Besides real estate, tourism, hospitality, and retail, another industry that has been suffering from the brunt of COVID-19 lockdowns is construction and development. Ongoing projects were stalled due to the nationwide lockdown. As the situation developed, many workers returned to their hometowns as they feared for their safety and livelihood. As lockdowns lift slowly, the ramifications are still becoming clear. By some estimates, 12.2 crores people may have lost their jobs, a huge section of which hail from the construction sector, one of the biggest job creators in the market.

The good news is, the lockdown is being lifted in many parts of the country in a phased manner. With stimulus packages announced and government spending ramping up, economic activity will also look to kick on. The hope is that the industry will regain its workforce and informal labour. According to a report by the Economic Times, 70% of highway projects have already been resumed in Delhi, and metro projects too are being opened in various parts of the country like Pune, Chennai, Kanpur, Delhi, and Kolkata. That said, due to labour shortage, material unavailability, and transportation issues, it could take a while before all the projects are back on track.

Here are some suggestions to restore the pace of development across India’s ambitious metro projects.

Take lessons from the past

We should take effective lessons from the success of previous projects to ensure that the work is completed on time and without much hassle. For example, the Nagpur Metro construction project was one of the fastest-completed projects in the history of the nation. With proper incorporation of advanced technologies like BIM and well-planned utilization of sustainable energy sources, the project is referred to as the greenest metro in India, apart from being acknowledged for its pace and efficiency.

According to a report by Nation Next, the project took only 27 months from the date of inception to the completion of trial runs, which is a record in itself. Great leadership, proper communication between all the stakeholders, and constant tracking and monitoring led to the success of the Nagpur Metro project. We should refer to such shining examples to deal with future projects, especially during such difficult times.

Ensure proper hygiene

With the lockdown getting lifted, we need to be careful about the safety of the workers on site. This is both a moral and strategic imperative. Any spread of infection will impact not only the health of the workers but could also shut down or quarantine the site. We MUST take all necessary precautions to ensure the health and safety of the workers. Soaps, sanitizers, masks, and face shields should be provided to the workers, especially if their work involves meeting other people and working alongside them. Apart from supplying masks and sanitizers, we could go the extra mile to provide proper food, sanitation, and hygienic working conditions to the workers to prevent them from falling sick.

Social distancing, no matter how difficult it may seem, should be maintained at all costs while working. The companies must take the time to create awareness through education among all the workers regarding the precautionary measures that each worker needs to take to stay safe.

Technology integration is a must

The success of the Nagpur Metro project can be attributed to the integration of technologies like 5D BIM, which enhanced the resource efficiency, speed, and overall quality of the project. The clash-detection capabilities of BIM can become a massive contributor to saving time in such large and complex projects. In ongoing and future projects, the developers should make the most of such technologies like 3D visualizations, 4D progress monitoring, BIM modeling services to ensure successful completion within the deadlines. Integrating mobile apps into the operating processes will help increase the accessibility to plans and information on and off-site.

With more incorporation of high-end technologies on the construction site, the load on the engineers could be lessened, thus helping them increase their focus on providing innovative suggestions and solutions to solve pressing problems. Technology will also ensure seamless communication and the minimum loss of information, besides helping in mitigating potential risks.

Focus on post-construction evaluation

At the end of each phase of the project, a proper evaluation model could be put in place to identify potential issues to learn from. This will allow us to take necessary corrective actions in time for future phases. For instance, accurate and complete as-built BIM models can give the engineers valuable insight into the various components of the project. You could break down the model into phases and look at them in the context of engineering design, construction, and evaluation to get insights for improvements.

Stay in sync with the rules

There are a bunch of rules defined by the government. It would be useful to turn to some intelligent system to track the rules as well as log compliance with those rules. It’s a dynamic situation and regulations change, so it’s important to stay on top of the rules defined by the Government of India but also the SOPs that come into play in today’s construction site. For eg., it may be best if the workers are prevented from using public transport to reduce their exposure to infections. The company can arrange for proper transportation facilities for the workers, who will also be keener to resume work if they feel safe.

All the extra efforts that we take now will count in the long run. The faster you can complete the projects that you are working on, the better for your cash flows and overall financial results. The builders, developers, and construction companies that pull through this extremely challenging period will be extremely well placed to overcome any challenge in the future. After all, what could be harder than the situation we are in currently?

The year 2020 has ushered in the times of unpredictability and is anticipated to cause a long-lasting impact on the world economy. COVID-19 has created a situation wherethe demand is for India to be self-reliant in every way with the extensive support of science and technology. For sectors in India such as construction, there couldn’t be a better time to revamp the processes and fine-tune technology adoption as the projects reopen gradually.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has recommended self-reliance as the way forward and suggested five pillars of self-reliance. These were economy, infrastructure, technology-driven systems, vibrant demography, and demand. Of those, at least two, infrastructure and technology-driven systems, go hand in hand. Let’s see how this match is necessary now.

India’s construction industry: A recap

Earlier this year, at the Construction Technology Conference in India, the Prime Minister had stated that the year 2020 was going to be all about construction and technology. India’s construction industry is already one of the fastest-growing in the world and was expected to reach $ 1 trillion by 2025.

A variety of challenges face India’s construction sector but the industry has been growing exponentially. Despite that, the use of technology has still not picked up enough space. The construction sector in India is often disorganized, family-run, and labour-dependant. The developers are still inclined to rely on conventional methodologies and practices. The wide availability of cheap manual labor and the necessity to keep the construction costs lower are some of the reasons why the construction industry in India is averse to adopting technology.

India’s construction industry is largely driven by homebuyers. The demand for residential properties has been steadily increasing and there’s a significant pressure to maintain a low cost of construction as the property prices continue soaring due to several other factors. The cost of land is one and commercial practices is another. The government has been actively engaged in introducing the global best practices and the RERA Act and GST are some efforts to standardize projects, assureconsumers of definite timelines in project delivery, and regulating the industry in general.

The Impact of COVID-19

In late March 2020, the country went into complete lockdown, shutting down all the construction projects- public as well as private. This had the knock-on effect ofdriving a large displacement of thousands of construction laborers, causing them to return home. This has also jeopardized the future of several projects.

When the lockdown is lifted, there are high chances that things won’t be back to normal fairly quickly for the construction industry. The shortage of raw material, as well as manpower, is expected to cause several hurdles in the projects across the country, bringing to the fore the importance of modernizing the construction processes by using technology. The need will be to deliver projects faster with constrained resources and fewer staff on site. That’s a “made for technology” problem. For instance, turning to Building Information Modeling could help constriction companies optimize resource estimates, make better plans and schedules, ensure greater collaboration, reduce clashes, and detect issues early. This has been proven to help deliver projects faster, more efficiently, and at a lower cost.

Lack of standardization: The wake-up call

One of the most critical reasons causing problems in the construction process in the country and also causing significant delays in project completion is the lack of standardization. The industry mostly depends on decentralized processes and there’s no modern project management to keep an active track of completion status and identifying the roadblocks. Along with causing delays in the project delays, this also results in budget overruns for the project.

In post-COVID-19 times, such scenarios can be risky for developers in the industry. And there couldn’t be a better time to adopt technology like Building Information Modelling or BIM. Implementing BIM not only helps in accelerating the design, planning, and visualization process but also helps in controlling the construction project costs, which is paramount especially post COVID-19. Smart devices and IoT-based sensors along with project management software could also be immensely helpful in tracking project progress in real-time.

Smart cities: India’s hot target

India is already gearing up for a paradigm shift and bridging the infrastructural gap has been on the checklist of the government while also being a demand from the citizens of the country. The National Smart Cities Mission has been one of such endeavors to remodel the existing urban areas with immaculate planning. Optimizing land, creating enough open spaces and walkable localities, developing new public transport such as metros, and applying smart solutions for infrastructural developments are few of the many agendas of the smart cities mission. As the world struggles post-COVID-19, India has a great opportunity to shine and smart cities powered and accomplished with technology can help in doing so. These projects could be quick to dive into, given that they are already at various stages of planning and execution already. Achieving these monumental benchmarks in the stipulated time will only be possible with the help of technology.

The rapidly growing importance of green construction

The modern Indian consumer is more energy conscious than before and from office spaces to residential blocks, the demand for green construction is higher than ever. Construction using environment-friendly material, energy-efficient buildings with recycling mechanisms in place and IoT-powered smart buildings are gaining momentum, especially in the metro cities. For the sustainable approach to construction, it is imperative to look for modern solutions that involve technology for efficient energy usage, reduced wastage, and sustainable operation and maintenance. And, no surprise that BIM has a role to play here.

The construction industry in India pre-COVID approached technology with a ‘don’t fix something that isn’t broken’ approach. But times have changed. To thrive and survive, the construction industry must implement new technologies, and now is the time to put global best practices into action.

Never before have we experienced a pandemic of this magnitude. It sometimes seems that the entire world has come to a standstill. However, despite the reigning uncertainties, the lockdowns across India are slowly getting lifted and economic activity is gradually beginning. While the crisis still looms, it also gives us the chance to turn it into an opportunity.

The Government of India, under the direction of the honorable Prime Minister, has laid an impetus on ‘infrastructure’ and ‘technology-driven systems’, as a part of India’s future strategy to come out of this crisis. It is abundantly clear that building infrastructure will be crucial to develop and accelerate the economy. The highway construction sector is already seeing tremendous focus and there seem to be major plans to commence work on a war footing on highway projects.

However, we also need to bear in mind that the world of work that we will enter post-lockdown will be very different from the world of work that was.

For starters, it is highly unlikely that social distancing is going away anytime soon. But with fewer resources available, on-site social distancing becoming the new normal, and fewer people available to address each task, how can we make sure productivity meets economic needs?

To emerge out of this situation we have to ensure that we enter the post lockdown stage with speed, agility, and optimal resource utilization.

When it comes to complex infrastructure projects like the highways construction sector, technologies such as BIM are going to act as force multipliers to assist us in navigating the challenging environment that is to come.

Here is how technology will act as a great enabler of the construction industry in the post COVID world.

Maximize resource utilization

BIM, or Building Information Modelling, is more than your average technology product that merely provides a digital representation of the physical and functional characteristics of a facility. It is also a shared knowledge resource that helps in driving reliable decisions. BIM gives construction projects the ability to effectively map and manage the resources needed for a particular task.

In the new world with reduced budgets, time constraints, and fewer people, highway construction has to make sure that resource allocation is optimized on-site. In this world, construction companies will have to turn to technologies such as BIM to grow their pool of ‘off-site experts” to address the planning, resourcing, design, analytics, collaboration, tracking and monitoring, and other key functions and make sure that work can be conducted more efficiently using less labour.

Facilitate better planning

Infrastructure projects are infamous for extending beyond the designated timelines. Given that now we shall be racing against the clock, we need to remove all the obstacles that impede timely project completion. For this, quite naturally, project management teams and all stakeholders have to get complete and transparent insights into project progress and project impediments. We also have to look at procuring and using more modern building materials, make accurate time and cost estimate projections, and ensure that all changes to the original plan are made and recorded as decided.

With BIM, construction companies can connect all the stakeholders including the architects, contractors, designers, and developers. It can help them visualize the whole construction series and understand the progress of construction activities proactively throughout the lifetime of the project.

This helps in identifying the gaps, if any, between expected and actual project completion time. It optimizes equipment, material, and human resource planning and eliminates waste. Improved site logistics management accelerates the construction process and reduces delays in materials procurement. It also enhances coordination capacities and productivity and thereby leads to cost and time savings as well.

Smooth information exchange

Information in the construction industry is very asset-heavy. Yet, it must move with agility across teams and stakeholders. Time loss owing to incomplete information sharing or loss of information during the exchange process can lead to significant project delays. Gaps in information between teams can cause clashes. Clashes mean rework and delays. And each delay has a cost impact.

Technologies such as BIM accelerate project progress by enabling transparent collaboration and complete project monitoring during the project execution phase. Report of the actual project status, delays, and potential catch-up plans are all detailed out and ensure proactive risk mitigation. Better communication between different teams and divisions, visual communication of project parameters and ongoing progress, and proactive identification of sequencing or phasing issues help drive better-aligned efforts.

Forecast successes and challenges

As we progress through a project, the variables tend to change as well. Timelines can get updated, material procurement might get delayed, the design could change…when it comes to construction, nothing can be set in stone (or concrete) given the vast number of stakeholders, departments, and teams involved. The construction industry will have to become more agile to accommodate these changes easily so that project timelines can be met and financial losses capped.

Instead of relying on guesswork and having to “deal with” sudden changes, using BIM as a dynamic modelling tool can solve these problems. BIM can be a powerful tool and can be used to diligently forecast both positive and negative scenarios and help stakeholders gain deep insights into understanding and predicting potential clashes that impact project progress.

Post-construction evaluation

Moving ahead, we also have to learn from our mistakes. When it comes to the construction industry, information usually resides in silos. It does not flow freely and it definitely cannot be accessed easily. However, as we come out of the COIVD crisis we have to make sure that our efficiency, especially for crucial infrastructure construction projects, increases dramatically. But can we achieve this as well using BIM?

All the information regarding the project from the start to end, all variables, all data, every piece of project-related information can be stored in BIM models. BIM thus acts as an information repository that can be accessed to identify what went right and what did not after project completion. Using these insights gleaned from data future project planning can be further fine-tuned and all the impediments to project success can be dealt with.

In Conclusion

The government of India now plans to construct more than double the highways constructed in the last fiscal. There is also the ambitious highway development program — Bharatmala Pariyojana –which includes the development of about 65,000 km of national highways. States are already mobilizing the supply chain and addressing transporters’ concerns to re-start highway construction projects. While we cannot deny the existence of the crisis, there is something that we can do about it.

Focus on infrastructure development, is a great direction to take as an effort to rebuild the economy. Building the infrastructure will result in more job creation, increase economic activity, and create demand. An infrastructure focus will also help us make up for all this lost time. All we need to do now is to make sure that we make the right technology choices to tide over the challenges in the post-lockdown world of work and make sure that all these projects get completed in time.