Digital Building Twins and Blockchain for Performance-Based (Smart) Contracts

Performance contracts used for servitized business models enable consideration of overall life-cycle costs rather than just production costs. However, practical implementation of performance contracts has been limited due to challenges with performance evaluation, accountability, and financial concepts. As a solution, this paper proposes the connection of the digital building twin with blockchain-based smart contracts to execute performance-based digital payments. First, we conceptualize a technical architecture to connect blockchain to digital building twins. The digital building twin stores and evaluates performance data in real-time while the blockchain ensures transparency and trusted execution of automatic performance evaluation and rewards through smart contracts. Next, we demonstrate the feasibility of both the concept and technical architecture by integrating the Ethereum blockchain with digital building models and sensors via the Siemens building twin platform. The resulting prototype is the first full-stack implementation of a performance-based smart contract in the built environment

Applications of Blockchain for the Governance of Integrated Project Delivery: A Crypto Commons Approach

This paper outlines why and how blockchain can digitally support and evolve the governance of collaborative project deliveries, such as integrated project deliveries (IPDs), to provide the foundation for novel and disruptive forms of organizational collaboration in the construction industry. Previous work has conceptualized IPDs as a common pool resource (CPR) scenario, where shared resources are collectively governed. Through the use of blockchain and smart contracts for trustworthy peer-to-peer transactions and execution logic, Ostrom's design principles can be digitally encoded to scale CPR scenarios. Building on the identified connections, the paper 1) synthesizes fourteen blockchain-based mechanisms to govern CPRs, 2) identifies twenty-two applications of these mechanisms to govern IPDs, and 3) introduces a conceptualization of the above relationships towards a holistic understanding of collaborative project deliveries on the crypto commons for novel collective organization of construction project delivery between both humans and machines

Implications of Construction 4.0 to the workforce and organizational structures

The counterpart of Industry 4.0 in the AEC/FM industry is known as Construction 4.0. Its essence is the digitalization and automation of the AEC/FM industry. As robots and other technologies make their way into the different phases of the lifecycle of construction projects, the concern about the future of jobs and wages will increase. While the use of robotics has the potential to improve productivity and safety, it should not necessarily reduce total employment in the construction sector in the long run. It is expected that existing roles will evolve, and new roles will be created (e.g., in addition to designers there will be a need for employees with digital skills). Focusing on the construction phase of a robotically built concrete wall, the different roles were evaluated. From this study, it was found that there will be a time in which conventional construction and robotic technologies will coexist, leading to a higher job variability and new roles, both at the managerial and operations/execution levels. Although this study is not meant to be an exact representation of how the AEC/FM roles will change as a consequence of Construction 4.0, it opens the debate and research in this area

Productivity of digital fabrication in construction: Cost and time analysis of a robotically built wall

Although automation has been actively and successfully used in different industries since the 1970s, its application to the construction industry is still rare or not fully exploited. In order to help provide the construction industry with an additional incentive to adopt more automation, an investigation was undertaken to assess the effects of digital fabrication (dfab) on productivity by analyzing the cost and time required for the construction of a robotically-fabricated complex concrete wall onsite. After defining the different tasks for the conventional and robotically fabricated concrete wall, data was collected from different sources and used in a simulation to describe the distribution of time and cost for the different construction scenarios. In the example, it was found that productivity is higher when the robotic construction method is used for complex walls, indicating that it is possible to obtain significant economic benefit from the use of additive dfab to construct complex structures. Further research is required to assess the social impacts of using dfab

Decentralized project delivery on the crypto commons: Conceptualization, governance mechanisms, and future research directions

This paper presents a first conceptualization for decentralized project delivery through the combination of blockchain technology and common pool resource governance theory, also known as the ”crypto commons”. While previous literature on project delivery models identifies the use of decentralized governance, there is not yet a holistic conceptualization nor a specific overview of governance applications that can be applied. To develop the concept, we use a literature review to synthesize fourteen blockchain governance mechanisms useful for managing the crypto-commons. Subsequently, we use systematic combining to identify twenty-two specific applications for decentralized project delivery in the construction industry, one of the largest project-based industries. Each application is briefly reviewed, and examples of their relevance to realize decentralized project delivery models are provided. We discuss the potential for novel forms of project delivery, but also the need for future research on the applications, as well as on the system level implications, the system design challenges, and the implementation barriers in the specific context of the construction industry. Overall, the concepts and mechanisms presented provide a theoretical foundation upon which future researchers can use to design novel decentralized project delivery models.Design & Construction Managemen

Web3-based role and token data access: the case of building material passports

Long-term access to lifecycle data is key to a successful transition towards a circular built environment. However, the underlying technology often remains centralized and risks becoming inaccessible over time. In this paper, we investigate whether decentralized access methods using Web3, i.e. blockchain and decentralized data storage protocols, can help to mitigate this limitation. We implement Web3 data access mechanisms for a material passport with both a role-based and a token-based smart contract. Initial results suggest that Web3 offers a promising approach to data access over the lifecycle of a built asset-but only with careful design choices.Integral Design & ManagementDesign & Construction Managemen