{"id":37992,"date":"2018-01-25T14:26:31","date_gmt":"2018-01-25T14:26:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/?p=37992"},"modified":"2018-08-10T12:29:29","modified_gmt":"2018-08-10T11:29:29","slug":"construction-blockchain-consortium","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.pbctoday.co.uk\/news\/planning-construction-news\/construction-blockchain-consortium\/37992\/","title":{"rendered":"Construction Blockchain Consortium (CBC) leads blockchain technology transformation in the built environment"},"content":{"rendered":"

Blockchain technology has the potential to be a transformative force in the construction industry. Here, Dr Eleni Papadonikolaki and Dr Abel Maciel discuss how it works and the role of the Construction Blockchain Consortium in bringing together industry and academia to supercharge its development in the UK<\/h2>\n

We are in an unprecedented period of technological change and disruption \u2013 an \u2018Information Tsunami\u2019 consisting of Building Information Modelling (BIM), blockchain technology, artificial intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT), Big Data analytics etc. These technologies have already shown a profound effect on most sectors, especially financial services, and will clearly cause major disruption in construction. Among them, blockchain technology brings a novelty in storing and recording transactions in a tamperproof way through cryptography.<\/p>\n

One of its most famous applications is in the area of digital currencies, flagshipped by the Bitcoin and Ethereum cryptocurrencies. However, apart from strictly fiscal and utility applications, blockchain, because of its peer-to-peer controlled distributed transactional database, can record and confirm various agreements, such as contracts (eg smart contracts, smart-insurance etc.) and transform the business-to-business ecosystem. Due to the lack of central authority, it offers democratised and transparent flows of information using a permission-less and censorship-resistant approach. For these and other qualities, blockchain technology is also known as the \u2018Trust Protocol\u2019.<\/p>\n

BIM and Blockchain: Made for each other?<\/h3>\n

The construction industry is notoriously characterised by fragmentation in information flows, processes, services and firms. Undoubtedly, one of its persistent problems is the disconnect between design and construction. This disconnect is mainly due to the lack of open and trustworthy information across the supply chain. Blockchain technology has the greatest potential in construction to averting these effects through the use of open and transparent transactions.<\/p>\n

Apart from minimising the interfaces between design and construction, blockchain technology can contribute to improving both fields in their own right. First, blockchain can facilitate Computer Supported Collaborative Work (CSCW), and Computational Design in general, by enabling transparent information flows.<\/p>\n

Second, blockchain technology could nicely complement information and change management in Building Information Modelling (BIM)<\/a> systems, both authoring and managing tools. Thereafter, leveraging smart contracts and trusting environments, blockchain technology can improve supply chain management and logistics control.<\/p>\n

Through the use of \u2018intelligent\u2019 building components designed via BIM<\/a>, blockchain offers new ways to manage the flow of materials, contracts and payments across the supply chain. This not only guarantees a chain or accountability and responsibility, but also brings the principles of the circular economy closer to the construction industry.<\/p>\n

Similarly, a decentralised, industry-wide construction blockchain leveraging from the use of sensors and the Internet of Things could create a \u201cledger of things\u201d to manage key transactions in transportation, infrastructure, energy, waste or water. This could be the ultimate function of digital transformation in construction<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"Construction
Dr Abel Maciel presents the collaborative workflow opportunities for BIM from blockchain
technology at the IoT Blockchain Solutions Forum in Barcelona last September<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Mission of the Construction Blockchain Consortium<\/h3>\n

All this indicates that there are many technologies and potential applications, whose exploration is key for the industry. Given that companies often do not have time, skills and resources to monitor technology, the Construction Blockchain Consortium (CBC) [Link – https:\/\/www.constructionblockchain.org\/<\/a>] aims to fulfil this role.<\/p>\n

The CBC leverages technologies to enable disruption in the construction industry.<\/p>\n

The consortium started as a collaboration between University College London\u2019s (UCL) Bartlett Faculty of the Built Environment and the Department of Engineering. It lies at the intersection of industry and academia, offering three main strategic functions:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Knowledge transfer<\/strong>: To track and distil the escalating range of technologies and tools that are emerging.<\/li>\n
  2. Research and Development (R&D) to the whole construction ecosystem<\/strong>: To build pre-competitive proof-of-concept systems and generate IP.<\/li>\n
  3. Education and training<\/strong>:\u00a0To enhance and redevelop the knowledge and expertise of staff required to deploy the new technologies.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Learning from models like the R3 Consortium, [Link – https:\/\/www.r3.com\/<\/a>] a blockchain technology company that coordinates a consortium of over 70 banks in knowledge transfer and R&D of blockchain in financial services, a consortium dedicated to the construction sector would seem a timely idea.<\/p>\n

    The CBC also has strong links to UCL\u2019s recently established inter-departmental UCL Centre for Blockchain Technologies. [Link – http:\/\/blockchain.cs.ucl.ac.uk\/<\/a>] Apart from the synergies in the area of BIM, other themes of interest include:<\/p>\n