Category: Technology

Key Takeaways:

• The Province of B.C. is proposing code changes that expand what builders can do with mass timber, including constructing structures up to 18 storeys.
• The changes would also allow for more exposed mass timber or fewer layers of encapsulation in buildings, depending on a building’s height.
• Officials say the changes would allow buildings, such as schools, shopping centres and housing to be built faster.

The Whole Story:

Mass timber may soon be going to new heights in B.C.  

Officials announced proposed changes to the building code that would enable taller mass timber buildings, as many as 18 storeys for residential and office buildings, instead of the current 12-storey limit. 

The changes would also allow for more exposed mass timber or fewer layers of encapsulation in buildings, depending on a building’s height, and allow more building types, such as schools, shopping centres and industrial facilities, to be built using mass timber.

Officials say the changes would allow buildings, such as schools, shopping centres and housing to be built faster, leading to a better environment and economy.

“These proposed mass timber building code changes align with our recent work to deliver more homes near transit hubs by allowing taller buildings and more sustainable housing options near transit,” said Ravi Kahlon, minister of housing. “These changes will also help reduce carbon pollution, support the forestry sector, create jobs, build more homes and lead to more vibrant, healthier communities.”

The proposed changes are posted for public comment on the Canadian Board for Harmonized Construction Codes website. After the comment period, the B.C. government will decide on what changes are ready to move forward and what changes, if any, need further technical analysis. Key changes are expected to be adopted as soon as spring 2024.

B.C. and Quebec spearheaded a joint task group to develop the proposed code changes on an accelerated timeline to expand mass timber in Canada. Once the public comment period is complete, a package of proposed code changes will be made available to provinces and territories to consider for adoption in their codes, and for future consideration for the national building codes. These proposed changes have also been reviewed by an expert technical advisory group made up of fire safety experts, regulators, engineering and building code experts from across Canada.

B.C. has a history of going tall with mass timber .Builders in B.C. made history in 2017 when they completed Brock Commons, a 12-storey student housing tower at the University of British Columbia. At that time, it was the tallest mass timber building in the world and required special approval and several structural reviews.  

The province introduced its Tall Wood Initiative in 2019. Local governments were invited to submit an expression of interest to be early adopters of mass timber buildings up to 12 storeys ahead of changes to the National Building Code. They were the first province in the country to allow mass timber construction at that height. 

Today a total of 22 communities can build mass timber buildings up to 12 storeys, including the City of Vancouver, which has similar provisions to those of the Mass Timber Initiative in its own building bylaw.

The proposed changes also come on the heels of the largest, most comprehensive mass timber fire testing in Canadian history.

Dubbed The Mass Timber Demonstration Fire Test Program, the national study looked at five scenarios using a two-storey, 334 square-metre mass timber structure.

The study suggests, even in the most severe instances, taller mass timber structures can provide a level of fire performance that is on par with similar concrete and steel-constructed buildings. The testing was observed by more than 150 experts from across Canada.

Key Takeaways:

• It was the largest, most comprehensive mass timber fire testing in Canadian history.
• The study suggests, even in the most severe instances, taller mass timber structures can provide a level of fire performance that is on par with similar concrete and steel-constructed buildings.
• The testing was observed by more than 150 experts from across Canada.

The Whole Story:

Canadian researchers have been investigating mass timber fire performance in the nation’s largest and most comprehensive testing to date.

Their report shows engineered wood products, such as cross-laminated timber, offer good fire performance comparable to non-combustible materials.

Dubbed The Mass Timber Demonstration Fire Test Program, the national study looked at five scenarios using a two-storey, 334 square-metre mass timber structure.

Researchers say this makes it the nation’s largest and most comprehensive mass timber fire research ever. The study suggests, even in the most severe instances, taller mass timber structures can provide a level of fire performance that is on par with similar concrete and steel-constructed buildings.

“This new series of fire testing shows that taller wood buildings, including those with exposed timber, do achieve fire safety standards and provide good fire performance comparable to other building materials. They provide strong evidence to evolve the National Building Code,” said Marc Alam, senior manager, codes and Standards for Canadian Wood Council.

The testing was observed by more than 150 experts from across Canada. Fire officials, building regulators, insurance industry representatives, engineers, and architects, as well as wood industry professionals and National Research Council of Canada (NRC) fire research experts, witnessed the fire testing firsthand.

“These tests are giving municipalities, code officials, fire services and insurers a lot of good information — and it was really helpful that many of these folks were able to see the tests as they were conducted,” said Steven Craft a fire engineering expert and founding principal at CHM Fire Consultants Ltd., one of the firms contributing to the fire test design and analysis. “It is becoming clearer through this research that mass timber buildings can perform well and it isn’t going to be any more difficult to put out a fire in these buildings than in a steel or a concrete building, when built to best practice standards.” 

Testing scenarios included a fully furnished residential suite as a baseline, exposed mass timber in an occupied residence, fire at a construction site, a more severe construction site fire and fire in an occupied office made of mass timber. 

Officials say that in all five tests, the test mass timber structure allowed for full burn out of the fire, whether the scenario was during construction or for a finished structure, in the rare event of no fire sprinkler activation or fire service intervention, and the stairwell was not adversely affected in any test. The tests concluded in the summer of 2022 and the report written by NRC was recently released.

“Through all the [mass timber] fire research that we’ve done to date, and over the last 15 years, I believe the experts have a very good appreciation for how we can design mass timber buildings to be safe and fire resistant. And these tests are showing how to go taller and expose more wood in these buildings while staying fire-safe,” said Craft.

Researchers noted that test results also show how open plan workplaces with exposed mass timber —an increasingly popular trend in office design—can be fire safe.

“In the open office floor plan test, the fire quickly died down on its own, showing that once the fuel load is consumed by the fire—basically the furnishings—the fire decays,” said Craft. “As follow-ups to past tests with smaller compartments, this new research shows we get as good or better performance in an open office scenario.”

The project team noted that the testing could benefit B.C.’s efforts to be a global leader in mass timber. 

“I anticipate the province, and the broader industry in B.C., will benefit from this comprehensive fire testing as the information obtained continues to streamline the building code, helping us tackle climate change and boost the construction of more sustainable, affordable housing”, said Keyes.

The research initiative was supported by the NRC, Canadian Wood Council, and federal and provincial governments.

The Canadian Wood Council will be giving a presentation that highlights the fire tests and results on November 16 in Vancouver as part of the inaugural WoodWorks Summit. To register or learn more go to woodworkssummit.ca.

The rise of artificial intelligence technology has been astounding. Experts are calling it a transformative paradigm shift that has every industry pondering how it can be used and what its implications will be.

Canada could be a major player as these technologies develop. According to a recent report by Deloitte, Canada ranked first in the five-year average year-over-year growth rate in AI talent concentration compared to G7 nations.

The number of AI patents filed nationally across Canada rose by 27% in 2021-2022 with 158 patents, and 57% in 2022-2023 with 248 patents. This rate of increase puts Canada second among G7 nations in 2022-2023.

“Canada has become the springboard to advance AI-fueled enterprises around the globe. Our openness to newcomers, our highly skilled workforce, our banking stability with access to global markets, and our commitment to a standard of living that is second to none has allowed us to translate our ideas and curiosity into tangible solutions that address real-world challenges and opportunities,” said Anthony Viel, CEO of Deloitte Cannada. “Our future success depends on embracing an entrepreneurial, inclusive, and responsible culture that generates—and delivers on—these ideas for good.”

The economic impact could be huge. It’s predicted that AI could contribute as much as $15.7 trillion to the global economy by 2030.

Here are a handful of AI companies in Canada that have turned their attention to the construction sector.

OpenHouse.ai

What if you could predict the right project for the right market? The OpenHouse.ai Builder Intelligence Platform provides insight into a potential home buyer’s preferences and demands for home builders. The AI-powered solution bolts onto a home builder’s existing website to understand what a buyer is looking for in a home. The company says this data provides accurate insight into a builder’s local market, so they can optimize community planning and design, maintain an optimal mix of floor plans, and de-risk their inventory programs. The company recently partnered with Calgary homebuilder Trico Homes to leverage AI in their development process.

Qii.AI

The Qii.AI team originally set out to create a drone inspection company, but soon found the mountains of data they collected needed to be managed and organized so it could be useful to clients. In 2020, they rebranded as Qii.AI and launched an enterprise platform that combines drone inspection software with a cutting-edge computer vision labeling tool and machine learning. Qii.AI says their deep knowledge of drone operation and the industrial sector give them unique insight for clients. The Qii platform was recently chosen by the Royal Canadian Navy for use in its ship inspection program.

Augmenta

One of Augmenta‘s early design partners put it this way: “It’s like you’re providing each member of my VDC team with their own VDC team.” The Augmenta team is on a mission to automate building design for contractors and engineers. The company says its tools can create highly cost, labor, time and energy efficient designs that are fully code compliant, error-free and constructible One of the Toronto startup’s current offerings designs electrical raceways 70% faster than the traditional way of humans doing it manually on computers.

Mercator AI

With clients like Chandos, DIRTT and Fillmore Construction, Calgary-based Mercator is making a name for itself in the Canadian market. Founded in 2020, Mercator AI says it can address a critical challenge for business development in construction – delayed project discovery. The company’s solution mines and analyzes millions of industry activities, transforming them into actionable opportunities. This helps clients identifies emerging projects, exposes competitive landscapes, and drives strategic business development with real-time data.

UBC’s Smart Structures Lab

Academia is also taking notice of AI’s potential in construction. Researchers at the University of British Columbia (UBC) have spent years developing AI-controlled robots that can analyze jobsites and perform construction activities. The school’s Faculty of Applied Science researchers recently demonstrated at a real site how their technology can transform construction vehicles — cranes, forklifts and excavators — into smart construction robots. The team said that they plan to continue testing their technology with builders in a variety of jobsite conditions.

Zetane

Montreal-based AI development company Zetane Systems is working with Pomerleau to apply AI algorithms and neural networks to help accelerate, de-risk and improve estimating processes. Zetane was chosen for the project after Pomerleau issued a call for small tech companies to help them improve estimating with AI. In 2022, Pomerleau announced it would be extending its work with Zetane to apply AI to pre-construction planning.

Maket

Designing a home doesn’t require hours of work or in-depth knowledge of complex computer programs. Maket is an end to end solution that uses ground-breaking research in generative AI, natural language processing and deep learning to automate the creation of floorplans based on programming needs and environmental constraints. The company says this can optimize creativity and efficiency. Maket caught the eye of Techstars, a mentorship-driven business accelerator, in 2021

Key Takeaways:

• DIGITAL will work with collaborative project teams from industry, government and academia to develop new ideas.
• The call will develop a portfolio of innovative digital solutions that can be shared and deployed across the province.
• Project proposals are encouraged to contemplate opportunities across the full life cycle of housing construction.
• DIGITAL’s Housing Growth Innovation Program is leveraging a $9 million investment over three years from the province.

The Whole Story:

DIGITAL, Canada’s Global Innovation Cluster for digital technologies, has launched a call for proposals under their new Housing Growth Innovation Program to grow housing production capacity in B.C.

The Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) report “Housing shortages in Canada: Updating how much housing we need by 2030” forecasts that B.C. will need to add hundreds of thousands of new housing units by 2030. Under the Housing Growth Innovation Program, DIGITAL will work with collaborative project teams from industry, government and academia to develop new ideas, find what works and action solutions that grow the construction sector and build more homes.

Project proposals are encouraged to contemplate opportunities across the full life cycle of housing construction including due diligence, design, construction and post-construction stages and those related to medium to large-scale residential construction, including prefab and mass timber. DIGITAL says there is also room to address friction points that inhibit growth through an open category aimed at systemic supply chain or market challenges as housing production capacity grows. 

DIGITAL stated that the call will develop a portfolio of innovative digital solutions that can be shared and deployed across the province to unlock the growth and economic potential of housing construction in B.C., and ultimately help grow housing stock.

“DIGITAL is proud to announce the launch of our Housing Growth Innovation Program, an effort that will leverage our proven approach to developing digital solutions to address the housing challenge in British Columbia,” said Sue Paish, CEO of DIGITAL. “We look forward to working alongside private industry, government and housing community partners to develop new ideas, find what works and action solutions for the benefit of all British Columbians.”

DIGITAL stated that it believes in assembling collaborative project teams to develop and drive forward innovative solutions to some of society’s biggest challenges. Its partnerships include but are not limited to builders, educators, professional service providers, not-for-profits, technology developers and government bodies. 

They argued that this approach allows teams to draw upon a larger range of skills, expertise and experience, thereby improving the quality of the innovations produced and ensuring they are ready for commercialization and real-world applications.

DIGITAL’s Housing Growth Innovation Program is leveraging a $9 million investment over three years from the province, which was announced in April 2023, as part of the Digital Housing Construction Initiative in their Homes for People Action Plan.

“This is another step forward in our government’s commitment to use existing technology and leading innovation to bring a more efficient permitting process to B.C. so we can build more homes, faster,” said Ravi Kahlon, minister of housing. “We are excited to see DIGITAL work with partners to advance digital innovation and increase productivity in British Columbia’s housing construction sector.”

Interested parties are encouraged to visit the Housing Growth Innovation Program call for proposals page for more details and to submit an Expression of Interest (EOI).

Key Takeaways:

• Researchers at the University of British Columbia (UBC) have spent years developing AI and robotic solutions for construction.
• They recently demonstrated that their robots can scan sites, create a digital twin and begin doing tasks that it recognizes as unfinished when compared to the BIM model.
• The team has also written algorithms that recognize humans and hazards so the robots will stop work if someone is in danger or adjust their path if something is in the way.

The Whole Story:

Autonomous construction robots are ready to graduate from the classroom and begin doing real construction work on jobsites. 

UBC Faculty of Applied Science researchers recently demonstrated at a real site how their technology can transform construction vehicles — cranes, forklifts and excavators — into smart construction robots powered by AI.

Structural engineer Dr. Tony Yang, a professor of civil engineering and lead researcher of the Smart Structures lab, believes these robots will help to speed up construction times, make construction sites safer and address labour shortages.

Yang and his team deployed their technology at a site on Mitchell Island in Richmond, B.C. for a crowd of construction company representatives. Aerial drones fitted with cameras captured details that were then used to create a digital twin of the site. AI-equipped cranes and forklifts used this information to move construction materials such as beams and columns around the actual site, navigating around obstacles without needing a human operator.

“So over the last few years we have been developing many novel AI algorithms to allow us to actually be able to execute this,” said Yang. “We’re riding on this wave because AI technology is now actually very mature and it can be easily applied. You can see cars driving by themselves. We can start using this kind of technology to do autonomous construction.”

Yang explained that the smart construction robots are able to recognize objects, performing detailed scans of structural components for quality assurance. They can precisely place objects on site and check against a computer model to ensure they’re building according to plan. They can make autonomous decisions such as navigating around obstacles or instantly stopping work to protect a worker who is in danger.

“Once these things become more mature and the first jobs get going, it will just roll it by itself because it’s cheaper, faster and safer and there is zero ramp up time,” he said. “You don’t need to train people. It’s already immediately deployed. So it will become the only way to do it.”

Yang believes AI and robots can help solve construction’s labour crunch in a way that is cheaper, faster and safer than traditional methods. 

“The new generations, like Generation Z and Generation X, they really don’t like to go to construction sites. It’s a very harsh environment. It’s tiring,” said Yang. “It’s getting very difficult to actually get skilled workers to work in many places. The idea behind this is now we can start building with robots. We can train the robot to do our jobs, to make the construction more efficient.”

He explained that this would eliminate laborious tasks and elevate skilled workers’ roles on a site. 

“I envision those skilled workers as skilled managers and they can start managing more projects, even remotely overseas. They can be elevated and the machines are doing the dirty jobs,” said Yang. 

Yang believes we are at a point where the technology works and is ready to be deployed, but the biggest barrier is the industry itself. 

“The construction industry is usually very reluctant to change,” he said. “One reason is because the business model is to have this crew of people and then charge by the hour. It’s like a big mothership and it can be difficult to change directions.”

Yang noted that previous implementations of AI and robots in construction pale in comparison to what can be done now. The technology has been used for painting or tiling but he believes it is ready for real construction work that creates the actual structure of a project. And while the industry may be reluctant to change, Yang says it is inevitable.   

“I think in the next 10 years, this is the only way to do business because no one will be there to do it,” said Yang. “Our skilled workers are retiring. They cannot do it. So it will be unavoidable. We are lucky we’re pushing the envelope, but there’s still a lot of work ahead of us.”

The demonstration was performed in front of dozens of construction company representatives and Yang said he and his team plan to continue developing the technology. 

Next on his radar is applying AI and autonomous machines to excavation tasks and working with local builders to test the technology out in a variety of situations and weather conditions.    

The construction industry needs to work together if it wants to address its many challenges. 

This was one of the main messages to come from the first-ever Construction Innovation Summit in Vancouver. The event, organized by the Independent Contractors and Businesses Association, brought together hundreds of the nation’s leaders for a two-day conference focused on pushing the industry forward. The event featured panels, keynotes and talks from some of construction’s brightest minds.

Getting better together

“Collaboration across everything — from architects, engineers, sub-trades, owners, and general contracts — was a very strong theme,” said ICBA President Chris Gardner. “To tackle the challenges that emerge in any project, the foundation is cross-discipline collaboration.”

The group organized the two-day conference in response to the increasing pressures builders face. 

“The theme of innovation in construction is a timely one because when you look at Canada as a whole, we have a big productivity and innovation challenge,” said Gardner. “It has been decades in the making.”

However Gardner noted that construction’s reputation for lagging when it comes to innovation isn’t completely justified. 

“I do think there’s a lot more technology and innovation in the industry than it gets credit for,” he said. “There’s roughly $5 billion invested each year across North America in software directly related to construction.”

But he believes more can be done and, with the multiple challenges the industry is facing, innovation is becoming a necessity. Gardner explained that in 2020 when the global pandemic hit it forced construction to rethink how it operates. This crisis was then followed by global supply chain disruptions. Then material costs rose, inflation became a national issue and interest rates are at record highs. This is on top of an ongoing labour shortage impacting construction and other industries. 

“We’ve sort of gone from one crisis to another and as a result, all these factors are driving contractors and construction leaders to do things better, build more with less and be more efficient,” said Gardner. 

It’s a challenge that trickles down to all Canadians. Gardner noted that the rising costs and risks associated with construction and development are contributing to the housing affordability crisis. 

“Part of dealing with affordability and bringing costs down is building more supply and using innovation to take some of the cost out of the building process,” said Gardner. 

He noted that government also has its own role to play by cutting red tape and approving projects faster. 

Following the pandemic, many have wondered if the industry will be getting back to normal. With the ongoing challenges, Gardner believes that this is the new normal. 

“We actually never got back to normal. COVID was the first big shock,” he said. “There have been lots of other shocks. One right now is the uncertainty of geopolitics. Turn on the news feed and it’s right there. I think everyone accepts that getting back to normal is something that doesn’t seem to be a path right now.” 

But he hopes that events like the Construction Innovation Summit can help galvanized industry leaders.

“There is a whole group of uncertainties but at the same time we need to build more housing and infrastructure,” he said. “The need for that isn’t going away. So it was great to bring everyone together and ask them how we can tackle these challenges.”     

Making construction’s voice heard

Dave Baspaly, president and CEO of the Council of Construction Associations (COCA) in B.C., focused on analyzing government action’s in the province and how the industry can make their voices heard. 

“There certainly has been a labour-leaning force right now that has moved a lot of things into play that have not been good for the industry,” said Baspaly. “And we have not been able to express the consequences because of the speed of the regulatory calendar.”

Baspaly explained that traditionally, changes moved more slowly. This gave the industry more time to react, give input and help shape health and safety regulations. Some of the rapid changes happening include topics like mental health, asbestos, soft tissue damage and job site bathrooms. 

“You have to slow it down and go at the pace of the people,” said Baspaly. “COCA is has been working hard with association members to slow things down. There is no need to go 100 mph with all these regulations concurrently. There is no prize for speed and it will just cause issues.” 

Baspaly also fears that B.C.’s approach could threaten the financial stability of WorkSafeBC. He believes rates will go up and the reserve will be bled down, undermining failsafe features. He also fears that rushed decisions could set precedents that will impact the industry for decades. 

“Once we enter into these situations, even with the best intentions, we end up with some regulations becoming really unworkable in the real world because it’s effectively just a cash transfer — moving money to move out benefits,” he said. “There is no way to repatriate those claims back to where they should be and eventually you have insolvency down the line. We need sustainable regulations that work for labour and the employer long-term. There is not point trying to win at the other’s expense.”

Baspaly stressed that writing emails and letters voicing industry concerns matters, especially when there are large numbers of people and companies doing so. He strongly encouraged the industry to voice their concerns directly or through associations that they are a part of. 

Taking the first steps toward innovation

Amy Marks, executive vice president of Symetri USA and YouTube’s “Queen of Prefab”, spoke about how builders can take their first steps towards innovation and her vision for the near future of construction. 

“I was incredibly impressed by this event,” she said. “You had leaders from all around the region coming together, having conversations, learning from each other. I think it’s important. It’s not about one company doing well when we are trying to address issues around needing more hospitals, data centres, roads and homes. All the boats need to rise and we have to get everybody to change as an ecosystem.”

Marks explained that this ecosystem includes architects, sub trades, general contractors, product manufacturers, engineers, lawyers, risk managers, procurement arms, government, owners and anybody else that touches the construction process. 

“It really takes an ecosystem’s attention and maturity to really enable business to be done differently,” she said.

Her talk also zeroed in on some small steps builders can take to begin industrializing their process. She demonstrated how Revit can integrate with a program called Naviate to start fabricating parts from BIM models. 

She also noted that many are looking to take advantage of AI, machine learning and other emerging tools. But she explained that one first needs to get a concrete idea of what their business goals are so they can begin structuring and organizing their data to accomplish those goals. 

“It’s almost like asking someone if they want to build a library for a third-grade class or if they want to create the Library of Congress. Those are very different,” she said. 

According to Marks, charging ahead with technology changes without a clear idea of what you want can just reinforce bad processes and lead to more waste. 

Looking to the future, Marks sees construction, like many other industries, shifting from being a process to being a product. She envisions an industry where parts of a building can be chosen by designers at the start of a project and that product’s performance, specifications, environmental impacts and other meta data is readily available. 

“You should start thinking about how to make a product out of what you make and how you can digitize it so someone can consume it in an organized manner,” she said.

She believes the mechanical, electrical and plumbing portions of buildings are especially ripe for this kind of innovation. 

“You want people to be able to design with certainty and have little waste,” she said. “A lot of money is made from wasteful business processes. People make money on the lack of information silos. I believe pressure has to come from the top down — the big owners, governments and others — and they have to start incentivizing people not to do that.”  

Brickeye, a construction data analytics technology company, has announced the successful first closing of a $10 million investment round.

The company welcomed new investors BDC Capital’s IP-backed Financing Fund and Graphite Ventures, with additional funding from existing investors GreenSky Ventures, Brightspark, EDC, and MaRS Investment Accelerator Fund. Brickeye intends to use the funds for continued growth of its risk mitigation and productivity platform for the construction and insurance industries.

“We are excited about the opportunities that lie ahead as we continue to innovate and empower the construction industry with our technology,” said Tim Angus, CEO of Brickeye. “This investment round reaffirms our commitment to providing game-changing solutions that reduce risk and drive productivity, ultimately benefiting everyone involved in construction projects.”

Harnessing the power of Internet of Things (IoT) technology, Brickeye’s suite of solutions enable job site monitoring, intelligent alerts and analytics, and smart automations. The company says this approach empowers general contractors, owners, developers, and insurance providers to better mitigate risk, boost productivity, and safeguard margins of high-rise building and infrastructure construction projects. Brickeye is transforming how insurance providers place, underwrite, and protect policies by helping insureds de-risk projects in pre-construction and mitigate risk during construction.

“Brickeye has enormous potential to positively disrupt the construction and insurance industries with its job site IoT platform which optimizes data capturing, risk management, productivity, as well as reducing the environmental footprint of construction sites,” said Anne-Marie Bourgeois, Partner, Intellectual Property-Backed Investment at BDC Capital. “The company’s IP strategy will be an important asset in its growth journey.’’

Jeevan Kalanithi, CEO and co-founder of OpenSpace AI, has seen artificial intelligence grow from a small, emerging field of technology into a powerhouse set to disrupt countless global industries. We spoke with the San Francisco-based tech entrepreneur about how he has seen the field of AI change and what areas of construction it could disrupt.

Be sure to catch Kalanithi and other industry experts in Vancouver, B.C. for the 2023 Independent Contractors and Businesses Association (ICBA) Construction Innovation Summit on Oct. 30th and 31st.

SiteNews: What is OpenSpace?

Jeevan Kalanithi: OpenSpace exists to simplify the lives of builders and what we do is pretty straightforward. Our core capture product makes it really easy to have a full visual record of any space, indoors or out. Think of it like Google Street View. You can image it as much as you want to, every day or every week, so you can see what is there without having to physically be there. And you can see what was there yesterday, a week ago, two weeks ago, five years ago. And the point of it is very simple. We want to create a record of what is actually happening on a job site. You don’t have to wonder what is there and you can replace the opinions, memories and really laborious workflows. Think of any RFI or change order issue, if you could just look and see what’s there you could resolve it in seconds instead of with a mountain of paperwork. What we built on top of it are AI-powered tools to understand what is actually in that imagery and reality data, and then classify and quantify it. We call it OpenSpace Track and with it can do things like tell you how much drywall you’ve hung versus taped versus framing and compute the percent complete and tell you if you are ahead of schedule or behind. You can start to really answer those productivity questions that are really at the heart of what builders do.

How did you get involved with AI?

AI was something I’d been interested in since college really. I did a degree called symbolic systems that was unique to where I went to undergrad. Think of it as a very technical cognitive science major. I did two concentrations, on in philosophy and the other was artificial intelligence. Then I went to graduate school and further pursued studies in artificial intelligence. So I have been doing AI stuff academically since college and, entrepreneurially, I have been applying these techniques to buildings since before OpenSpace. 

What are some misconceptions people have about AI?

First, AI is not just one thing. The way we think about it today is this text-based, generative AI system where you put text in and you get a bunch of text out or an image or something. But AI was a term coined in the 50s. Back in undergrad I took a class from a guy named John McCarthy, one of the “fathers” of AI. And in grad school I had one with Marvin Minsky, the other “father” of AI. It was pretty cool to see what those guys were working on. It was totally different stuff actually than what you see today. If you even go back and think about robotics and autonomy, that’s AI too. And it’s what has powered self-driving cars. Here in San Francisco, they work and I routinely take them around town. But that’s pretty different than generative AI. Even further back to the systems that beat Garry Kasparov at chess. Those were a totally different flavour of AI. It’s not just one thing and the different sub-branches will that different applications for builders. The second misconception is that these systems think like human beings do. They don’t really. The latest AI systems don’t really. One way of thinking about it is that they don’t know what they are talking about. They give very knowledgeable and cogent responses but it’s not clear that they have a deeper conceptual understanding of what they are talking about. The third misconception is that we have a good understanding of how these technologies will influence how we live and work. We don’t. These things are going to evolve in ways that are shocking and surprising and that we can’t even think of today. 

How might these emerging technologies change how we build things?

I think architecture is going to change a lot and engineering too with generative design. These systems are getting really good at taking plainly spoken parameters and turning them into designs. So these armies of junior architects doing detail work, that might go away. It would be great. It would empower architects to do the more creative design work that we actually want them to be doing. I also think there will be applications for robotics on the job site to help alleviate labour shortages, but I don’t think it’s going to be “Terminator” robots building the way people are building. They will just look like tools that are a bit more autonomous. Think about the evolution from hammer to nail gun. That was a big deal. Using a hammer is pretty annoying if you are used to a nail gun. I think these robotic solutions will feel that way. It’s not going to be doing general purpose things, it will be specific. I also think the ability to have a clear, indisputable record of the project to make decisions is going to get a lot better. Computer vision and AI is going to allow us to not need to go to these job sites and make reports. We can have the answer at our fingertips no matter where we are. I think this will really change how labour is distributed. And by labour I mean both white collar jobs and people actually doing the building. Lastly, and I think this will be pretty transformative, I think the amount of paperwork has a chance to go down significantly. Because so much of the reporting and paperwork in construction is based on trying to have an accurate record of what’s there. Think of RFIs as an example of that. AI has the opportunity to put real data at people’s fingertips and get rid of a lot of that unnecessary paper pushing. I think that will change a lot of roles for people who have construction management degrees. They will be able to spend more time out in the field helping get things built. It may even help us contract differently. There could be less need to divy up the risk into buckets. You could have an AI-powered transparency layer that can more effectively allow people to prove their work and share the risk. 

How has AI changed and evolved over the years?

When I was studying AI in college, some of its true pioneers were there. It really was the cutting edge at that time. But AI at that time was very much about rules-based logic systems, like a system that can do logical proofs was what people thought of as being AI. That changed a lot once I got to grad school. The focus was really on machine learning or statistical methods. It’s just about recognizing patterns. The math of that was different and it was also enabled by the amount of data generated by the internet. So you could actually start training these pattern recognition systems in a way that wasn’t practical in the 80s and 90s. I remember my first neural network I built as an undergrad. It sounds amazing but it was just a classroom assignment. It was able to recognize pictures of letters and classify them as an “A” a “B” or a “C” and so on and classify it. The level of sophistication for that vs. what I did in grad school vs. what we are doing now is almost the difference between a single celled organism and a tiger. The amount of change is absolutely insane and I would say that the biggest change between grad school and now is the amount of computing power we can dedicate to AI problems now would have been ridiculous and impractical even 10 or 15 years ago. So a lot of the methods and math that people knew about back then was just theoretical. But now you can actually build a system that does that. The amount of data these systems can consume and the amount of computing power we can devote to them was unimaginable even a few years ago. That’s creating huge unlocks where you can create systems with unbelievable sophistication that wouldn’t have been practical even two or three years ago. 

How can builders prepare for the changes AI could bring?

Focus on your business and the actual problems you want to solve. There is so much BS and snake oil out there, which is true of so many industries, including technology ones. Don’t be afraid to focus on your issues and don’t worry too much about missing the boat. Second, pay attention to the more tech-interested folks on your team and see what they are messing around with. That doesn’t mean they will be right about everything but they can be your antennae to hear what’s out there. You don’t need to be going to computer vision conferences yourself. Reading is good. Subscribe to the MIT Technology review. It is written in plain english and has great articles in it. It gives you a sense of what is going on. Thirdly, don’t be afraid to experiment with new things, especially things your team is bringing to you. Give it a shot and see if it actually helps you. Lastly, see what your competitors are doing. You don’t need to be an expert in AI. You are an expert builder. That is what you should focus on and why you are awesome for society. You don’t need to try everything, just things that help you run your business more effectively.

Get tickets to see Kalanithi and other cutting edge construction leaders at the ICBA Construction Innovation Summit here.

Key Takeaways:

• The fifth Woodrise International Congress will take place Sept. 22-26 in Vancouver in 2025.
• This year’s congress is taking place in Bordeaux, France and has 3000 participants from 20 different countries.
• FPInnovations will serve as the Canadian organizer for the 2025 event.

The Whole Story:

The world’s mass timber community is coming to B.C. 

Global experts in mid- and high-rise timber construction will gather in Vancouver from Sept. 22-26, 2025, for the fifth Woodrise International Congress.

Started in 2017, Woodrise brings diverse stakeholders together around a shared goal of low-carbon construction and sustainable cities.

“I am proud that Vancouver will host Woodrise 2025. B.C.’s entrepreneurs and construction industry professionals are excited to showcase their work and our local talent,” said Premier David Eby. “Our province is a leader in wood and mass-timber construction. This is a perfect match between event and location.”

Officials noted that per capita, B.C. has 11 times more mass-timber buildings than the rest of North America and is a leader in wood and mass-timber construction. In addition, Vancouver is a centre for North America’s leading timber design and engineering professionals.

“Mass timber is a strong, clean building technology that is at the centre of our province’s future construction blueprint,” said Brenda Bailey, minister of jobs, economic development and innovation. “Through our Mass Timber Action Plan, the B.C. government, First Nations and industry are taking a leadership role in wood construction.”

FPInnovations is part of the international Woodrise organizing committee, along with FCBA, a technological institute dedicated to promoting the forest and wood products sector in France, and the Japan International Association for the Industry of Building and Housing. As the Canadian organizer of Woodrise, FPInnovations is a private non-profit organization specializing in the creation of solutions that support the global competitiveness of the Canadian forest sector.

FPInnovations’ team of researchers has produced numerous guides and reference tools that have helped evolve building standards in Canada and around the world in recent years. FPInnovations has research and development laboratories in Quebec City, Montreal and Vancouver, and technology-transfer offices across Canada.

“Canada has a rich portfolio of projects in the field of mid- and high-rise timber construction,” said Stéphane Renou, CEO, FPInnovations. “The construction of the Brock Commons Tallwood House building, an innovative 18-storey hybrid building, which was the tallest mass-timber building in the world, was the just the beginning of innovative leadership for B.C. in the mass-timber industry.”

It is not the first time Canada has hosted. The conference was held in Quebec City in 2019.

Key Takeaways:

• Vancouver is looking to speed up development processes with digital tools.
• Last month they launched the interactive digital Project Requirement Exploration Tool (PRET) and its first iteration is streamlining laneway home development.
• Vancouver is also asking the province for statutory changes to simplify procedural requirements for rezoning so more projects may proceed without the need for rezoning.  

The Whole Story:

The city of Vancouver is looking to streamline laneway home construction. 

Last month the city launched the interactive digital Project Requirement Exploration Tool (PRET), which allows applicants to research and understand all regulations and requirements associated with their site. 

The first iteration of PRET’s digital features helps applicants in residential, single-family zones explore if a laneway house is allowed on the property, identify required permits and determine if construction of their laneway is feasible, all before they submit an application. PRET helps applicants ensure their projects are consistent with zoning requirements, which officials say will significantly reduce the time required to process and issue those permits. 

“We’re proud to unveil a digital permitting tool to simplify, speed up and modernize permitting,” said Mayor Ken Sim. “By launching the PRET for laneway homes we are taking an important step, bringing us closer to the 3-3-3-1 goals for permitting approval timelines and meeting the provincial housing targets, underscoring our all-hands-on-deck approach to getting homes built faster.” 

As part of the launch process, the city invited frequent laneway house applicants to evaluate the interactive technology and provide feedback. Participants commended how the tool’s eligibility check and tailored list of required documents supported them in submitting complete permit applications.

“We are grateful to industry members who took part in testing the Project Requirements Exploration Tool (PRET),” said Andrea Law, general manager, development, buildings and licensing. “The City will continue to work with residents and businesses as we evolve PRET to include more project types in more zones in Vancouver.”

Upcoming improvements to Vancouver permitting in the near term include:

• Expanding PRET to include more project types and areas in Vancouver.
• Expanding the fast-track renovation permits to include commercial renovations. 
• Further simplifying land use policies and guidelines, and recommending council revoke several existing land use policies.
• Eliminating a significant number of additional development permit conditions.
• Expanding the auto-issuance of some sprinkler permits online.  

In addition to this work, the city is advocating to the province for statutory changes to simplify procedural requirements for rezoning so more projects may proceed without the need for rezoning.  

Key Takeaways:

• B.C. is working on developing a new digital building permit tool to position it as a North American leader in digital permitting and construction.
• The tool is intended to simplify the submission of building permits, speeding up the approval process and ensuring compliance with the BC Building Code.
• The tool is expected to begin testing in partnership communities by March 2024, with plans to expand its use to other communities. 

The Whole Story:

B.C. is working on a new digital permitting tool to speed up the development of homes. 

“People will soon see new homes approved faster as we make good on our commitment to position B.C. as a North American leader in digital permitting and construction,” said Ravi Kahlon, minister of housing. “We are excited to start work together with our partners to design and then implement this new digital building permit tool, so we can speed up the delivery of new homes and create the types of housing options people need in B.C.”  

Currently, many jurisdictions in B.C. rely on a paper-based application process for new housing developments that leads to delays and slow approval times. The latest municipal benchmarking study commissioned by the Canadian Home Builders’ Association of BC found that it takes on average 13-14 months to approve rezoning and development permits and over 20 months for a subdivision application.

Once completed, the new digital building permit tool is expected to make it faster and simpler for builders and developers to digitally submit building permits for new housing and for local governments to receive and process the application. The tool will also automatically review the submission to ensure it is compliant with key parts of the BC Building Code to prevent any delays with the submission process.

Officials stated that establishing a provincial building permit submission tool is the first step toward a modern housing development process that embraces innovation and digital collaboration technologies like building information modelling (BIM). 

The Ministry of Housing is also working with the National Research Council of Canada to make construction codes machine readable, which will allow for more automated and faster permit reviews in the future.

“A fast, efficient permitting process is key to ensuring infrastructure projects are able to move forward in a timely manner,” said Lisa Beare, minister of citizens’ services. “Citizens’ Services staff are lending their expertise to help develop the new digital permitting tool which will help make this happen.”

The tool is being developed through a pilot partnership between the province, 16 local governments and one First Nations government that will implement the new digital building permit tool. The tool is expected to begin testing in partnership communities by March 2024, following which it will be expanded into other communities.

In addition, the province has also created a new digital advisory council to provide strategic advice. The council will include representatives from 12 leading organizations across the housing development system, such as construction organizations, engineers, architects, local governments and the tech sector. The council will begin regular meetings this fall.

“Digitizing the BC Building Code and building permit processing will help builders more efficiently obtain approvals to deliver the homes and job spaces British Columbians need,” Anne McMullin, president and CEO, Urban Development Institute. “UDI is pleased to participate on the digital advisory council for this pilot partnership and is committed to working with the government on innovative solutions like this.”

These projects follow efforts to digitize the BC Building Code and establish a single-application portal for provincial housing permits and authorizations, which was launched in September 2023. Ministries are working to integrate different types of permits across the housing development process, with a common goal of making permitting processes for housing more transparent and easier for homebuilders and developers to understand how to comply with permit and regulatory requirements.

“This is an important initiative that is designed to help get more housing built faster and to mitigate costs related to delays,” said Tom Dyas, mayor, Kelowna. “The City of Kelowna has been working on a similar system over the past year and is eager to share our learnings as well as learn what else can be done by working collaboratively across governments.” 

Kelowna has partnered with Microsoft to develop AI tools to help developers get through the permitting process faster. 

Key Takeaways:

• STACK Construction Technologies was chosen for its platform’s data availability, cloud collaboration, data security, and integration capabilities.
• STACK also features an open API to help streamline workflow.
• The Ohio-based tech company was created by a former roofing contractor who also helped create construction data company ConstructConnect.

The Whole Story:

PCL Construction has chosen STACK Construction Technologies to optimize its preconstruction process. 

PCL officials stated their team connected with STACK after they recognized a more powerful preconstruction solution was needed to support their continued growth and profitability.

“As we broaden our capabilities and move further into the GC space, this partnership validates that STACK is a serious player in construction technology,” said Phil Ogilby, CEO and co-founder of STACK, cloud-based construction platform. “STACK is one of the most intuitive and collaborative preconstruction platforms in existence today. We’re thrilled to be able to offer STACK’s open API to help streamline the PCL workflow in a way that no other solutions on the market can.”

PCL said it chose STACK based on the platform’s data availability, cloud collaboration, data security, and integration capabilities. They added that STACK is streamlining the preconstruction processes with its innovative and hyper-accurate takeoff feature that enhances estimating capabilities.

“As part of a modernization of our estimating solutions, experts within the PCL estimating team did a broad market scan for quantity takeoff solutions,” said Brad Ens, preconstruction manager for PCL in Calgary. “Our hands-on approach of evaluating several competing products included functional verification that ultimately led us to select STACK as our tool of choice for quantity takeoff.”

By leveraging STACK’s open API, PCL is able to easily integrate their existing workflow to produce better estimating data. STACK explained that PCL will have unparalleled flexibility and accessible data, increasing the precision of estimates, minimizing manual processes, and supporting better-informed decision-making. With over 30 offices across the U.S., Canada, Australia, and the Caribbean, STACK will also further empower PCL’s team collaboration.

“A key decision criterion for PCL was based on the fact that STACK is built on a modern cloud technology platform which enables improved collaboration during the quantity takeoff process,” said Kevin Sundquist, senior relationship manager, business technology at PCL Construction. “Equally important, STACK comes with a modern integration layer that allows us to realize efficiencies for our estimators by integrating takeoff into the rest of our estimating solution suite. This cloud-first approach aligns with our overall technology strategy, driving both technology and business efficiencies.”

Coordinating technology at one of the country’s biggest general contractors is a big job.

As chief information officer for PCL, Bryant is responsible for the strategic and innovative advancement of information technology (IT) within the PCL family of companies. He has more than 30 years of IT expertise, having served in the financial services, software, manufacturing, and AEC (architecture, engineering, and construction) industries.

He is a recipient of numerous awards over the last decade including being named one of ENR’s Top 25 Newsmakers in 2018, and in 2019, Canadian CIO of the year for the private sector category, by the Information Technology Association of Canada.

We spoke with Bryant about how large contractors are implementing technology, what sort of technology is on PCL’s radar and how we can make construction smarter.

Be sure to catch Bryant in Vancouver, B.C. for 2023 Independent Contractors and Businesses Association (ICBA) Construction Innovation Summit on October 30th and 31st. He and many other industry experts will be discussing how to push the construction sector forward.

SiteNews: How do you approach modernization efforts at PCL?

Mark Bryant: I am in my 11th year now with PCL. When I joined, we were called systems and technology. But we rebranded and rethought how to deliver technology. Internally, today, we are called business technology. That is critical because my approach has always been to not deliver IT products from a technology perspective. It has been to partner with the business and their needs and marry with the business process by working with people. I get my hard hat and boots on and I walk the site with the team. I bring people that write code, people that do the help desk and others, we ask questions and we see how people in the field use our technology and software. We get to hear from people in the field: “I wish I could do this.” 

What do you think are some of the most promising new technologies that have applications in the construction sector?

Microsoft recently announced Copilot. It’s not available in the wild right now and it uses ChatGPT. We actually just signed an agreement with them recently. We will be able to onboard a private preview for 300 users and the license lasts a year. It’s all shiny and new. I think the term “AI” gets thrown around quite a bit without actually being AI. It’s just mining data. What ChatGPT and Microsoft are doing with Copilot will allow us to mine our data easier. That’s what I am really excited about. I believe it’s going to enable knowledge management to adeptly and smartly mine PCL databases so we can make smart decisions and access knowledge across the company. I see it as an internal knowledge platform where we can privately and securely mine our own databases. That excites me. It’s akin to having Google but just for PCL. Copilot allows us to connect disparate data sources and ask PCL-specific questions. 

What are some of the biggest challenges construction companies face when they begin digitizing their operations?

The cost of digitization and taking that leap to make the investment. The second, and it’s not necessarily in this order, is the change management component of people. You have people who have always done something a certain way and when you replace that with technology, that change is a challenge, a big one, and it’s not unique to construction. When you are investing in technology projects, you have to make sure it includes training employees. And you also have to make that training consistent, attainable and available years down the road. What happens in 12, 24 or 36 months when you hire hundreds more people? How do you get those people trained? 

What prompted PCL to create its own team to develop software in-house?

We are an underserved market and now companies are wanting to service it. They see a massive amount of capital but they don’t understand the margins in construction. They see big numbers like $500-million buildings, but margins are relatively low and that’s why digitization hasn’t seen a major pickup. Startups often over-price their product and they often don’t understand construction. Our take on this is if our people have the intellectual property of what they want and if we have people internally that can build it, we can do it cheaper and better than the market can. We have multiple vertices and very unique construction products. When we build something internally we have more knowledge, so let’s just take out the middleman and the headache.

What steps do you think the industry needs to take to make construction smarter?

Lots of information is passed around and the efficiency of how that information passes isn’t great. Standardizing how things get handed off and built is one of the first things that should be tackled. In the UK, BIM is mandated but there is no structure around that in North America. It’s a free-for-all. Certain business processes could be leaned and the technology could be used both more effectively and efficiently. When it comes to safety, many use different products from a tech perspective. And probably all have slightly different processes. Maybe 80% are similar and 20% do something different based on things that have happened. It’s not necessarily a framework that drives consistency. And you have companies like Procore and Autodesk trying to own the complete lifecycle that compete. So there’s a lot of bifurcated standards and products from job to job which makes things challenging. There is no easy button. I would also say that if you look at the engineering space, it’s been consolidating rapidly. When I was at MMM Group, there were about seven acquisitions and then they got swallowed up by WSP. In Canada there are essentially two major ones: WSP and Stantec. You haven’t seen much of that in construction and there are pros and cons to that. The industry is very complicated, large and diverse. You have big and small players, thousands and thousands of companies. It’s a completely bifurcated industry with a complex supply chain. It’s mind boggling and it’s the oldest profession in human kind. We have always built as humans. And that’s what excites me… it’s constantly evolving and maturing and we will get there one day. 

Sign up to attend the Construction Innovation Summit Oct. 30-31 where you can hear more from Bryant and other construction leaders.

Key Takeaways:

• Modern Niagara has chosen to partner with Vroozi.
• The parties will work together to simplify the procurement process while enhancing control and visibility.
• Modern Niagara noted it that challenges often arise when it comes to procuring essential materials for construction projects and managing on-site inventory.

The Whole Story:

Procure-to-pay platform Vroozi is partnering with Modern Niagara — one of Canada’s largest national mechanical, electrical, building services, and integrated building technology contractors — to simplify the contractor’s procurement process while enhancing control and visibility.

“We are thrilled to partner with Modern Niagara to revolutionize procurement and accounts payable within the construction industry,” said Shaz Khan, CEO and co-founder at Vroozi. “With our flexible and intelligent no-code platform, Modern Niagara’s on-site personnel can easily purchase the materials they need for projects, while central procurement can maintain control and visibility over spending. This partnership will not only enhance operational efficiency but also generate substantial cost savings.”

Modern Niagara specializes in constructing state-of-the-art buildings with a unique approach. By pre assembling essential components, such as pipes and sheet metal, in their warehouses, Modern Niagara says it drastically improves construction efficiency and expedites project timelines. 

However, they noted that challenges often arise when it comes to procuring essential materials for construction projects and managing on-site inventory. Recognizing this hurdle, Modern Niagara sought a forward-thinking solution that would simplify the procurement process and provide more visibility into spending across their job sites. The company landed on Vroozi, whose platform offers a mobile interface that eliminates the need for extensive technical know-how and exposes cost savings opportunities by project.

“The world of construction is evolving rapidly, and to keep pace, it’s imperative we incorporate tools that optimize our processes end-to-end,” said Mo Abdelrahim, senior director of national procurement at Modern Niagara. “Partnering with Vroozi is a strategic move in this direction. We believe this step will not only elevate our procurement and payment workflows but also set a benchmark for the industry.”

What gets measured, gets managed.

That’s thinking from Procore Technologies when it comes to helping transform the construction sector. 

The construction management software provider is on a mission to identify and generate hard data on how builders are faring and areas that can be improved. 

The Procore team recently released its second How We Build Now report. More than 500 industry stakeholders were surveyed about general sentiment of the Canadian construction industry, the digital maturity and adoption of construction technologies, as well as the challenges and opportunities that businesses face.

Data fuels proactive decision-making

The first iteration of the report was released in 2020 right as the COVID-19 pandemic was throwing construction and every other sector into uncertainty. It also came at a time when many other topics were coming to the forefront, including digital adoption, sustainability, diversity and inclusion, labour shortages and supply chain constraints. 

“What we found is that construction is going through a big period of transformation,” explained Nolan Frazier, a sales leader at Procore. “And it’s useful to look at multiple areas at once when thinking about this industry.”  

And while these are things that the industry has been aware of for some time, Frazier noted that having quantifiable data on them is important. When companies have access to real-time and historical data, it allows them to be proactive in making business decisions rather than reactive.

“Our company mission is to improve the lives of people who work in construction,” he said. “We are a member of this industry, and whatever we can do to support as it undergoes this transformation, that’s what we are here to do in every way we can.”

Both iterations explored the general sentiment of the industry, but the first report did have some focus on the impacts of the pandemic. Now that the pandemic’s impacts have been waning, the 2023 report was able to be broader in scope. 

“Those types of events don’t happen as frequently,” said Frazier. “Whereas, what we are dealing with now, people have gone through this cycle before, and some people in the industry are used to moving through this type of situation when it comes to inflationary pressures, interest rates, skilled labour constraints, supply chain constraints and what not.”

Emerging themes

One major data point from Procore’s latest report is the impact of rework.

“Most builders would tell you that rework wastes a lot of their time,” said Frazier. “In this report we were actually able to get metrics for it.”

The survey shows 27% of the total time spent on a project is spent on rework or rectifying issues. The report also found that 25% of executives at general contractors and owners that were surveyed are women. And just 4 in 10 of the companies surveyed have a diversity, equity, inclusion policy in place.

These are just two examples of areas that the industry has been concerned about, but now there is a baseline of data to track growth. 

“This gives us something that we can act upon as an industry,” said Frazier. “We can work on how to move those numbers.”

Zooming in to regions

Procore’s latest report is also offering a unique look into Canada’s specific construction markets. 

Frazier explained that the report shows how the thinking and issues of builders fluctuated by province. 

“When we hear the news, we can all make assumptions about B.C. versus Ontario and so on, but to see the data come out with the survey results, it’s something more quantitative that helps us further the conversation,” he said. 

In the coming months, Procore plans to team up with The Home Depot and industry associations to take their report on the road. They will host panel discussions and networking events around their findings with industry leaders. 

“We are really looking forward to meeting with Canadians in these markets and talking about the issues that they face every day,” said Frazier. 

Self improvement 

He added that connecting with the industry through the report and the resulting discussions plays a critical role for Procore itself. 

“We look to these builders and stakeholders to let us know where they want to go,” said Frazier. “And our role in that is to help them get there. So understanding their priorities, their areas of focus and their strategic priorities helps us understand what we need to be working on and what we invest in as a business.” 

The data shows the industry has immense demand and builders are beginning to embrace technology as a way to deliver more work and overcome some of the limitations of labour, time and budget.

“We are seeing a consistent desire to modernize the industry and the tools it uses,” he said. 

“From the first survey, the results around the adoption of technology, and people involved in software evaluation has increased. As an industry, I think a lot of the builders are accepting that technology isn’t something that is just nice to have. They know that they need to find a way to adopt it and incorporate it into their businesses.” 

Get your own copy of the report and check out its findings here. 

Key Takeaways:

• The funding round included participation from Clean Energy Ventures, its angel investor collective CEVG, Amplify Capital, and strategic investors, Oxy Low Carbon Ventures, CRH Ventures, and Cemex Ventures and others.
• The funding will be utilized to deploy multiple commercial projects, including two co-located directly at cement plants.
• Carbon Upcycling’s technology sequesters industrial CO₂, reduces the carbon footprint of cement, and improves concrete performance. 

The Whole Story:

Calgary-based decarbonization company Carbon Upcycling Technologies Inc. has closed a $34 million Series A funding round co-led by BDC Capital’s Climate Tech Fund and Climate Investment.

The syndicate includes participation from existing financial investors, Clean Energy Ventures, its angel investor collective CEVG, Amplify Capital, and strategic investors, Oxy Low Carbon Ventures, CRH Ventures, and Cemex Ventures, which are all enhancing their financial support with commitments to strategically-relevant projects. 

Company officials explained that the funding will be utilized to deploy multiple commercial projects, including two co-located directly at cement plants. They expect the projects to demonstrate the cost-effectiveness of Carbon Upcycling’s all-electric solution that mineralizes CO2 emissions from industrial facilities and upcycles industrial byproducts into materials that reduce the carbon footprint of cement and concrete. 

“Closing this round is a major milestone on the road to becoming the most impactful carbon tech company of this decade,” said Apoorv Sinha, founder and CEO of Carbon Upcycling. “Over the next year, our mission is to demonstrate our technology’s versatility, scalability, and operational elegance. Proving significant, cost-effective decarbonization potential in the cement industry is possible without a green premium.”

Pascal Lanctot, a partner with BDC Capital’s Climate Tech Fund said that Carbon Upcycling is a prime example of a Canadian company addressing a high-emitting sector.

“BDC’s role is to drive economic benefits for Canada by growing one business at a time. Apoorv and his team have positioned Carbon Upcycling for rapid growth,” said Lanctot. “The scale-up of the company’s technology will enable cross-industrial collaboration between cement, steel, mining, and other heavy industries and help build a clean, low-carbon, circular economy. This is exactly what our Climate Tech Fund II aims to do.”

Technology is changing every aspect of construction. As computers become smaller, cheaper and more powerful, they are being implemented in every corner of the sector. In the case of heavy equipment operation, developers can create powerful simulations that help new operators prepare for the field without fear of hurting themselves, other people or machinery. We reached out to Quebec-based CM Labs to learn more about how these training systems are developed and where the technology is heading.

SiteNews: What services does CM Labs provide for the construction sector?

CM Labs: For more than 25 years, CM Labs has focused on heavy equipment operator simulation training. With over 1,000 simulation installations in 39 countries, CM Labs offers an incredibly realistic experience through patented Smart Training Technology and a motion-enabled platform. Our Simulation Training Packs provide a comprehensive immersive simulation learning program for the safe training and assessment of operators.

CM Labs Smart Training Technology and motion-enabled platform provide users with an incredibly realistic experience. CM Labs offers three types of platforms: a desktop version, a motion-enabled single-screen option, and a fully immersive experience with up to five-screens.

CM Labs sells Simulator Training Packs for use with the platform for earth moving and lifting equipment. Clients can also benefit from our consulting services, SimGuide with our SME for integration, curriculum and to make the most of their CM Labs training. Additionally we offer engineering services that can add additional exercises (such as IBEW and ETA have their own curriculum on Boom Truck), white label training solutions (such as Tigercat), as well as full turnkey solutions through our Partnership Program for OEM’s such as John Deere.

How has the technology for training simulators changed since CM Labs was founded in 2001?

Over the past 20 years we have seen the following changes: 

• Improved graphics resulting in better learning retention and more realistic scenarios.
• More efficient CPUs and GPUs allow us to be more accurate with our models and our physics
• Higher resolution, lighter, thinner displays mean simulators can be more immersive and portable
• Improved data processing capabilities allow us to gather additional insights from trainee performances, assessment, and operator benchmarking.

What are the most difficult environments or industries to simulate?

Generally, environments where you are able to deform terrain (soil) can be very challenging to simulate and very few simulators get it right. When simulating deformed terrain, you must take into account dozens of soil properties, like how much air content is found within the soil, how much does the soil spread out compared to other materials, what are the moisture properties of the soil, etc. Then, when you have large fields of deformable terrain, this requires lots of computational strength to compute at over sixty times per second. Our soil simulation is the most accurate simulation of its kind and part of what makes our simulation training so unique and accurate.

Aerospace is generally very difficult to simulate accurately. The laws that govern fluids like air are very complex and have many variables. This makes it require lots of processing power to simulate in real time, since all of those variables must be updated sixty times per second. Then, when you factor in the mechanical properties of the plane itself, with wings that are not perfectly rigid, the difficulty of simulating this environment increases exponentially.

Has demand for this type of training increased?

Absolutely. Over the years simulation training has become more normalized, in part due to the successes of flight simulators (one of the first industries to adopt simulation training). In the aviation industry, simulator time counts towards the time required for the pilot to acquire their pilot’s license. The training industry has taken note of that success, and over the last ten years CM Labs has continued to grow and remained the leader of training simulation. We hope to lead the way into a safer future where simulation plays a regular role in operator training.

What is the Vortex platform and how was it developed?

Our innovative simulation platform, Vortex Studio is the only software on the market that provides the complete package of high-fidelity real-time physics, native support for equipment controls and hardware integration, and user-friendly tools for the creation of rich virtual environments. Along with real-time simulation, engineers can model individual components, including cable systems, powertrain, ground interaction, steering, suspension and brakes, for more accurate simulated vehicles, with real-time simulation of deformable terrain. It is with cutting edge technology, that our patented Smart Training Technology was developed for our simulation training.

CM Labs’ Smart training Technology accurately replicates real-world machine and materials behaviour,  resulting in effective, efficient operator training. Comprised of proprietary and patented algorithms, the simulation delivers careful modeling and reproduction of machine data that interact with the environment and materials just as they do in the real world. Its precision is backed by more than 20,000 automated daily tests and ongoing research and development. Trainees gain a better feel for engine transmission, crane boom, and jib bending/torquing, as well as wire rope and crane block spin and environmental factors (like wind, precipitation, day and night settings). Learning hook and load management, reducing pendulums, snags, and collisions, operators improve cycle times, and which can ultimately reduce production costs. 

What are some of the advantages of this kind of technology?

Operator training is a critical component of improving safety and limiting liability for all heavy equipment users, especially utilities. Incorporating simulation into a training program offers a safe haven for failure without consequences while easing the transition from theory to practice. CM Labs simulation offers a sustainable solution that prevents novice operators from developing negative habits from unrealistic training situations, which could potentially cause dangerous problems when operating real equipment.

CM Labs solutions present a safer alternative for initial training while mitigating the increased fuel costs and wear and tear that typically result from novice handling. A cost-effective method to train and assess operators, organizations can standardize operator-training practices by tracking, measuring, and benchmarking performance. Trainees practice challenging real-world operations in complete safety, while key operating performance metrics (such as safety violations, load control, and operational efficiency) are objectively logged and recorded throughout training.

The full-motion platform is tied, in real-time, to the simulation and accurately replicates much of an operator’s day-to-day experience: driving on uneven terrain, engine vibrations, throttle, etc. Trainees improve their muscle memory ultimately to be “one” with their equipment: feeling the platform bowing down as they drill or dig, pitching at risk of tipping, or feeling engine vibrations through the seat to avoid choking the throttle. The simulation replicates true engine sounds (including fails and stalls), variable engine RPMs, horns, fork scraping and shifting, alarms and other work site sounds that are important audio cues for safe, steady, deliberate, and precise operations.

Today’s simulators are data and analytics-driven, which is essential to optimizing training time and correcting unsafe behaviours. This means that training techniques move away from a checklist approach, and instead target specific skills that make people more efficient and safer. The company’s patented Smart Training Technology provides real data accuracy and reporting insights. Companies and trainers now can use data collected for each student to analyze past behaviour and then apply that information to create specific learning paths that develop the most appropriate skills. This approach also makes training more personal. With data analytics, training can tackle skill deficiencies for each person, which elevates their individual skill sets to a much higher level, rather than applying a single learning objective across an entire classroom. 

What sort of research goes into the development of a specific training program to ensure that it gives the user a realistic experience?

CM Labs has its roots in R&D, and has a 65-strong in-house research team of engineers, PhD physicists, engineers, and mathematicians. The company has ongoing collaborations with international educational institutions including McGill University and research industry partnerships with NATO, Bombardier, Leddartech, and CNH.

Where does CM Labs see the future of simulation training going in the coming years?

Whether simulated practical testing in North America will be accepted by certification bodies as equivalent to practical testing on real equipment is yet to be seen. But a 2020 study by NCCCO suggests that this type of testing is “a highly reliable measure for predicting a passing score on an actual crane.” 

In Germany, however, the Statutory Accident Insurance (DGUV) published guidelines approving the use of simulations for certification. Watch this video to learn more about use of CM Labs simulators in operator training and certification in Germany. 

Simulators are certainly an effective way to practice for certification testing. A number of CM Labs customers report seeing higher success rates for operators who have practiced for a certification exam on a simulator than those who practiced only on live equipment. The Electrical Training Alliance uses its crane simulator to prepare operators for the certification program through Electrical Industry Certifications Association (EICA). The simulation exercises, inspired by the certification requirements, mirror exact applications, such as auger control, and pole control and setting, rather than generic scenarios. This translates directly into higher success rates as trainees are better prepared for both written and practical exams. 

In the future, we will likely be seeing training paths customized to fit individual operator learning profiles. 

While other industries, like aviation, have approved the use of simulation for certification, the construction industry, except in Germany, has not. CM Labs solutions include simulation exercises to prepare for certifications for forklift, as well as the NCCER and NCCCO testing for cranes. Electrical Training Alliance (ETA), the curriculum arm for the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW), collaborated with CM Labs to add additional specialized training scenarios for boom truck and crane for utility industry certifications.

With the current labor shortages and energy costs, these latest developments in simulation certification look promising for health and safety governing bodies, such as OSHA, and other organized labor groups to consider as alternatives to measure the proficiency of operators.

Years ago, builders on the Las Vegas strip faced a problem: heavily congested work sites. 

In an effort to speed up work, safety was thrown out the window and bodies began piling up. 

It wasn’t a news aggregator, blogger or even the government that dug into the issue. It was boots on the ground reporting. 

It took a year of writing and more than 50 stories by reporter Alexandra Berzon and her editors at the Las Vegas Sun to get the attention of the nation. The result was a series of congressional hearings and new state mandates for safety training and oversight for construction sites. 

For their effort, the community newspaper beat out giants like the New York Times, Washington Post, the Wall Street Journal and others for the 2009 Pulitzer Prize, media’s highest honour. 

In Canada, not only is this kind of journalism dying out, the work that is being done will soon be much harder to find.

The government recently passed Bill C-18 which essentially requires tech giants like Google and Meta to pay for Canadian news content if they want to include it in their various services. The tech world has dubbed this the “link tax”. 

The result so far has been a tit for tat between these tech giants and Canadians. Google and Meta announced that rather than negotiate deals with news providers, they will just wipe all Canadian content off their services. Firing back, the federal government and Quebec stated they would pull all advertising from Meta. 

The impact on our country’s ability to know things could be devastating. We have come a long way from the days of ink-stained fingers and printing presses. Nearly half of Canadians get their news from social media. With local, original journalism already struggling, this could create a gaping blindspot for the public. How can people know what is happening in their own country if it never shows up in their feed?

Just zooming in on the construction sector, a firehose blast of project announcements, research reports, policy changes and more is happening everyday and it’s a struggle enough as it is to keep up. That chore just got harder because now one of the tools to help people discover relevant content will be gone. 

For most in the media industry, this is just the latest battle in a journalism war that has been raging for decades. Newsrooms all over the world have been shrinking as the industry struggles to figure out how to adjust its business model for a world with the internet. The result has been reporter layoffs, newspapers closing and a consolidation of what is left. Others have shifted to become entertainers rather than informers. 

We would argue that despite the media’s challenges, it remains a critical part of democracy. The alternative is that governments, public officials, law enforcement, companies, advocacy groups and other newsmakers get to disseminate their own narrative that few have the time to question. 

Although the federal government has shown good intentions in trying to support the news industry, the resulting backlash has ironically caused more harm. Attempting to force modern tech giants into a century old media model may simply be a lost cause.

The solution isn’t clear, but what Canadians can do before the bill goes into effect is to make sure they are following and subscribing to all Canadian media that they find useful and informative. In our case, if you want to keep getting Canadian construction news, sign up for newsletter. 

If there is a local news organization that you want to keep up with, accessing their content directly may soon be the only way you ever see them.

One of Canada’s largest general contractors is on a mission to harness the power of data. 

Graham Construction has embarked on a journey to create a new data platform aimed at transforming data into an enterprise-level asset that will improve the company’s efficiency and deliver better outcomes for project owners.

Data is rising in the construction sector

Annette Cooper, director of data and analytics in Graham’s IT and enterprise applications department, is part of the team leading the project. She explained that like many other industries, construction is becoming digitized. 

“I think construction is no different from any other industry,” she said. “As society becomes more digitized, more data is available. The thing I always say is that data is the byproduct of a business process. So the more we digitize our business processes, the more data we have to track them. There’s just more and more data available in construction.”

The internet of things (IOT) combined with technology like sensors, trackers etc. is adding to the amount of construction data in addition to some of the more traditional data sources. Although Cooper noted that some of these new technologies are not as common as people might think. And often the implementation is in patches. 

“It’s one of those things where if you can harness the opportunity you can do a lot, but it can be very complicated to get some of those things on site and working properly,” she said.

Cooper noted that even if you get these data gathering systems in place, putting that data to work can also be a challenge. The new data platform is being designed to draw in and combine data from disparate systems. The eventual goal is to get up the “analytics maturity curve” to the point where predictive and other kinds of insights can be gleaned. 

Finding structure in the unstructured 

“There was this notion roughly ten years ago that data was this new gold or oil that everyone was going to ride,” said Cooper. “And everyone was going to use machine learning models and the whole business would be automated and predictive. But where society is at now, we have created a bunch of digital swamps that we have to figure out how to clean up and make useful.” 

While the amount of data being generated in construction is growing, there are only pockets of the industry where it is being utilized to a high degree.

One of the keys to achieving this often has more to do with support and buy-in from leadership than figuring out the details of the technology itself. 

“Do we know the decision we are trying to make or the action we are trying to drive from this data and are we actually going to make the decision? Are you at a level of organizational maturity where you are actually going to let that data really inform that decision? I actually think that’s the thing that more often gets in the way than the technical stuff,” said Cooper. 

In Graham’s case, its project began after the company saw it was running behind and didn’t have a formal strategy for what it was doing with its data.

“We wanted to think about where Graham is going to be in five years and what that data profile will look like,” said Cooper. “We were managing mostly numeric data – ones and zeros – but it hadn’t occurred to anyone what to do with unstructured data.”

Unstructured data in construction includes things like plans, pictures, bids or anything else that can’t be easily retrieved and utilized by some tools and systems.  

 “To leap to new technology we had to be able to make room for the unstructured data and its potential down the road,” said Cooper. “Basically we have created a new cloud data platform which utilizes much more modern technology suites to get data out of source systems.

Cooper explained that Graham has been growing by mergers and acquisitions, and every time you bring a new company in, they have their own systems for finance, project management and other aspects of the business. Often, these systems are not fully compatible with each other. 

“Our answer is to pull that data out and put it somewhere else,” she said. “This was an opportunity because Graham didn’t have a lot of this stuff already in the works, it didn’t have to go through the process of decommissioning a bunch of old stuff. We were able to just leap to the new technology.”   

Improving those data ‘muscles’

Graham’s experience building its own project management system in the past gave the team the confidence  to combine several tools to meet its needs, including Databricks and Azure Data Factory. 

“It’s this idea that you don’t have to buy one tool that you pretend is going to do everything. Graham is open to this notion of making sure you are using the right tool for the right job.”

“It’s like this new muscle Graham is trying to build and we will just be building that muscle forever.” 

The first step in the process was assessing what Graham was trying to do with its data and where it was in terms of data management maturity. The first year of the project was also spent being very careful about choosing which technology to use.

“Cloud sounds really good but it can also be incredibly expensive if you aren’t careful about how you are managing your computing,” said Cooper. “So it’s putting things through paces, doing proof of concept with different kinds of technology to understand their ingestion. They all say they can do it but they don’t all do it or do it nicely.”

But what about artificial intelligence, machine learning and these other technologies grabbing headlines recently?

Cooper explained that she sees a lot of consultants out there selling machine learning and artificial intelligence. But the core problem facing many construction companies is essentially a boring one: finding the data, cleaning up the data and putting it somewhere it can be used. That is the work that must be done before some of these emerging technologies can be used. 

“You can’t magically sprinkle machine learning onto something and then all the sudden it is working,” said Cooper.

There is potential for things like AI and machine learning to predict the success of a project plan before shovels are even in the ground.

“Those are the kinds of things we want to get into, but in order to do that you have to have your data in order,” said Cooper. “You have to have enough, the right kind and stored in a way that machines can be trained on it. There are the hopes and dreams of things like AI and then there is the reality of where the technology is at.”

But before things like machine learning or AI, one of the biggest benefits the team wants to realize is simply making information available much more quickly to the people who are making decisions. As Graham has grown massively in the past decade, get information up the chain has become more and more complex. 

“Often, problems take much longer to surface because they just can’t get up the chain quick enough,” said Cooper. “Just being able to have those things escalated and get productivity increases means that we’re delivering faster to owners, we’re safer, less going back and fixing things. I think that is the first challenge for this.” 

Cooper noted that while there is a lot of speculation about how technology and data could impact the construction process, at the end of the day it’s people who build projects. 

“Does this completely change how the construction industry does what it does?” she said. “No. I think that at the end of the day you still have people wielding hammers and pouring concrete. What we want to do is optimize by matching the project that’s coming up with the right team of people, making sure we have the right levels of supervision and how do we do all that in a much faster way.”