COURSE AIMS: The Construction Technology and Innovation – the Future of Construction course is designed for postgraduate students with an interest in understanding the emerging technologies and construction methods that revolutionise/transform the way we build our built environment. The purpose of this course is to introduce the modern innovative building and construction techniques, processes and products that have disruptive benefits in the construction and engineering-related disciplines to address construction productivity and sustainability issues. It provides a well-structured, holistic knowledge base for students wanting to learn how these new technologies are used in the construction industry.
PHILOSOPHY: This short course is designed to provide a high level of introduction to what future construction would look like and what businesses can do to move towards Construction 4.0 for improved productivity and achieving sustainability goals. Course contents are blended with theory, case studies and guest lectures to focus on pragmatic applications of digital technologies, construction method or building system and build students’ implementation and innovative skills in these applications. Many organisations in the architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) sector in New Zealand are in the midst of rapid innovation to compensate for many years of falling behind technology revolution. The sector is experiencing a workforce skills crisis that has long been in the making and exacerbated by COVID. As we shift our response to adapt to post-COVID era, organisations must re-position themselves to tackle the skills crisis and sustainability issues head-on. Construction companies are generating more data than ever before, but only a very small portion is usable. This seems to be challenged by the whole process, from knowing what data to collect, to understand how to effectively manage project data. Construction professionals are looking for tools that streamline every process, from pre-construction, to closeout, by making smart, data-driven decisions. It's time to instigate innovative interventions beyond the conventional construction strategies and methods to improve efficiency. Looking through the global trends, a large chunk of our building and construction work will be fully automated from technologies that include building information modeling (BIM), prefabrication, wireless sensors, automated and robotic equipment and 3D-printing. Construction will couple itself with the latest technologies in the market on one side and on the other side industry will be more environment responsible for the change it brings across the built environment.
KEY TOPICS This course aims to share future-focused knowledge to inspire new ways of thinking towards Construction 4.0 – a new paradigm of building and construction. The course is underpinned by research at the Faculty of Engineering, University of Auckland and practice that enable industry leaders and organisations to create impact and success to embark on a transformational journey.
Theme 1 Construction 4.0 – the Future of Construction: To introduce the concept of Construction 4.0 and the eco-system required to support its success. This session provides interactive learning that combines the latest insights with practical frameworks and tools organisations can apply.
Theme 2 Transformation from being labour intensive to data-driven: To introduce several methodologies that construction companies need to embrace on its transformational journey from being labour intensive to data driven and how the data flows can be analysed to improve their workflows. Case studies of academic thought and industry best practice will be used to demonstrate how the intricate data that flows across construction projects and operations promises can be collected and analysed to unlock efficiencies.
Theme 3 Construction robotics and automation: Case studies will show how information from Construction 4.0 supporting technologies can be integrated and monitored for improved downtime reduction, real-time inventory management and improved quality control so that construction (especially those on the supply chain) businesses will gain the knowledge and wisdom that could help transform their businesses.
Theme 4: Construction sustainability and low carbon – the course addresses the innovation challenges faced by the industry in terms of sustainability and compliance. In particular, it will introduce life cycle analysis (LCA) of energy use and carbon calculation and discuss how the construction sector can help with government’s low carbon emission and building for climate change agenda.