AI - the bricklayer

AI is advancing in sectors where it is least expected - it is even transforming how construction and planning works.

We still have not grasped yet how deeply AI is about to transform our economies. We have language models in mind, or robots. But AI will be applied in all sorts of sectors even the least expected ones, like the construction sector. One likes to think of construction as a sector where manual labour still dominates. AI won’t lay bricks or pipes anytime soon, so this business seemed pretty immune to AI. Is it not? Les Echos ran a feature of how AI is already used by large construction companies, which is quite fascinating to read.

One of the main benefits for construction companies is that AI can more easily calculate the benefit of a tender. The French international company Vinci Constructions for example used an inhouse build AI application that analyses and allows for the rapid selection of construction contracts. This application has already analysed 50,000 calls for tenders since 2024 in France, the US, Canada, and Chile, and resulted in 160 projects. Time is critical in these tenders, and the selection as well as responses are time consuming affairs.

Another example is the architecture firm A26, which has developed an application to verify a project in relation to local urban planning documents and regulations. For the architect Damien David, head of the AI project, this application gives more time for creativity and allows plans to optimise in record time. It produces plans that incorporate the foundation thickness, type of concrete, the amount of reinforcement, scaffolding and fire hydrants.

But AI not only is a tool for inhouse use. The construction company Maisons Demeurance has launched an AI assisted 3D house configurator that allows customers to visualise their individual project even before their first appointment.

AI is also increasingly used on construction sites. AI can optimise crane and other equipment usage. The excavator digging a trench and dumping the excavated soil into a truck can be optimised by AI. Loxam, the European leader in construction equipment rental, sees massive potential for AI to optimise equipment rental and early detection of anomalies.

But while AI is making inroads into the construction sector, its level of engagement remains uneven. AI works well for large companies that have their own inhouse R&D team. Smaller companies tend to use off-the-shelf solutions, but need to adapt them to their needs. The other obstacle is that AI needs well-structured data. In the construction sector data is fragmented: AI may be used by a manager on-site with his mobile phone, a CRM system, or in the office with a dedicated software. The construction sector is also less suited to digitalisation than manufacturing due to its specific nature of each of its projects.

It is still astonishing how AI is already such a game-changer. We often only see the surface of a sector and not the many processes that are behind. Construction, like agriculture, is often superficially classified as a low-tech sector. But the organisational complexity of a building site is something that is very much a job where AI can become a game-changer.