Grant: Alliance Grants
Concordia University
$50,000.00
Construction Workspace Management under Covid-19 and Forthcoming Pandemics_x000d_ _x000d_
FY 2020-21
Summary
Construction industry is an instrumental component of Canadian economy, supporting urban / rural critical services, and currently hiring almost one in every 14 working Canadians. While many construction operations are considered essential services and must be maintained ongoing during (and following) pandemic, the health and safety for construction crews and site workers are of paramount importance. The restoration (and continuation) of construction operations under the crisis of COVID-19 pandemic requires enforcement of specific Health, Safety and Environmental (HSE) provisions in construction sites (including the use of additional personal protective equipment; applying physical distancing; and frequent disinfection of construction equipment). This will make essential changes to work processes and will affect the production rate of various construction activities (particularly the labor-intensive ones). The proposed project will advance and extend a software tool recently developed by the Co-PI's at Concordia University, to help with updating construction schedules with requirements of social/physical distancing, and other HSE provisions. A cloud-based Software as a Service (SaaS) will be developed with two main modules: a Process Modeler; and a Schedule Optimizer, which can be used for a range of planning decisions; from simple construction activities, to complex project workflows, taking advantage of 2D drawings, and/or 3D and 4D BIM (Building Information Models). Furthermore, Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) technology will be used to track the site personnel involved in each of the simulated activities, and control / alert the enforcement of HSE policies. The on-site tracking results fed back into the cloud database will continuously improve the accuracy of simulation models. The team at Concordia is partnering with two industry leaders: SNC-Lavalin, as one of the largest Canadian contractors with a wide presence in international construction market; and ReelyActive, a pioneer in BLE-based human tracking. The proposed project will recruit and train five HQP, who will receive training in the partner companies as well as construction sites.
Program
Alliance Grants
Recipient
Location
Quebec, Canada
Recipient Type
Academia
Type
Grant
Source
NSERC's Awards Data
As published
Application id
553985-2020
Name nom
Nik Bakht, Mazdak
Department département
Building, Civil and Environmental Engineering
Organization id
70
Institution établissement
Concordia University
Province en
Québec
Province fr
Québec
Country en
CANADA
Country fr
CANADA
Fiscal year exercice financier
2020
Competition year année de concours
2020
Award amount
50000
Program id
ALLRP
Program name en
Alliance Grants
Program name fr
Subventions Alliance
Group en
Research partnerships programs
Group fr
Programmes de partenariat
Committee code
96
Committee name en
RPP Internal Decision Cttee
Committee name fr
Cté de décision interne - PPR
Area of application code
600
Area of application group en
Construction, urban and rural planning
Area of application group fr
Construction, urbanisme et aménagement rural
Area of application en
Construction, urban and rural planning
Area of application fr
Construction, urbanisme et aménagement rural
Research subject code
1001
Research subject group en
Civil engineering
Research subject group fr
Génie civil
Research subject en
Construction engineering and management
Research subject fr
Génie et gestion du bâtiment
Installment
inst:1 - 1
Partie
1
Nb partie
1
Application title
Construction Workspace Management under Covid-19 and Forthcoming Pandemics_x000d_
_x000d_
Keyword
NSERC
Application summary
Construction industry is an instrumental component of Canadian economy, supporting urban / rural critical services, and currently hiring almost one in every 14 working Canadians. While many construction operations are considered essential services and must be maintained ongoing during (and following) pandemic, the health and safety for construction crews and site workers are of paramount importance. The restoration (and continuation) of construction operations under the crisis of COVID-19 pandemic requires enforcement of specific Health, Safety and Environmental (HSE) provisions in construction sites (including the use of additional personal protective equipment; applying physical distancing; and frequent disinfection of construction equipment). This will make essential changes to work processes and will affect the production rate of various construction activities (particularly the labor-intensive ones). The proposed project will advance and extend a software tool recently developed by the Co-PI's at Concordia University, to help with updating construction schedules with requirements of social/physical distancing, and other HSE provisions. A cloud-based Software as a Service (SaaS) will be developed with two main modules: a Process Modeler; and a Schedule Optimizer, which can be used for a range of planning decisions; from simple construction activities, to complex project workflows, taking advantage of 2D drawings, and/or 3D and 4D BIM (Building Information Models). Furthermore, Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) technology will be used to track the site personnel involved in each of the simulated activities, and control / alert the enforcement of HSE policies. The on-site tracking results fed back into the cloud database will continuously improve the accuracy of simulation models. The team at Concordia is partnering with two industry leaders: SNC-Lavalin, as one of the largest Canadian contractors with a wide presence in international construction market; and ReelyActive, a pioneer in BLE-based human tracking. The proposed project will recruit and train five HQP, who will receive training in the partner companies as well as construction sites.
