Building Information Modeling (BIM) combines and records all of the relevant construction data in digital form and creates a 3D virtual model of the building. Additional dimensions are the progress over time of the planning and construction process (4D), the cost planning (5D), and the life cycle information (6D).  

• The HOCHTIEF company  ViCon  has been the leading supplier in the field of virtual construction since 2008. BIM is used in all divisions throughout the entire HOCHTIEF Group. Many future innovations will build on this basis. 

[ Timescale: The present ]

Additive manufacturing methods are being perfected. 3D printing is already in use for small production runs, prototypes, and highly individualized products. The idea of printing complete buildings is being explored in research projects, although the printed house is still largely fiction. But 3D printing is already making the engineers’ work easier in many places.

• HOCHTIEF is currently exploring possible application areas for 3D printing techniques. One area of research, for example, is the manufacture of extremely complex concrete structural elements on site, without any need to transport them. But the manufacture of structural elements with special properties or of bionic structures that would be impossible or extremely expensive to produce in any other way could become very important in the future. 

[ Timescale: The present and the near future ]

The application of augmented or virtual reality is a building block of Industry 4.0. Information, support or projections that are integrated in real or virtual spaces by means of VR headsets are already coming into widespread use. In the future, complex constructions, particularly in the area of infrastructure, will also be built with the help of this technology.

• It may well not be that long before the site managers from HOCHTIEF walk through the basic structures with a VR headset, using displayed design data to check that all parts of the construction are in the right places.

[ Timescale: The present and the near future ]

Machines or software applications that solve problems independently, learn autonomously, and emulate cognitive capabilities are part of the broad field of artificial intelligence (AI). Voice assistants and bots—computer programs that automate and independently carry out certain tasks are no longer rarities. New methods of machine learning—are showing astounding results in a wide range of areas and will make substantial contributions to technological progress.

• Is “Alexa” coming to the construction site? Digital assistants that enable access to knowledge databases from on site or answer questions in spoken form would be a great help for HOCHTIEF personnel. Thanks to AI, HOCHTIEF is already experimenting with the automatic recording and evaluation of earth movements on road construction sites. 

[ Timescale: The present and the future ]

Technical systems and users produce ever-greater quantities of data from which not only knowledge but also new applications and business models
can be obtained. Companies can acquire an objective basis for their decisions by means of analytical methods and real-time data.  

• HOCHTIEF is, for example, tackling the question of how construction progress can be documented digitally, perhaps using images supplied by drones. Advanced monitoring tools supply automated evaluations that make construction sites more transparent for everyone involved and increase the objectivity of project management. 

[ Timescale: The future ]

Intelligent machines will take over mechanical work from people or support them in mastering especially difficult challenges. Exoskeletons for lifting heavy objects or vehicles that navigate autonomously through a construction site—robotics can make many jobs safer and easier and make new solutions possible in the construction industry, too.

• It will be a while until entire linear construction sites such as roads or railroad tracks are built by (partially) autonomous machines. Nonetheless, the Australian Group company Thiess—the largest mining services provider in the world—already has fully autonomous trucks in operation. HOCHTIEF is currently focusing on solutions that help people perform special tasks or overcome previously impossible challenges. 

[ Timescale: The near and the distant future ]

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