Buildtech Asia 15 Showcases Smart Builds

• Proeksa Meas
• 31 December 2015
• Construction Focus
• 1223 Views

Based in an advanced construction market, Singapore’s BuildTech Asia 2015 expo showcases the latest developments in construction technologies and materials for a smart built environment.

Hosted by the Singaporean government agency Building and Construction Authority (BCA) and organised by Sphere Exhibits Pte Ltd, a subsidiary of Singapore Press Holdings Ltd, the 3-day trade show was held on 13 -15 October at Singapore Expo’s Hall 3.

The BuildTech Asia expo, now in its fifth year as the region’s leading trade show for the built environment, was launched in conjunction with Singapore Construction Productivity Week. It features the latest construction technologies and materials and addresses the growing demands for smart building and construction technology in Asia.

The smart building market is expected to reach $1,036 billion by 2020, according to the Sphere Exhibits press release. Industry stakeholders are also increasingly recognising the need to adopt advanced technologies to gain a competitive advantage through higher productivity and efficiency, it added.

To support industry efforts toward greater productivity, BuildTech Asia 2015 showcased a wide range of products, machineries and smart construction technologies from almost 150 exhibiting brands from over 10 countries including Europe and America.

Major exhibitors attending the fair included Atlantic International, Bentley Systems, Industrial Concrete Products, Innocom Technologies, JP Nelson Equipment, Philipp Group and ST Building Solutions Pte Ltd, among many others.

Highlights at the show were key construction technologies and smart materials include the Building Information Modelling (BIM) technology which supports the DfMA approach for labour-efficient construction; cross laminated timber (CLT) / glued laminated timber (glulam), an innovative and eco-friendly timber product that can be used in place of steel, and concrete canvas – a flexible fabric that hardens to form a concrete layer when hydrated.

Five breakthrough technologies and new initiatives to enhance construction productivity were introduced by the Infocomm Development Authority of Singapore (IDA) during the show. IDA presented the use of smart technologies such as sensors, analytics and autonomous systems to help Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) in the built environment sector improve their productivity and growth prospects.

The solutions they displayed were; safety management using drones by Avetics, real-time measurement and monitoring by Trevis Technology, pay-per-use mobile tool for work site safety by IDD SolutionNet; real-time project monitoring by Magicsoft, and biometric work site manpower movement tracking by Intercorp Solutions.

Sphere Exhibits estimated that over 6,000 visitors from across the region attended the show.

Mr. Chua Wee Phong, Chairman of Sphere Exhibits Pte Ltd, said the show is committed to introducing key technologies to meet the needs of companies in Asia. “…With our new building technology section at BuildTech Asia, visitors from around the region could find a variety of smart construction solutions that will help them increase productivity in a competitive industry landscape.”

Construction in Singapore and advanced countries is gradually moving towards Design for Manufacturing and Assembly (DfMA) where it is designed for labour-efficient construction and to move as much construction work off-site as possible, said Dr. John Keung, CEO of BCA.“ Adopting advanced technologies that support DfMA is pivotal to the growth of Singapore’s built environment sector.”

The Singapore Construction Productivity Week this year also focused on smart construction technologies and improving integration and collaboration across the construction value chain.