Plans to Harness Technology in Built Environment Industry

Mr Christopher de Souza asked the Minister for National Development what plans are being made to harness technology in the built environment industry.

The Construction Industry Transformation Map (ITM), launched in October 2017, sets out our plans to transform the built environment industry by adopting productive construction methods, embracing digitalisation, and growing a strong local core.

Technology is the foundation of the key transformation areas under the Construction ITM. First, we are increasing adoption of advanced building technologies such as Design for Manufacturing and Assembly, which facilitates greater automation and higher quality construction by shifting onsite construction work into a factory environment. Second, we are promoting digitalisation through Integrated Digital Delivery, which reduces abortive work by resolving design conflicts upstream and improves collaboration across the built environment value chain. Third, we are pushing for higher Green Buildings standards by encouraging the use of technology to increase building energy performance in a cost-effective manner. We have also been advocating Smart Facilities Management, which includes solutions such as predictive maintenance and cleaning robots to help the Facilities Management industry become more manpower lean.

More recently, technological solutions such as the BuildSG-COVIDSafe platform have been deployed at worksites to prevent COVID-19 resurgence. These solutions help agencies and firms to ensure compliance with safe management measures and facilitate contract tracing when a COVID-positive case is found.

The COVID-19 pandemic has reinforced the importance of technology in the built environment industry. To accelerate digitalisation efforts across the built environment value chain, the Digitalising Built Environment Alliance for Action (AfA), a private sector-led team, was set up under the Emerging Stronger Taskforce in June 2020. This AfA seeks to accelerate our digitalisation efforts by establishing industry-wide common data standards and driving the adoption of digital platforms. These collective efforts will enable the built environment industry to emerge stronger and more resilient from COVID-19.