profitable for the company.”

4. Payroll & invoicing can be streamlined

A digital timesheet app can have an effect on many aspects of the running of a construction company in today’s market. In addition to monitoring both employees’ work practices and profitability, it can also bring many administrative benefits to both employer and employee.

“By providing administrative staff with the ability to run real-time timesheets,” said Sean Quinn, “employee time entries and employee leave can both be easily managed, making both payroll and invoicing much more streamlined and seamless, and enabling a company to run smoothly, efficiently and economically.

“The app also allows employees to access the web portal (or app) to check their weekly timesheets or review their remaining leave, meaning that administrative staff won’t be getting asked the same questions week in, week out.”

5. Health & safety practices can be improved

The fact the app enables bosses to monitor where employees are during the day isn’t just a matter of ‘Big Brother’ though. Having a digital app helps to reinforce good working practices for employees by allowing a company to know that employees are where they are supposed to be and not involved in something unsafe.

“Negative working methods can be detrimental to any construction company’s reputation,” continues Sean, “and to its bottom line, so the fact that the app can monitor employees’ behaviour is of benefit to the business and can provide peace of mind with regard to the company’s reputation in the marketplace.”

6. Safety can be reinforced with geofencing

Building sites are notoriously dangerous for those who aren’t involved in the construction industry, so it’s vitally important that construction companies ensure that only employees on a site or at a location can clock in or out.

“A digital construction timesheet app enables a company to configure geofences for jobs so that only an employee can gain access to a location by clocking in or out. All the company has to do is to specify an address for a job and a distance that the employee must be within and the app handles the rest!”

7. Contact is immediate and available at all times

Very often in the construction industry, the details of a job can be changed at the last minute, so it’s very important that contact can be made between management or administration and those who are out on sites. A timesheet app which is perfect for the construction industry ensures that employees can be quickly alerted by both email and mobile push notifications before they even begin their shift, ensuring clear lines of communication and removing any potential for errors or omissions.

Employees can also take pics on site or add notes and signatures to a job that can be viewed in real time from the company’s offices.

“Clear lines of communication are important in any industry,” said Sean, “but they’re vital in the construction industry since the majority of the employees are working on multiple locations across a wide area.

“A digital timesheet app means that contact between those on and off sites can be made easily and quickly, and that information or images can be transferred between different locations in no time at all. This ensures that errors are kept to a minimum and that no time or energy is wasted on work for which the details may have been changed.”

If you run or work at a construction company that wants to level up your time and attendance practices, why not sign up to our 14 day free trial at www.timekeeper.co.uk.

EINDHOVEN 29-06-2020 — As BIMcollab continues to expand their ecosystem through integrations with the industry’s most popular BIM tools, recent development efforts have been focused primarily on partnering with CDE platforms. The latest edition is the integration between BIMcollab and Trimble Connect.

Erik Pijnenburg, CEO – BIMcollab: “Our goal is to integrate BIMcollab with as many BIM tools as possible, whether they are model-authoring, model-checking or model-sharing solutions. We are convinced that with the Trimble Connect – BIMcollab integration we are offering our mutual users the best integrated solution available to share and improve models.”

Collaboration made easy

The Trimble Connect – BIMcollab integration provides a cloud-based, single source of truth solution for models, project documents ánd issues. It simplifies collaboration and coordination across each phase of the project lifecycle. From the office to the field, Trimble Connect’s powerful combination of client applications and workflow extensions allows quick, convenient access to the information you need, when you need it.

BIMcollab users, including those who do not have access to BIM modeling tools, will be able to view, edit and comment on issues in the context of the 3D models in the cloud. All of this can be done using the familiar Trimble Connect webviewer, making it easy to use with practically no learning curve. And finally, since the integration makes use of models stored online in Trimble Connect, there is no extra file management needed and users can be certain to use the latest model-versions.

Marcel Broekmaat, Product Director – Trimble Connect: “We are excited to be able to provide Connect’s Common Data Environment and BIM Viewer capabilities to BIMcollab users. BIMcollab and Trimble Connect share a common goal: to offer an open and performant environment for project collaboration with data made available in the context of the 3D design.”

Click here for more info

About Trimble Connect

Trimble Connect is an open, cloud-based collaboration tool that provides the right people with the right data at the right time. Trimble Connect is a brand owned by Trimble, Inc. Trimble provides the widest breadth of technology solutions for each phase of the building lifecycle. With the industry’s only constructible process and a full range of tools and content to streamline team collaboration, Trimble solutions make data from complex projects more meaningful and actionable to improve productivity and achieve operational excellence.

About BIMcollab

BIMcollab is an issue management system for BIM in the cloud and bridges the gap between BIM applications based on OpenBIM, by offering a broad set of add-ons for all popular BIM tools. It reduces time spend on communication about issues and it’s helping to improve model quality: less construction errors, lower costs. BIMcollab is a brand owned by KUBUS, a software company offering BIM solutions for Design & Build which is also exclusive distributor for GRAPHISOFT and Gold partner of Solibri, Inc. in the Benelux. KUBUS operates from offices in Eindhoven, Amsterdam, Hasselt and Belgrade. BIMcollab ZOOM has over 13.000 daily users and BIMcollab Cloud is used by over 70.000 building professionals for better models, better buildings.

A deeply immersive experience that allows architects, engineers and contractors to explore, touch and annotate 3D BIM models as they ‘walk’ through construction and civil engineering projects will be on display at next week’s Digital Construction Week (DCW) at ExCeL, London.

3D Repo, the pioneer of a cloud-based digital construction platform for design collaboration in 3D BIM, has partnered with Mission Room to bring one of its large touch-screen media displays to the show. This installation enables a virtual walk-through of construction and infrastructure projects, giving greater depth of understanding of the projects’ complexities, risks and solutions.

Consisting of three large screens and suspended projectors, Mission Room’s theatre-style viewing system allows project managers to view their BIM models like never before. Clients, contractors and designers can conduct detailed cross-functional reviews of models from any location, and the software allows them to annotate content and quickly share results across the business.

In addition to demonstrating its multi award-winning BIM collaboration tools, 3D Repo is offering visitors the opportunity to see a demo of their own 3D models on the large screen at stand E22 at Digital Construction Week on 16-17 October.

Delegates can email 3D Repo at marketing@3drepo.com to request a secure link so they can upload their models prior to the event.

Dr Jozef Dobos, founder and CEO of 3D Repo, says:

“Digital Construction Week is all about exploring the potential of industrial technologies to help create a better built environment, and we’re excited to join the conversation, to discover new opportunities, and to showcase the possibilities of our own digital platform.”

3D Repo is a Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) platform for BIM coordination in the cloud. Its platform allows users to manage 3D model revisions and to highlight potential issues using live collaboration tools, which enable the whole project team to work from a single source of truth anywhere and at any time.

Instead of architects, engineers and contractors sharing massive proprietary files in a costly and time-consuming manner, they can simply point their web browser to an encrypted cloud platform in order to examine each project stage virtually.

The 3D Repo team has collaborated on a number of large-scale projects with companies such as Atkins, Balfour Beatty, Bryden Wood, Buro Happold, Canary Wharf Contractors and Crossrail among others.

Air compressors are an essential aspect of the construction industry. You might be aware of them being used at construction sites for their high efficiency and output, but have you ever considered thinking about how air compressors actually work?

Direct Air have developed an insightful infographic detailing how they operate and the different types of air compressors that are available to use. 

Using Air Compressors in Construction

Air compressors are integral to the construction industry as they power a vast amount of tools a worker needs. The great aspect about pneumatic drills is that they are relatively light and powerful to use, allowing great amounts of energy to be exerted.

Compared to electric powered tools, pneumatic tools are safer to use and easier to maintain as there is not a risk of electrocution.

Some of the most popular construction application use comes in the form of jackhammers, pneumatic picks, air guns and many more.

It is important to emphasise the value of maintenance because failure to maintain tools regularly will lead to them deteriorating and not working properly.

Low Noise Air Compressors

Construction site managers need to think not only about the welfare of themselves but also of other fellow employees.

Workers should wear ear protection to protect themselves from hearing damage. Anything above 85dB is considered to be harmful and likely to cause hearing issues.

Air compressors can control and reduce noise levels, when generating power for equipment.

While 60 dB is considered a safe level, there is no reason why you should not be able to reduce the noise levels even further.

Low noise air compressors can decrease noise levels to around 40dB, of which this is accomplished through the addition of an acoustic chamber which function consists of containing the noise.

An additional tip to help reduce noise levels would be to choose an electric-powered compressor, rather than a gas-powered machine.The electric compressor’s power source can make a machine generate less noise.

Oil-free and Oil-based Air Compressors

Lubrication is an aspect that should be reviewed when using an air compressor.

Compressors that are oil-free already have a lubricated cylinder, mainly Teflon, thus ensuring no further maintenance is required.

Oil-based compressors require manual work as oil needs to be added to the piston area frequently, and how much depends on the instructions provided in the manufacturer’s manual that came with the compressor.

Oil-free compressors are lighter than oil-based compressors as the weight of the oil is not required and there are less parts to make them function.

Furthermore, oil-free compressors tend to be more affordable than oil-based compressors and usually have a less complex design.

Despite costing more, oil-based compressors are stronger and tend to have a longer lifespan than oil-free ones. Over time the material that is used for greasing, which is primarily Teflon, starts to wear out and endures a loss in its abilities of lubrication.

In comparison to oil-based compressors, oil-free compressors heat up at a higher temperature and tend to make more noise.

How do Single and Dual Phase Compressors Operate?

For single phase compressors, compression occurs within a vacuum excavation system by a single piston movement.

The power is measured at a rate of PSI (pounds per square inch), of which the higher the PSI rate, the greater the power the compressor has.

In a single phase compressor, the PSI rate is usually at 120. Once the air has been compressed, it then gets sent into a storage tank. 

For Dual phase compressors, following the primary round of compression, air is dispelled into a second chamber at a rate of 175PSI, where the air gets compressed for a second time.

The piston forces movement allowing compression to occur, as both types of compressors are usually powered by electric or power motors.

Fixed and Variable Air Compressors

Fixed speed air compressors send continuous streams of power into the motor.

It’s great for certain industries where power demand is continuous. However, while being cost-effective, they are not energy efficient.

Variable speed compressors automatically adjust the motor speed in conjunction with air demand.

Power gets drawn into the convertor and converts AC power into DC power. A capacitor cleans the AC and converts it into DC using a transistor, acting as switches. This then ensures the power’s frequency is controlled that is distributed to the motor, thus also controlling the speed.

Variable speed compressors are more power efficient as you can control the output of what you need, which means that if you were to use less power, money would be saved and it would be more beneficial for the environment.

Unfortunately, maintenance repairs are frequent and there are higher capital costs. This compressor type is not recommended for machines that require streams of power that are continuous.

Piston, Scroll and Rotary Screw Compressors

Scroll compressors are a type of piston compressor, also known as reciprocating compressors.

The piston travels downwards, following pressure in the cylinder being decreased which creates a vacuum. This pressure change causes the cylinder door to open and draw air in. The piston then travels back up forcing the air to be released from the cylinder at a higher pressure point.

While they are able to cool down quickly and are energy efficient, they are harder to maintain and initial costs are high.

Rotary screw compressors use rollers to compress air. These are positioned in the middle of the shaft and one side of the rollers are constantly in contact with the wall, and they rotate an extreme speed.

Despite costing less, rotary screw compressors require frequent maintenance checks and cooling ability is quite limited.

Overall Thoughts

When choosing an air compressor that is needed for a particular job, there are vital aspects that need to be reviewed.

Do you require air compressors for continuous use of industrial machinery or only occasional use?

It is important to think about the budget because some compressors will be more cost-effective than others, and you need to consider how much maintenance work there will be in the future. Failure to maintain tools regularly will lead to them malfunctioning.

With all of this taken into consideration, you should be able to make an informed decision on selecting the right air compressor for the required job, one of which is the most suitable for saving your company money and being energy efficient.

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