Innovation & Technology

August 15, 2021

The App Helping Contractors Keep a Record of Worker Vaccinations to Accommodate New COVID-19 Rules for Construction Sites

Dean Oliver

A mobile app is now helping head contractors’ keep a record of vaccine certificates for all visitors to their site.

March 31, 2021

Why Haven't Buildings Become Productised? An Exploration of the Possibilities and Barriers to Buildings of the Future

Peter Greaves

While increasing populations and urbanisation are leading to rising demand for construction, pushing up revenues, both profits and affordability are decreasing. Cost and time are therefore becoming even more of an imperative for return on investment (ROI) and overall growth. Despite advances in technology, and the emergence of industrialised construction some 60 or so years ago, we are still ‘swinging hammers’ on site, creating buildings that are all unique and bespoke. Why is that?

March 30, 2021

‘Uber Eats for Construction Materials’: The Aussie App That Delivers Materials and Tools to Site

Jeanette Muscat

One app is tackling the problem of unplanned trips to the hardware store - which is estimated to cost around $2 billion in labour and vehicle expenses each year.

March 24, 2021

‘On-Site Factories’: The Companies Bringing Assembly Line Production to the Construction Site

Dean Oliver

When you see what these companies are up to, it may be a not-too-distant reality that we see job sites dominated by artificially-intelligent robots roaming around completing tasks that humans once did.

March 16, 2021

WATCH: The World’s First Height-Adjustable Crane System

Dean Oliver

The innovative crane system allowed Hutchies to comply with aviation requirements by encroaching into aircraft airspace during the day and lowering the crane at night below the maximum permitted height.

March 8, 2020

Australia's Top 5 Engineered-Timber Buildings

Dean Oliver

Currently, the world’s tallest timber building is Mjøstårnet in Norway, an 85 metre mixed-use complex completed in March 2019. But how is Australia doing in the timber construction space? Let’s look at Australia’s top 5 engineered timber buildings.

March 16, 2020

The Innovative Robotic Device Making Cranes Safer

Dean Oliver

Roborigger is a remote-controlled stabilisation system that eliminates the need for workers at the bottom of crane loads. It has been used successfully on several sites including the Adelaide casino, a Fortescue mine in the Pilbara and a demolition site in George St, Sydney.

March 26, 2020

Toyota’s Woven City: The City of the Future

Dean Oliver

Located at the base of Mount Fuji on an 175-acre, ex-factory site in Higashi-Fuji, the city will be powered by clean energy produced through hydrogen fuel cells and solar panels on building roofs.

March 30, 2020

Software Billionaire's Portable Solar Provides Power to Bushfire-Hit Areas

Dean Oliver

The collaboration between Atlassian Cofounder, Mike Cannon-Brookes, and solar company 5B is called the Resilient Energy Collective and uses prefabricated solar panels in conjunction with Tesla’s Powerwall battery pack to generate and store electricity.

April 6, 2020

This Smart Contact Lens Gives you Terminator Vision

Dean Oliver

Technology startup, Mojo Vision, is developing a smart contact lens they are hailing as the world’s smallest display. The contact lens projects information directly onto your eyeball, even focusing it for you so you can see it clearly.

February 26, 2020

Self-Driving Excavators Hit the Market

Dean Oliver

The software is powered by artificial intelligence, using cameras, LiDAR and GPS to guide heavy machinery to perform tasks autonomously around site. All this can be operated and monitored by a pilot in an off-site location.

April 10, 2020

The Technologies Revolutionising Site Inspections in 2020

Dean Oliver

Whilst slow to adopt innovation, construction is now integrating hardware and software to finally bring digital tools to the construction site.These are the technologies transforming how we undertake site inspections in 2020.

April 27, 2020

World's First Fully Electric Backhoe Released

Dean Oliver

The world’s first fully electric backhoe has been released by CASE at CONEXPO 2020.

May 13, 2020

A.I. Robot can Plaster, Render and Paint Autonomously

Dean Oliver

A fully autonomous wall plastering, rendering and painting robot is being developed by an Israeli robotics technology company.

May 6, 2020

Apps Detect Social Distancing on Site

Dean Oliver

Vinnie by SmartVid.io uses A.I. to recognise objects and identify risks through on-site cameras. It’s now been trained to identify when workers are too close to each other.

May 12, 2020

How your Sewage Could be Used to Make Stronger Concrete

Dean Oliver

Researchers at RMIT have shown that steel slag which has first been used to treat sewage could make concrete stronger than using raw slag.

May 17, 2020

‘Unfolds Like an Umbrella’: Innovative New Bridge Building Technique

Dean Oliver

The ‘balanced lowering method’ works on the same principle as opening up an umbrella.

May 29, 2020

Bushfire-Destroyed Bridges Reconstructed in as Little as 2 Days using Innovative Formwork System

Dean Oliver

InQuik have developed off-the-shelf lightweight formwork systems for abutments, wingwalls, headstocks, blade piers and decks.

June 4, 2020

Construction Safety Startup Raises $4M to Monitor Machinery Blind Spots

Dean Oliver

Toolbox Spotter has been trained by over 100,000 hours of video footage of worksites to learn how to identify workers and their behaviour. The tech has already been adopted by major players in construction, transport and mining including Transport for NSW, Metro Trains Melbourne, McConnell Dowell, Georgiou Group BHP, Fortescue Metals, Patrick and Aurizon.

June 26, 2020

These Companies are Turning CO2 into Concrete.. Could it be the Solution to Construction’s Emissions Problem?

Dean Oliver

This is a double win for concrete’s emissions as it cuts down emissions resulting from concrete production and captures additional CO2 from power plants that would otherwise go into the atmosphere. Then it permanently stores it in the concrete. 

September 21, 2020

Bricklaying Robot, Hadrian X, Builds Display Home in Perth after 15 Years of Development

Dean Oliver

This marks a major milestone for the company, Fastbrick Robotics (FBR), and provides validation that the technology can actually build habitable houses on real sites.

September 21, 2020

Stadium Roof Inspired by a Leaf ..and Other Winners from Australia’s Most Innovative Engineers 2020

Dean Oliver

“Innovations ranged from macro-scale pieces of infrastructure like railway stations and sports stadiums, to micro-scale technology like atomically thin materials,” says Engineers Australia CEO Dr Bronwyn Evans.

September 21, 2020

‘Google Street View for Construction Sites’ Coming to Australia after $15.9M Investment

Dean Oliver

360-degree reality capture technology company, OpenSpace, will start to rollout in Australia within the next 3 months off the back of a $15.9 million investment.

September 21, 2020

First-of-its-Kind Timber-Steel Hybrid Bridge Proposed for West Seattle

Dean Oliver

A proposal for the reconstruction of the failing West Seattle Bridge has been put forward that utilises a hybrid timber and steel arch structure. B+H Architects, SMEC and Robert Bird Group have put forward the unsolicited design proposal.

September 18, 2020

These Prestressed Steel Trays Allow Rapid Construction of Low-Mid Rise Buildings

Dean Oliver

An Australian company has developed a construction system for rapid low and mid-rise construction which the company says can reduce construction programmes by up to 50%.

October 5, 2020

Aurecon, SMEC Dominate at the Australian Engineering Excellence Awards 2020

Dean Oliver

The winners list includes the likes of the Sydney Metro, Canberra Light Rail, Albion Park Bypass and Newcastle Light Rail but also includes construction innovations such as University of Wollongong’s Desert Rose House and self-propelled modular transporters (SPMTs) developed by Gateway South (Fulton Hogan-Laing O’Rourke Joint Venture) for the Darlington Upgrade in South Australia.