Q. Construction demand is expected to be strong this year. How is the sector planning on overcoming the existing strain on manpower and resources?
In a short five-year time frame, we have come out of a COVID-19 crisis to now (seeing) strong demand. At this moment, the initial forecast of four years of strong demand is a huge opportunity for firms to say that with the likelihood of good projects coming in, they can and need to invest (in) changing the way the industry constructs, builds and designs. (Because) we will not be able to keep on building projects in the years to come – we will not have enough space to accommodate all the workforce that we need – without changing.
Q. Advanced construction technologies are increasingly playing a bigger role in how buildings are designed. How widespread is their adoption at this stage?
In the last 12 months, we saw the introduction of about 20 plus different robotic solutions deployed over 50 sites in Singapore. These include robots that transport materials from place to place at night – when no heavy work is being done, to painting robots and concrete-finishing robots. All these allow firms to deploy their workers to higher value, more difficult work, and allow one (single) operator to manage many different machines. When it comes to the architects, we are also seeing more deployment of artificial intelligence.
Q. What are some of the challenges to integrate AI and robotics into the workflow? Is the sector ready to embrace that shift?
When we started to push the adoption of robots, we realised that to the companies, it is not about replacing a worker with a robot, because no single robot can actually replace any one job entirely. It is about substituting parts of activities done by the workers. It does require a process change. It requires the main contractor to work very closely with different subcontractors to review the opportunities, review where equipment and robots can be deployed, redesign the processes, and together as a consortium to do more jobs.
Q. From robotics to fostering greater collaboration, what do you think all these changes could mean for Singapore’s development?
Construction, globally, is one sector with some of the lowest productivity. As a result, it is not very attractive to young talents. As a city state, we have to develop more and more projects in a denser environment, so it is going to be more complex. So, with some of these changes that we are introducing, whether in terms of AI, robots (or) sustainability, collaborative contracting sets (us) up to really transform the sector, to enable us to take on more exciting and challenging projects. At the same time, (this will) transform the jobs (and) inspire the young people that this sector is not only able to build a city like Singapore and make it ready for the future, but also one that can demonstrate to the rest of world what it means as far as sustainable development is concerned.
