Innovations in Construction

KEY INNOVATIONS IN CONSTRUCTION PROJECT

1. Building Integrated Modelling (BIM)

Although BIM is quite a sophisticated technology, its processes, innovations and activities that contribute to the success of the project are still evolving. The optimum utilization of BIM can be beneficial in numerous ways and can help reduce rework significantly, thereby saving on cost as well. It also helps in understanding the project quickly within a limited period of time, reduces the risk of items being missed out, helps in planning of logistics and early procurement, calculates quantities and detects clashes. The ability to analyse the project in the 3D environment helps in clear communication of ideas to the supply chain.

2. Jump Form Construction

Jump Form is a special type of form work for large vertical concrete structures which comprises of the formwork and the working platforms for steel fixing, concreting, cleaning and fixing of the formwork. It’s an effective solution for structures having a repetitive seamless form and it can be used to construct the staircase and life core of the building. The advantages for this technique is that they usually don’t require the crane to move them as its self-climbing which also increases the speed of construction as the vertical and horizontal parts of the building are constructed simultaneously, it minimizes labour, time, can sustain high winds and provides high quality surface finishes, which are easy to clean and reusing the same formwork prevents generation of waste.

3. Top Down Construction

Top down construction is a method, which constructs the permanent structural members of the basement, along with the excavation from the top to the bottom. It is mainly used for structures with deep basements (parking structure which consists of five basements) and where soil movements have to be minimized or tie-back installation is not feasible. The main advantage of this method is that the construction of the superstructure can be carried out simultaneously with the construction of substructure, resulting in saving of time and the cost of formwork, as the permanent slabs and columns are used to support loadings during construction.

4. Mivan Technology

Aluminium formwork systems commonly known as mivan technology are used to save cost, time, labour and improve the quality and accuracy of construction. Aluminium formwork is fabricated in factories and they are specially designed with joinery so that they can be quickly assembled and dismantled on site as required. This replaces the traditional formwork, which takes up a lot of time and labour in cutting as per sizes. They can be designed to cast any building component such as columns, beams, slabs, walls, and any other architectural features and can be used to cast concrete up to the 10th floor of the building. The same formwork is reusable up to 500 times and gives the concrete a superior finish, thereby, eliminating the need to plaster and can be directly painted .

5. Jump Lifts

These are conventional looking lifts designed and installed inside the permanent lift shafts by Kone. The innovative part is that the motor room is able to move up the lift shaft as the building is being constructed. The lifting capacity of these goods lifts can go up to 3.5 tonnes having a travel speed of 2.5 m/s which is significantly faster than the speed of the conventional external hoist travelling at 0.5m/s.

6. Quick Setting Concrete

It is a new solution for rapid hardening and fast setting of concrete which saves time and allows quick release of formwork (after 6 hours) and maintains workability for pouring up to 2 hours, thereby increasing the productivity for casting concrete up to the 10th floor. It also helps saving cost for renting construction equipment and doesn’t require any external heating for the concrete to achieve early and high strength [6].

7. Interlocking Blockwork

These blocks are shaped with interlocking parts,