The Built environment is in the process of developing future tools and materials about engineering and construction to showcase the impact and use of upcoming trends of this industry to the world. The aim is to devise a ‘smart’ built environment, which is economic, environmental and socially sustainable and simultaneously meet their respective needs.
What is Built Environment?
It refers to the environment built by humans that includes buildings, parks, infrastructure, transportation, networks and so on. It is an interdisciplinary field that involves engineers, architects, landscape designers, town planners and central and local policy makers.
Source: kenyagreenbuildingsociety
Due to globalization, more and more people are shifting to cities and meanwhile exerting pressure on natural resources. It is estimated that soon the price and demand of the land will rise due to scarcity of buildings for population growing at exponential rate. Hence, it is vital to make urban areas more sustainable than rural settlements.
Therefore, the concept of built environment is ready to adopt changes that are more sustainable and climate-friendly. Companies around the world are adopting innovative technologies for the health and safety of the workforce. They are constructing smart buildings that are energy-efficient and environment friendly. Let’s have a look that how technology can revamp the construction industry.
Social, Economic and Environmental Needs
Built environment aims to construct innovative things like trails, greenways and parks to meet the economic needs of the world. But, moreover, it allows you to yield to a better way of life and connect with your family and friends and take care of your health. Using resources in a manner that doesn’t hurt the environment.
Various countries lie at the forefront of this procedure. The built environment of Sweden has an outstanding spot in the development and handling of BIM and industrial processes. Sweden and its Nordic neighbors have already marked their territory in this field while the UK, the US and Singapore are following their league.
Source: pcsg.co.uk
Green Materials & Alternative Energy
The new “mantra” of this field is to drive better usage and application of existing and fresh assets via data and analysis to convey sustainable services to the citizens.
For instance, the construction industry produces more waste than the household sector and therefore must be trimmed down for environmental and financial reasons. In such a scenario, “going green” is the only option available to our society and designing sustainable, green, reusable building materials is part of this revolution.
Reducing Energy Consumption & Generating Energy by Alternative Methods
It is a known fact that 60% of world’s energy production goes towards running the HVAC systems. This can be controlled if we opt for energy efficient and smart building that has some inbuilt features like
- Nearly zero energy passive building design before construction
- Usage of low energy building materials during construction
- Use of energy efficient equipment for low operational energy necessity
- Incorporation of renewable energy technologies for different applications.
Use of Technologies
Technological progress within the construction industry not only saves your time and effort but gives you an edge in this competition. It also has a huge influence on improving health and safety of construction workers. For instance,
- Drones: They are utilized as replacement of traditional land-surveying methods, which reduces the time and labor involved in generating accurate land surveys.
- Augmented Reality (AR): Allows you to share build information in real-time, cover data and images onto physical spaces and ease of business.
- Building Information Modelling (BIM): Application of BIM has replaced outdated blueprints with detailed, interactive 3D models.
Building Internet of Things (BIoT) for Intelligent Buildings
Use of Building Intelligence is changing the traditional ways of design, use and operation of Buildings.
The Building Internet of Things makes all the equipment and devices in commercial buildings like HVAC, lighting, security equipment, computers etc. more efficient and cost-effective.
The digital revolution is ready to transform the construction industry and in future, it is intended to transform drastically. Whether, it is about using Building Information Modelling (BIM) for the collective designing of structures or the requirement of ‘smart’ technology to be entrenched in construction components such technological change will eventually disturb everyone in the industry.