[2021 Asia Construction Awards] DL E&C Implements Smart Construction with BIM and Artificial Intelligence

DL E&C, which received the Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport Award at this year’s Asia Construction Awards in the New Technology and New Construction Method category, is applying Building Information Modeling (BIM) technology from the planning and design stages of all multi-family housing projects, becoming the first in the construction industry to do so in line with the Fourth Industrial Revolution to realize smart construction. BIM is a digital technology that represents all information about a building?such as design, materials, and construction?in a three-dimensional video format, enabling integrated utilization. DL E&C aims to provide customers with residential products of meticulously managed quality at a manufacturing industry level by actively introducing digital technologies such as BIM, artificial intelligence (AI), and big data into construction sites, surpassing the limitations of traditional construction companies.

Since this year, DL E&C has been managing the total construction costs, including electrical and mechanical equipment, through BIM and big data. This is to enhance quality and competitiveness in bidding with accurate construction costs. Various information generated from major trades has been collected as big data since last year, and currently, budgets for all sites’ structural and finishing works are calculated and organized using BIM. A DL E&C official explained, "Through three-dimensional design drawings, anyone can easily understand costs with just one click, enabling meticulous quality control."

Additionally, bidding strategies can now be established by reflecting bid amounts and construction periods derived from project-specific cost information managed through big data, further enhancing competitiveness in securing contracts. Alongside this, DL E&C is using AI to derive optimal design plans tailored to each location of multi-family housing. By inputting environmental conditions where the apartment will be built, it is now possible to perform thousands of designs within a day and compare them to propose the optimal design through ‘Generative Design.’

Recently, DL E&C developed AI design technology and completed patent application. This technology enables AI to analyze apartment environments and automatically generate about 1,000 underground parking lot design plans within 30 minutes. A DL E&C official explained, "Since AI handles the design instead of humans, it is possible to derive design plans optimized for the complex environment with uniform quality levels across all sites."

DL E&C also developed a system that visualizes the design quantities and actual post-construction details of mechanical, electrical, and plumbing (MEP) facilities in three-dimensional videos and calculates them as big data, becoming the first in the industry to do so. This lays the foundation for managing all materials used in construction as data in line with the Fourth Industrial Revolution era. Based on this, DL E&C plans to establish a system by 2023 to replace or repair all building materials at appropriate times, similar to how car tires or engine oil are managed.

Kim Jeongheon, Executive Director of the Housing Business Headquarters, said, "Through Generative Design, we will establish optimal design plans to enable construction with more detail than manufacturing. We plan to upgrade our industry-leading BIM capabilities to the next level and build DL E&C’s absolute competitiveness to provide customers with perfect residential products."