Technology adoption is a must for the building construction industry

It is emerging that technology is rapidly taking center-stage in building construction around the world, and especially in Africa, where Kenya has according to AutoDesk seemingly stolen the race to steadily run ahead of the pack owing to adoption of technologies disrupting the way business is done in built environment.

In a one-on-one interview with Simon Bromfield, Territory Manager – Autodesk Africa, I sought to find out the extent of technology appreciation and adoption in Kenya’s built environment in the wake of what seems to be a disruption conundrum.

Here are excerpts of that interview.

Welcome to CIO East Africa, Simon. Let’s begin by you introducing yourself to the reader?

My name is Simon Bromfield, and I’m the Territory Manager for Autodesk Africa. My role in the organization is to look after all our customers in the entire continent of Africa. My engagements stretch all the way from Rabat, Morocco to Cape Town in South Africa, not to mention the West Coast all the way to the East Coast of Africa, all for the sake of making our customers.

What is your opinion on the use of technology, and its uptake to actualize contemporary buildings in Africa’s marketplace?

When we first entered the Kenyan market about two years ago, one of the things we discovered was the fact that technology uptake was happening gradually but without consistency in its adoption. Two years later, the scenario has dramatically change. There’s a consistency in adoption of technology, and the uptake rate is equally fast and rapid. Kenya  in comparison to several geo-locations across Africa has certainly leapfrogged follwing the manner in which in which technology is being adopted locally.

These advancements are sounding interesting considering that brick and mortar has been with us for ages.

Extremely interesting since some of the technological considerations already aborbed and steadily being taken into account here are perhaps not even in the advance economies. It is truly exciting to see these developments unfold in Kenya.

“Instead of relying solely on skills, blueprints, and a few tools to turn raw material into masterpiece built environment, workers have an entirely different resource available by taking advantage of technologies that are streamlining processes, making many construction projects quicker, easier, and more accurate.”

Simon Bromfield, Territory Manager, Autodesk Africa

It is even more interesting considering that change is inevitable. The advancing technologies are  not only affecting the construction sector but multiple layers of industries. The construction industry was not therefore going to be an exception. Instead of relying solely on skills, blueprints, and a few tools to turn raw material into masterpiece built environment, workers have an entirely different resource available by taking advantage of technologies that are streamlining processes, making many construction projects quicker, easier, and more accurate.

What are these technological elements you have seen taken up here in Kenya as the case may be?

I’d take the example of design automation and the use of advanced software to solve technological problems we’ve had in the past. One of the biggest challenges in the construction sector has always been the time involved and the processes of conceptualization of the designs for a project.

In the past, someone would design a building and pay for the same alongside the construction cost. Unfortunately, you’d always find flaws and mistakes in the end product because the design process may have been flawed as well due to the unresolved issues in the design software used. Well, most people would accept the situation and try to rectify the errors using manual interventions. But gone are the days when building designs would have glaring mistake. 

My advice to companies involved in the construction process; please be the disruptors. Don’t be the disrupted. The moment you decide to adopt a technology that you can use to advance rapidly, it allows you to stay ahead and actually disrupt the industry.

The industry can only accept accurate designs that have been effectively presented and interrogated for any failures and weaknesses; and the same streamlined to good measure. This will often have the effect of eliminating the expensive cost of having to eradicate the flaws that come with designs that have not been generated from the most advanced software.

You can imagine sending someone back to a project to correct a design-oriented mistake that is seen on the end product, like deconstructing a building or a column. For sure, it’s expensive and time consuming indeed. 

Technology allows us to take this entire process into account, and build what is often referred to us a digital twin of the building. In a digital twin, we have the benefit and the privilege of interrogating the actual building even before it is constructed; and the digital twin of the building allows us to see how everything will fit together so we can make sure there are no mistakes on the end product.

Are there any past challenges in the design of buildings that you may say has been addressed effectively with these emerging technologies?

One of the biggest challenges in East Africa currently is the housing deficit that is often reported for all to see. It is a major challenge. Every year we build new mortar and brick houses, which still end up not being enough to satisfy the growing population. There’s an obvious strain on the construction of buildings at large. But by using advanced technology, we can speed up the design processes to ensure we construct buildings far more efficiently and faster.

We recently saw from the Construction Authority Day that if we can implement software correctly, then it’s possible to speed up the construction delivery time and to reduce costs significantly.

Currently, the government of Kenya is keen on housing as a primary agenda for the nation, with clear targets to attain. What role do you foresee Autodesk playing in this agenda, besides engaging those who are key facilitators in the process including architects and contractors?

Sometimes it sounds quite simple to build, say, 250,000 housing units annually, as the government of Kenya has often clearly stated. What we do not often take into account when developing this thought is the infrastructure available to provide the right foundation for this objective to be realistically achieved. In the absence of a proper road network, sewerage systems, power grid, it becomes quite a monumental challenge to achieve this goal, no matter the involvement of architects and key players in the process.

In order to succeed in such a huge assignment, we must bring on board the authorities involved in ensuring we have good roads, sewerage systems, electricity and water, so that their contribution in the process will ensure we have an all-round approach to the agenda, hence a seamless end-to-end process of delivering the units needed to meet the housing demand in the country and the region at large. This journey has already begun, but there is still a long way to go.

In your view, what role would artificial intelligence and machine-learning play in all these processes?

A lot of people are still quite wary and scared of artificial intelligence and machine learning because it is thought robots are perhaps going to take away our jobs. However, I believe that with automation, and with artificial intelligence at play, we can actually improve the quality of our output, and even in some instances shorten the duration of time used for certain activities. It’s just an opportunity of doing a better job while delivering on various projects and assignments.

With Artificial intelligence, we could deliver first on a project, then focus our energies on remaining days to better the project and improve on areas that need reconsideration. In a nutshell, Artificial Intelligence isn’t a bad thing. It is something we ought to embrace because eventually, it will take center-stage at some junction in the entire building construction processes.

In conclusion, what would be your thoughtful advice to Kenyan Authorities and stakeholders involved in the projects aimed at mitigating the demand for housing in the country?

It needs to come out clearly that technology is going to disrupt the way we undertake our activities in the building construction industry, and any other industry for that matter. When a thought is given to how inefficient the construction industry is at the moment, technology will surely disrupt our way of doing business. The industry is actually ripe for disruption.

My advice to companies involved in the construction process; please be the disruptors. Don’t be the disrupted. The moment you decide to adopt a technology that you can use to advance rapidly, it allows you to stay ahead and actually disrupt the industry.