Data analytics – the tool that will drive growth in smart construction  

IN APRIL 2020, time stood still in the construction worksites in Singapore. The usual “clanking” and “whirring” of the large machineries were absent from the scene. While residents were glad for the respite from the worksite noise, construction business owners had a very different worry on their minds.

Worksites shut and projects were left at a standstill when measures were enforced to suspend all construction work, as part of Singapore’s “circuit breaker” to stem the transmission of the coronavirus. As the official figures would show, the construction industry drew the shortest end of the straw across the sectors during Covid-struck 2020, contracting 59 per cent year on year in the second quarter of the 2020, far worse than the 1.2 per cent decline in the preceding quarter.

Comeback kid

Two years on, the sector seems to have not only recovered, but bounced back with vigour. At the start of this year, the Building and Construction Authority projected the total construction demand in 2022 to be between S$27 billion and S$32 billion. At the 2022 National Day Rally in August, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong announced new construction projects in the pipeline for Singapore, such as the resumption of works for Changi Airport Terminal 5 and Tuas Port, along with the restructuring of the Paya Lebar Air Base.