BATIMAT, building industry’s leading international trade show that gathers every two years the professionals of the construction sector, took place in Paris Nord Villepinte from November 6th to 10th.The main topics were energy efficiency, smart buildings and sustainability, home automation, accessibility, optimizing construction and running costs for buildings. Many products and systems introduced during these 4 days aimed to lower the risks for companies and ease their efficiency at work. Digital and connectivity were also at the heart of the fair throughout new services for installers and end consumers. The hall “Building of the future” was mostly dedicated to Start-ups of the building sectors where we could find the latest R&D solutions, apps, ideas to understand ongoing evolutions and tomorrow’s buildings.
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- Augmented reality
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Velux was showcasing a new application called « MyDaylight » that allows to simulate projects and visualise their 360° rendering before work execution. It is the first application that makes day light tangible. With « MyDaylight », it is possible to model attics from a smartphone and to imagine the layout possibilities to create new living spaces while being sure we make the good choice in terms of natural day light solution.
- Connected control
The search for a balance in between energy performance and comfort of usage and in parallel the booming of the digital economy and the Internet of Things (IOT) have deeply transformed the control sector. Heating control systems are moving towards the use of connected thermostats controllable through smartphones and tablets. With the latest evolution, these systems relying on artificial intelligence (AI) anticipate by learning the behaviours of end-consumers. Thanks to these new technologies, the control of multi-brands heating systems, lightening systems, opening and closing of shutters is possible. Some pre-recorded endlessly customizable scenarios of usage contribute to improve the energetic performances of all these heating and electrical systems.
During BATIMAT, Ween was presenting the first « autonomous connected thermostat » which is using AI to interact in real time with the comings and goings of the building occupants inside but also outside providing they have their smartphone with them. This made me think of the NEST thermostat developed by Nest Labs and acquired by Google a couple of years ago. NEST allows to manage more efficiently the needed indoor temperature, learn from the habit of building occupants, better optimize the consumption of energy and eventually reduce the energy bill.
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Velux with their solution « VELUX ACTIVE with NETATMO” developed in partnership with the compay Netatmo, French leader of home connected objects, provide a range of smart remotes for VELUX roof windows and motorized blinds and shutters.
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From a certain number of defined settings such as the level of CO2, humidity and temperature, the solution automatically controls the opening and closing of roof windows, blinds and shutters to ensure a healthier and more comfortable indoor climate while limiting energy spending. Its launch on the international market is planned for Q2 2018.
- Multitask drones
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Capable of intervention on jobsites difficult to access, filming, taking pictures or making thermal diagnostics by combining the capacity to fly with the use of thermal camera, drones are about to become a must have tool of every construction professional. It’s over to risk any accident as it’s no more necessary to climb on a roof to make diagnostics.
Hercule 10 Spray from the French manufacturer Drone Volt is professional device dedicated to spray liquid products in the construction industry, for instance anti-mold and moisture substances on roof or paints on high rise silos, vessels, tanks…
- Project management applications for the construction sector
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New environmental and regulatory requirements command the construction sector to find new performance levers among with digitalisation of procurements and logistics. To manage and optimise the use of rent equipment on jobsites and thus to decrease their cost, professionals have now at their disposal several software and applications.
For instance Dispatcher propose a simple and performant digital tool allowing to plan, organise and optimise manpower and machines.
- The BIM universe
BIM (Building Information Modelling) is a new way of collaborative work for all the stakeholders of the construction sector (specifiers, consultants, main contractors and sub-contractor, building operators). BIM actually gathers under a 3D based digital mock-up all the information related to a building construction, serving accordingly to simulate physical and functional characteristics. This data compilation shared by all stakeholders of a same project is useful at every step of the building life cycle from design till deconstruction.
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Thanks to BIM, the different players can develop, visualise and share a digital mock-up of the future building before they physically take shape. These new tools aim at easing the life of the main players by helping them to work more collectively, secure their jobsites and save time.