Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/1006805
PROPERTY & CONSTRUCTION P2 maltatoday | SUNDAY • 22 JULY 2018 IN April 2018, production in construction had grown by 1.4% in the euro area and by 0.8% across the wider EU (EU28). In terms of annual compari- son, the figures from Eurostat, the EU's statistical office, show that output increased by 1.8% in the euro area and by 2.6% in the EU28 in May 2018 com- pared with May 2017. The increase of 0.3% in pro- duction in construction in the euro area in May 2018, com- pared with April 2018, is due to civil engineering rising by 0.4% and building construction by 0.2%. In the EU28, the increase of 1.2% is due to building con- struction rising by 1.2% and civil engineering by 1.1%. Among member states with available data, the highest in- creases in production in con- struction were recorded in Hungary (+6.0%), Slovenia (+3.4%), the Czech Republic and Germany (both +3.1%). De- creases were observed in Slova- kia (-6.0%) and France (-3.4%). The increase of 1.8% in pro- duction in construction in the euro area in May 2018, com- pared with May 2017, is due to civil engineering rising by 3.3% and building construc- tion by 1.3%. In the EU28, the increase of 2.6% is due to civil engineering rising by 5.0% and building construction by 1.9%. The highest increases in pro- duction in construction were recorded in Slovenia (+30.3%), Poland (+23.3%) and Hungary (+15.2%). Decreases were ob- served in France (-4.1%) and Bulgaria (-0.4%). IT is not a secret that tech- nology has made its way into many different sectors, even the highly specialised ones. This is even more true thanks to AI technology, that is slowly but surely making its way into many different areas. One of the latest applications of artificial intelligence is in construction engineering. The addition of AI in the civil engineering world has had a great success already, even though it is not as fast of an addition as it is in other sectors. The speed of things is due to the fact that although some aspects of a project can be im- proved with AI, many still rely on human intervention. One of the oldest practices still around, the laying of bricks, cannot sim- ply be replaced with artificial intelligence. At least, not for the time being. Nevertheless, AIs have in- deed helped the initial steps of projects, in that they are used when algorithms are needed to calculate possible challenges, and improve the productivity and efficiency. In fact, the com- panies that have already started implementing artificial intel- ligence were shown to be 50% more profitable than the ones without. With five distinct applications where the AIs can be used to speed projects up, civil engi- neering can literally begin sav- ing time, and therefore, money. The first application is known as "reinforcement learning" which means the AI can un- derstand what the best way of doing something is – so help- ful when it comes to planning and scheduling. The second application is "predictive ap- plications to forecasting project risks" which helps analyse how viable solutions are. The third application is "supervised learn- ing applications for modularisa- tion and prefabrication" which basically means keeping tabs on the supply chain. The fourth one is "machine learning" which is how robotic arms learn the steps to prefabricate materials and/or for general maintenance. And last but not least, the fifth AI application is "image recognition", which works with drones and three-dimensional imagery and is used for quality control for the project. The im- ages are gathered to show what the construction will look like after it's completed, and there- fore allow the engineers to cor- rect any possible mistakes and/ or modify the project as it de- velops. With the engineering and construction (E&C) field worth more than $10 trillion a year, the addition of AI is seen as further progress to a sector that remains critically under-digitised. The sectors are calculated to be investing only about one percent in the technology sector, putting it way behind many of its others. The time has come for the civil engineering and construction sectors to embrace technology and the many advantages it has to offer. Articial Intelligence can make the construction and engineering sector more ecient European construction output rises Output in Europe's construction sector rose 1.2% in May compared to April, though the rise was only 0.3% in the eurozone