Construction in the Virtual World

Andrew Zhao, Emerging Technology Strategist at Mott MacDonald, speaks exclusively to UK Construction Online about the emergence of augmented and virtual reality, and the potential applications for construction industry-wide.

How prevalent is augmented and virtual reality in the construction sector? What factors have contributed to its uptake?

Immersive technologies have certainly been making headlines for infrastructure. There are degrees of virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) being used at various aspects of the delivery process on major projects. While there remains a stark disparity between flagship projects and delivery as normal, this is beginning to change. The increase in availability of consumer VR systems and VR ready computers over the last year has been a key stepping stone in the use of VR across many industries.

How is Mott MacDonald putting augmented and virtual reality to good use? Has its implementation been at all difficult?

We’ve been exploring and utilising pre-consumer ready AR and VR on major infrastructure projects for a while now. However, it is far more challenging to take the knowledge from these specific projects and enable more members of the company to have the same capability globally. In order to do this, we are leading immersive technology innovation centrally within Mott MacDonald, specifically aiming to overcome the two hurdles of hardware and content creation.

How do you see augmented and virtual reality impacting construction best practice? How is this technology rationalising the built environment?

The thing to consider with immersive technologies is what you can only do using the technology and not through a proxy such as a laptop or a phone screen. It then comes into a spectrum of uses from pure VR through to pure mixed reality (MR).

Pure VR, contrary to popular belief, is not just about experiencing a shiny 3D model. Fundamentally it is about empathy, experiencing the world through the eyes, ears and hands of another person. The obvious use is for a designer, contractor or client experiencing the world through the end user or the operator maintainer’s point of view. However, VR offers so much more. Designers can experience a contractor’s point of view mid-construction, allowing for better and safer constructability. They can also see the perspective of someone with a visual impairment or another disability, delivering better signage and layouts.

AR and MR offer more than the often touted uses of checking progress against programme or stakeholder engagement. Engineers can begin designing right out in the field, which is only one step away from undertaking civil or structural calculations. This helps reduce the design and build decision making cycle significantly, which in a world where we have to react rapidly to environmental and climate changes can make the difference between an effective, resilient scheme and one that is delivered too late to make a difference.

How long is it before augmented and virtual reality is as commonplace as BIM, for instance?

Immersive technologies are emerging as a layer of new services which, in architecture, engineering and construction (AEC), are built on top of building information modelling (BIM). It is only on maturing our BIM processes that we can unlock the advantages of immersive technologies. Certainly, the rapid development of wireless and station-less VR converging with AR over the next few years will accelerate uptake. In fact, I see it riding closely on the coat-tails of BIM advancement. Where businesses have strong BIM capability, VR and AR usage will develop quickly over the next few years.

Does augmented and virtual reality have wider applications – training, for instance?

Beyond AEC, there are so many uses in entertainment, education and healthcare that can deliver, seriously democratise and disrupt traditional industries by providing better social outcomes.

What advice would you have for companies considering investment in augmented and virtual technology?

Immersive technology is a rapidly changing world, there will always be bigger and better technology coming over the horizon. It’s not just the technology that should be thought about when it comes to investment, it’s also the improvements and changes to processes, workflows, services and ultimately capability as a business.

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