The complete findings from our inaugural Giants 300 Technology and Innovation Study will be available soon at BDCnetwork.com/2019TechSurvey. This 12-question survey was emailed to all 486 firms that participated in BD+C’s 2019 Giants 300 Report; 130 firms completed the tech survey, for a participation rate of 26.7%.
The objective of the study was to gain a deeper understanding of the state of AEC technology adoption and innovation initiatives at the nation’s largest architecture, engineering, and construction firms. There are dozens of takeaways from this study, including which tech tools are being used most frequently, and which tools offer the best ROI (see our recap on page 40).
One takeaway that stood out for me was the astonishingly high adoption rate of offsite construction among the general contractors and construction management firms. Of the 35 GCs and CMs that participated in the survey, 25 firms (71.4%) indicated that they use offsite/prefab construction on projects, and, incredibly, nearly half (45.7%, or 16 firms) use offsite construction on “all” or “many” projects.
Of the 10 firms that currently are not implementing offsite construction on projects, three firms are pilot-testing offsite processes and four are considering the approach for future application. That leaves just three firms (8.5%) that indicated they have zero interest in offsite construction—which means we’re looking at an adoption rate of more than 90% among the nation’s largest GCs and CMs.
When asked to pinpoint the single most significant AEC technology innovation their firm has initiated in the past year with positive results, DPR Construction’s National Director of Innovation, Kaushal Diwan, cited the use of multitrade/multiscope prefabrication through its strategic partnership with Phoenix-based prefab provider Digital Building Components: “The ability to take more complex work offsite while other work proceeds, then bring ready-to-install elements to the site is a significant advance in the use of prefabrication. With the existing labor shortage and desire to still have speed-to-market, we think we’re only beginning to see the possibilities.”
Speed, quality, advanced coordination, and schedule gains are commonly cited as benefits of offsite construction. But what about hard-dollar ROI?
“Our current metrics savings show that prefabricating with Digital Building Components offsite saves 10–20% on overall cost,” said Diwan. “It can save time by improving installation efficiency by 20–30%, and it increases quality by reducing rework to less than 1%.”
The caveat, added Diwan, is that these results “are only possible through deep adoption and integration with virtual design and construction and robotics technology, which Digital Building Components uses.”
Related Stories
| Nov 2, 2010
Wind Power, Windy City-style
Building-integrated wind turbines lend a futuristic look to a parking structure in Chicago’s trendy River North neighborhood. Only time will tell how much power the wind devices will generate.
| Nov 2, 2010
Energy Analysis No Longer a Luxury
Back in the halcyon days of 2006, energy analysis of building design and performance was a luxury. Sure, many forward-thinking AEC firms ran their designs through services such as Autodesk’s Green Building Studio and IES’s Virtual Environment, and some facility managers used Honeywell’s Energy Manager and other monitoring software. Today, however, knowing exactly how much energy your building will produce and use is survival of the fittest as energy costs and green design requirements demand precision.
| Nov 2, 2010
Yudelson: ‘If It Doesn’t Perform, It Can’t Be Green’
Jerry Yudelson, prolific author and veteran green building expert, challenges Building Teams to think big when it comes to controlling energy use and reducing carbon emissions in buildings.
| Nov 1, 2010
John Pearce: First thing I tell designers: Do your homework!
John Pearce, FAIA, University Architect at Duke University, Durham, N.C., tells BD+C’s Robert Cassidy about the school’s construction plans and sustainability efforts, how to land work at Duke, and why he’s proceeding with caution when it comes to BIM.
| Nov 1, 2010
Vancouver’s former Olympic Village shoots for Gold
The first tenants of the Millennium Water development in Vancouver, B.C., were Olympic athletes competing in the 2010 Winter Games. Now the former Olympic Village, located on a 17-acre brownfield site, is being transformed into a residential neighborhood targeting LEED ND Gold. The buildings are expected to consume 30-70% less energy than comparable structures.
| Oct 27, 2010
Grid-neutral education complex to serve students, community
MVE Institutional designed the Downtown Educational Complex in Oakland, Calif., to serve as an educational facility, community center, and grid-neutral green building. The 123,000-sf complex, now under construction on a 5.5-acre site in the city’s Lake Merritt neighborhood, will be built in two phases, the first expected to be completed in spring 2012 and the second in fall 2014.
| Oct 18, 2010
World’s first zero-carbon city on track in Abu Dhabi
Masdar City, the world’s only zero-carbon city, is on track to be built in Abu Dhabi, with completion expected as early as 2020. Foster + Partners developed the $22 billion city’s master plan, with Adrian Smith + Gordon Gill Architecture, Aedas, and Lava Architects designing buildings for the project’s first phase, which is on track to be ready for occupancy by 2015.
| Oct 13, 2010
Test run on the HP Z200 SFF Good Value in a Small Package
Contributing Editor Jeff Yoders tests a new small-form factor, workstation-class desktop in Hewlett-Packard’s line that combines performance of its minitower machine with a smaller chassis and a lower price.
| Oct 13, 2010
Prefab Trailblazer
The $137 million, 12-story, 500,000-sf Miami Valley Hospital cardiac center, Dayton, Ohio, is the first major hospital project in the U.S. to have made extensive use of prefabricated components in its design and construction.
