Author: Constructech Editors
“If you can’t define it, you can’t manage it.” Increasingly, terms are created without adequate definition and people use them without knowing how others will see what they say. Nowhere is this truer than in high tech. Often common, everyday words are appropriated by technology companies to be used in totally different ways than originally used. In construction and architecture, the technology of CAD—computer aided design/drafting—and BIM—building information modeling—have become commonplace. Each depends on a commonly accepted database of terms, so interoperability and data value are maintained. With the growing demands for connected devices, the IoT (Internet of Things) is…
The world is not flat. A jobsite is not flat, either. Taking a single photo of a jobsite gives you a two-dimensional display of a three-dimensional reality. When you go on that site, you can look around and see front, back, and sideways. So why can’t you image that way? The COVID-19 pandemic has driven AEC (architecture, engineering, and construction) professionals to adopt new technologies to keep projects on track with many people working remotely. Technology has become the best way to stay a step ahead in an increasingly digital world that has become the “new normal.” A survey, conducted…
While new, greenfield smart cities are being planned and started in the Middle East, old cities in Europe are seeking ways to retrofit to be smarter, too. And when we say “old” we mean more than 1,000 years old. Noted as early as 1051 in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, the port city of Bristol in England was a critical trading and ship building center. Unfortunately, it was also known for less respectable trade: Edward Teach, better known as Blackbeard the pirate, was allegedly born in the city in the 1700s. Like all cities, Bristol is undergoing a transformation. Today, it is becoming…
Many construction companies, especially subcontractors, are small business with under 300 people on staff. Tracking the hiring and employment rates for such companies is often limited—there are so many of them to survey—and they don’t get the coverage they deserve in the press reports on employment rise and fall. There are companies, however, that do track this category, although not specifically in construction, and we can get some feeling for this market from their research. The SBEI (Small Business Employment Index) is reported by CBIZ, a provider of financial, insurance, and advisory services to businesses throughout the United States. The…
The new housing developments going up are more often than not built with sustainability in mind. Architects, designers, engineers, and contractors realize that the future depends on making the right decisions today regarding environmental impacts. Moving the needle in sustainable housing is the modular or prefabricated building methodology. Too often, this construction technique has been relegated to the lower end of the market. Not anymore. Plant Prefab, a building technology company that says it is dedicated to sustainable design, materials, and operations, has won a bid to prefabricate the final phase of custom homes in The Palisades at Olympic Valley,…
Money is often the source of recognition in business. It flows to those companies that investors, at least, see as the wave of the future. Construction equipment hasn’t been one of the big draws for investment funds but that might be changing. Built Robotics, a company focused on construction equipment autonomy, announced the close of a $64 million Series C led by Tiger Global, which brings its total funding to $112 million. Existing investors including NEA, Founders Fund, Fifth Wall, and Building Ventures have also joined the round. Built’s focus on easy-to-install robotic upgrades for heavy equipment is generating significant demand according to…
Most contractors, when asked about drilling equipment, will think in terms of hand drills for wood or concrete. But in infrastructure, mining, and oil and gas exploration, drills come much bigger. Now one of the biggest is making (less) noise in the field. Vermeer unveiled the newest generation of maxi rig drills with the introduction of the D550 HDD (horizontal directional drill). The D550 gets its name from its 550,000-pound (249,475.8-kg) operational thrust/pullback ability. This large drill leads its class with 100,000 foot-pounds (135,581 Nm) of torque, advanced telematics along with smart onboard technology and diagnostic information. The Vermeer D550…
We all have heard about the Bipartisan Infrastructure Bill that passed in 2021. Contractors and suppliers at every level are getting ready to bid on and work the large number of projects that are being proposed as funds become available. Major suppliers to the trade are moving to increase their capacity to provide equipment and material for the future projects. As an example, after experiencing continued demand for its products in key critical infrastructure markets like data centers, EV (electric vehicles), and semiconductor manufacturing, Siemens is investing over $10 million to expand its existing Smart Infrastructure manufacturing hub in Grand…
Smart houses are being built everywhere. Some might even say smart is the In Thing these days. A new study, Smart Buildings: Key Opportunities, Competitor Leaderboard & Market Forecasts 2022-2026, from Juniper Research has found that the number of buildings globally deploying smart building technologies will reach 115 million in 2026, from 45 million in 2022. Juniper Research defines a smart building as a building that uses connectivity to enable economical use of resources, while creating a safe and comfortable environment for the occupants. But if projections are right, residential “smart” is not the driver of the market. The research found that non-residential…
The technologies we use today often evolve from mathematics and science procedures well known long before computers were available. Stress analysis among other functions needed to assure infrastructures, especially bridges and dams, are safe under all conditions can be done more accurately and quicker with the right computer application. One of the foremost finite element analysis programs for infrastructure evaluation is ADINA (Automatic Dynamic Incremental Nonlinear Analysis) software. Civil, structural, and mechanical engineers choose ADINA for its authoritative veracity, including in analysis of buildings, bridges, stadiums, pressure vessels, dams, and tunnels. By virtue of the ADINA System’s integral robustness across disciplines,…