Internet of Things in Built Environments

This seminar will showcase the transformative power of the Internet of Things (IoT) and Digital Twins in Construction.

Using real-world case studies and examples, speakers will explore some of the latest trends, innovations, costs and benefits of these technologies for stakeholders across the industry. Participants will gain valuable insights into the potential applications and feasibility of IoT and Digital Twins, as well as key lessons and considerations for implementing or working on projects with these ground-breaking technologies.

This seminar will feature presentations Peter Kolokithas and from four Teams from the University of Melbourne, Faculty of Architecture, Building and Planning. These teams have worked tirelessly to design IoT solutions under the guidance of their academic and industry mentors. 

ABOUT THE SPEAKER

​​ Peter Kolokithas
Head of Product & Projects at Ynomia

Peter Kolokithas serves as the Head of Product & Projects at Ynomia, a Construction Tech company leveraging IoT, Digital Twins, and Digitisation to provide industry stakeholders real-time insights and visibility of building components and their progress across the construction supply chain from design through to handover. With over 10 years of professional experience across Architecture, Construction and Technology, Peter is uniquely positioned to tackle the complex challenges facing the built environment and is deeply committed to driving positive change in the industry through innovative problem-solving and collaboration.

University of Melbourne Teams

Team Building Block - Varun Chavan, Mai Phuc An Nguyen and Shanmugapriyan Krishnamurthi
Progress claim and payment are an important post-contract step in a construction project. To maintain accuracy in claims, a quantity surveyor (QS) is responsible for assessing and verifying the information provided by contractors before the payment is approved by the project manager. This process can require at least 7 to 11 days and the current method of data collection follows a manual process and a has prolonged verification time and requires more time to negotiate between parties due to the lack of accuracy in quantification of material usage or solid evidence of completion. Therefore, Building Block is a software-based solution that aims to support QS’s work in progress claim assessment and verification. By reducing the progress claim process by half and increasing accuracy in site assessment, QS can work more efficiently, accept more projects, and reduce chances of disputes between stakeholders during a project lifecycle.

Team ReConcrete - Kiah Lee Low and Ning Cao
Concrete accounts for 7% of global greenhouse gas emissions and recycled concrete from demolition presents opportunities for reduction of embodied carbon in the built environment. Land pressures, increasing waste levies, scarcity of natural resources and ongoing climate issues demand action to reduce concrete waste to landfills. Generation of mixed waste from smaller demolition sites results in most waste sent directly to landfill and low recycling rates. The proposed solution, ReConcrete, utilises IoT technology for a smart concrete recycling system comprising demolition waste management and an online marketplace for trading recycled concrete. Dedicated bins for segregation of concrete waste are deployed to demolition sites and connect players across the value chain, facilitating the transfer of financial benefits to incentivize small demolition site owners. Cloud-based data analytics and artificial intelligence are employed for route optimization and reducing waste collection trips, lowering operational costs and production costs of recycled concrete. Dashboards provide data visualization on key indicators to deliver data insights to relevant stakeholders and support enterprise decisions.

Team Mediator - Sol Chilano, Yiru Zhang, Zoey Zhou
The construction industry is one of the main contributors to air pollution and of significant health problems by producing and releasing a range of airborne contaminants through its work activities and processes. At its worst, it can lead construction workers to a premature death or long-term illness. The demolition stage of a construction project is of the top activities onsite that produces high levels of airborne contaminants generated when the land is disrupted, existing buildings demolished, and plant and machinery are used. The majority of the emission measuring devices currently used in the industry fail to provide an appropriate real-time monitoring system or a targeted countermeasure. For this reason, the Meditor intends to ‘fill that gap’ and provide real-time measuring and controlling of the airborne contaminants to mitigate health risks and filter emissions to a standard level, thus reducing the negative impact that demolition activity has on people and the environment.

Team Ready mix concrete 4.0 - Js.i Hyun Hwang, Mohammad Mahdi, Mohamed Mamdouh
The Ready-Mix Concrete supply chain stages, from ordering, scheduling, and supplying is missing the benefits of new technology. There has been little progress in the digitalisation and automation of supply and demand and the efficient use of data is still lacking for the optimal coordination of the supply chain. This paper provides an overview of the current challenges and constraints facing the RMC industry in Australia, and positions Internet of Things (IoT) technology and its ability to leverage data and monitor real time as the key solution. The resulting method proposes a dual platform integrating IoT technology that enables suppliers and buyers to harness data-driven and schedule-oriented supply chain coordination in the face of planning and delivery disruption

Please note light refreshments will be provided.