Contractors participating on a range of projects, including merging AI and BIM
The government has provided 拢18m in new funding for the research and development of digital technology to aid construction.
Four projects aiming to improve quality and speed up assembly share 拢5m from the Industrial Challenge Strategy Fund, via UK Research and Innovation.
The schemes include work into the use of 3D-printed concrete components and ways to organise teams of robots, on or off site.
A further 拢13.3m will fund 24 projects being carried out by Innovate UK in collaboration with universities and industry bodies 鈥� as well as firms including Balfour Beatty, Kier, Laing O鈥橰ourke, Vinci and Skanska.
They include research into augmented reality, automated BIM 鈥� in conjunction with conversational artificial intelligence 鈥� and an automatic generator of components to use with design-for-manufacture-and-assembley-with-advanced-engineering-techniques.
Work being carried out by contractors is being paid for half by themselves, and half through grant money.
The 24 schemes aim to address three core issues: the design of buildings through simulation, construction of buildings though offsite manufacturing, and the powering of buildings with their own electricity generation and storage.
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