Construction officials said that the outbreak of the Corona virus is expected to change a lot in the construction sector through the development of machine digitization, which took an accelerating curve after the outbreak of the "Covid 19" virus.
They pointed out, in statements to «Emirates Today», that the pandemic caused rethinking of construction companies to rely more on the machine, threatening thousands around the world to lay off their jobs, as robots are expected to become an important part of the workforce in the future.
Use of technology
In detail, Paul Wallett, Regional Director of Trimble Solutions Middle East and India, said that “the complete closure imposed due to a pandemic (Covid 19) has increased the frequency of technology use by all companies, including construction companies, and unprecedented, and witnessed This new development is the adoption of fourth generation industrial technologies, including building information modeling, cloud computing, blockchain technology, the Internet of Things, artificial intelligence and independent workplace equipment. ”
He pointed out that one of the programs that helped a lot in the construction sector is three-dimensional design solutions, which are most used in the construction sector in the current period, and that are used in architecture and construction since the outbreak of the "Covid-19" pandemic, pointing out that the construction sector adopted many solutions Digital and robotics that work in the workplace as a substitute for workers and employees of construction companies, where the spread of these new technologies and machine dependency to play the role of the worker has increased, expecting to have an impact on employment, especially unskilled, where these technologies could threaten thousands of workers in a region Middle east.
Real estate sector
For his part, Vice President of the International Federation of Arab Real Estate, member of the Board of Directors of the International Federation of Real Estate, Mahmoud Al-Bura'i said, “Corona forced the real estate and construction sector to accelerate dependence on the machine, so increased dependence on robots in the workplace, in addition to adopting programs related to saving time, effort and ensuring The absence of human errors in the structural equation, as well as the trend to rationalize spending by these companies in conjunction with the economic effects that accompanied the pandemic. Although the real estate sector was previously one of the least integrated sectors of modern technologies, but recently it has become one of the most important sectors that witness investments in this field, as robots are expected to become an important part of the workforce in the future, as it will play a role Chief in supporting team work on site in complex and dangerous work environments, which was an option before the pandemic, but it has become a necessity for companies now, for two reasons to rationalize spending and safety. ”
He pointed out that this shift by relying on digitization and the machine would improve the productivity and safety of workers in the construction workflow, which could reduce the number of people working in sites by relying on these new technologies, especially with the need to maintain global standards for social divergence rules .
New technologies
In turn, the CEO of Standard Real Estate Management Company and Standard Contracting, Abdul Karim Al Mulla, said that “the Corona pandemic has changed the speed of adopting new technologies and machine reliance in the construction sector,” stressing that the technologies will undoubtedly work to rationalize spending for companies, in conjunction with the circumstances The economic imposed by the virus, because these programs reduce costs, control performance, and shorten the delivery time of the real estate project.
He pointed out that the new technology in the contracting sector reduces the expected problems during the implementation of the project, where dealing with engineering matters is more clear before the start of the project, in addition to these new technologies contributed to reducing the cost of the project. For his part, the founder of the Society for Digitizing Building Information in the Emirates and the consultant for building and virtual design, Ahmed Abu Alfa, said that «the reliance on new technology in the contracting sector increased in conjunction with the outbreak of the Corona virus, through the development of what is known as digitizing the machine, which will increase the dependence on the robot in All construction work that can replace and switch between the machine and the human element, which could threaten thousands around the world, as robots are expected to become an important part of the workforce in the future. ”
Abu Alfa pointed out that, for example, the (Building Information Modeling) program allows the delivery operations to be controlled by the contractor on time.
He pointed out that the trend in the UAE towards adopting these new technologies in 2025, so that every new building in Dubai will be built at 25% with "three-dimensional printing" technology, and a quarter of Dubai buildings will be built with this technology by 2030 as part of the "Dubai Printing Strategy" Three dimensional".
The future city
Academic researcher in the Department of Civil Engineering at New York University Abu Dhabi, Dr. Ghanem Kachwani said, “Transformation into a future city is inevitable in order to maintain the competitiveness of any city, and that creating infrastructure components for this future city is necessary to make it an attractive environment for business development. The infrastructure in both contemporary and future cities forms the basis for the city's work, and plays a crucial role in shaping the characteristics of the future city.