Page 98 - Build 161

Departments/Innovation
By David Chandler, Adjunct Fellow, Centre for Smart Modern Construction, Western Sydney University
Where to for construction?
The construction industry is shrugging o its poor reputation as it transforms for our modern times to deliver more value for less. O site manufacture, innovative insurance options and convergence with digitisation are all in the mix.
MODERN CONSTRUCTION proponents o er wide-ranging insights as to how one or more of construction’s new technologies and methods will make the di erence in de ning this new era from its traditional counterpart.
Snapshot highlights change
We hear that this solution or that is faster or better quality or less wasteful, involves lower carbon or has resolved coordination clashes well ahead of delivery to the construction site.
We hear that on-site fabrication is moving rapidly o site as the modern construction workplace becomes more a place of assembly.
We hear that the pieces and parts of construction are now coming from multiple jurisdictions as the implications of digitisa- tion, industrialisation and globalisation play out.
The notion of each project being specially crafted is giving way to one where projects are now embracing more standardised systems and inputs to create unique buildings.
Poor quality and non-compliance
We hear of exceptions when foreign construc- tion imports are found to be non-compliant and how we need to raise local standards and checking to ward them o .
In Australia, one inquiry after another is looking at regulatory shortcomings, such as the one currently under way in the Australian Senate into non-conforming building products. New Zealand has not been
immune, with inquiries into the cause and remediation of leaky buildings.
At the same time, we hear the case being made for less red tape and greater exibility in interpreting standards or applying deemed-to- comply certi cation. I wonder if our domestic construction industry is missing the key point of modernising the industry? Better buildings for less and combining smart construction to deliver smarter buildings.
96 — August/September 2017 — Build 161