Dr. Reva Bond, Dean, School of Construction, SAIT
Dr. Reva Bond is the first female Dean in the School of Construction at SAIT. Before joining SAIT in 2009 Reva had a multi-disciplinary, progressive career in hospitality, tourism, manufacturing, health care and industrial construction.
She earned her doctorate in distance education from Athabasca University in 2023. Reva has managed apprenticeship, diploma, applied degree and degree programs within the School of Construction, School of Manufacturing and Automation and the School of Transportation during her tenure at SAIT. A busy mother to three daughters, her passions include complexity leadership theory and increasing female participation in non-traditional careers. Adhering to her values of candour, learning, meaningful work, openness and trustworthiness continues to propel her forward, now in a position of leading leaders.
Raphael Costa, Director, Economic Development, City of Vaughan
As an economic development and public management professional, Raphael Costa helps communities build local and organizational capacity and seize their unique opportunities.
With more than ten years in the not-for-profit, academic and municipal sectors in local economic development, Mr. Costa has helped communities develop and implement strategies, programs and policies designed to maximize their potential.
Emily Deeth, Manager, Commercial Advisory & Strategy, Infrastructure Ontario
Emily joined Infrastructure Ontario’s Commercial Advisory and Strategy group in early 2023, supporting the Accelerated High-Speed Internet Program, responsible for driving broadband delivery across the province. As part of IO’s digital twin initiative, Emily is responsible for identifying and prioritizing digital twin use cases across asset classes.
Prior to joining IO, Emily held roles as a consultant and as an advisor to provincial government. As a strategy consultant, Emily assessed private and public sector organizations for their effectiveness and efficiency, benchmarking organizations against peers and leading practices. While with the Ontario Government, Emily coordinated across workstreams including IT, realty, business processes, and policy requirements.
Emily is passionate about improving policy, processes and solutions that can improve how the public interacts with the government and government assets. When not focused on scaling digital twins, Emily can be found on the water, sailing, and windsurfing or on her bike exploring Toronto.
Thomas Donoghue, Vice President, Industry Innovation, CRH
Thomas leads industry innovation globally for CRH, leveraging his expertise across operations, project delivery, and innovation management to drive impactful change in the construction industry. Recognized for spearheading collaborative partnerships and solutions, he bridges construction expertise with next-gen thinking to reimagine efficiency, integration, and end-to-end value creation from design to operations.
A chartered CIOB and CMI member, Thomas is also pursuing his doctorate in business researching innovation and decarbonization strategies. Thomas actively partners with leading designers, contractors, owners and technologists to pioneer advanced construction methods, materials, and processes that accelerate sustainability and productivity improvement across the built environment.
With his multifaceted background, Thomas works to exchange knowledge and champion the adoption of next-generation technologies and best practices, helping to shape a future-ready, climate-resilient built environment.
Greg Godbout, Principal, Soukup America
Greg has been in the solid wood processing industry for over 40 years. Specialized in the joinery machinery and tooling sector, he is a principal of a few related companies delivering robust, innovative milling tools, supplies, and accessories to the woodworking and offsite construction industries in North America.
In the offsite construction sector, Soukup America provides engineered solutions and proven European workflow and technologies for the prefab industries in North America. From panels to modular production, Greg and his teams help new offsite manufacturers on new facilities and existing prefab shops on expanding capacity with new technologies and workflows. Offsite construction is a proven cleaner and higher quality option for the building industry. By placing knowledge and collaboration opportunities at the front end of his businesses, Greg and his team deliver the needed elements to foster and grow the advanced wood processing and product manufacturing industries.
Greg enjoys exploring cities, volunteering in his communities, and pleasure reading. He tries to do it all with his companion and a four-legged friend.
Sean Robbins, BIM Manager, Moriyama Teshima Architects
Sean is a dedicated BIM Manager, design professional, and instructor with over a decade of intensive experience at the forefront of the AEC field. At Moriyama Teshima Architects, he has shown a genuine passion for exploring the potential of BIM and the technologies (and people) that interface with it. A commitment to sharing knowledge is reflected in his role as an instructor at TMU, where he strives to empower aspiring architecture students and foreign-trained professionals to succeed in an ever-evolving industry.
Sean remains deeply committed to shaping the future of AEC through emerging design tools, leveraging their transformative potential for innovation and optimal project outcomes.
Sanya Sahni, Research Assistant, University of New Brunswick Off-site Construction Research Centre
Sanya Sahni is a Research Assistant at the UNB Off-site Construction Research Centre (OCRC). A graduate student at the Computer Science Department with six years of industry experience in AI and related technologies, Sanya's work at the OCRC revolves around Digital Research.
Since joining OCRC in September 2022, Sanya has worked with our industry partners on setting up groundbreaking solutions using AI and Computer Vision that have the potential to drastically reduce turnaround times on visualizing blueprints of buildings. Sanya also works closely with OCRC's research team, providing technical support on various active projects.
Sanya holds a Bachelor of Technology degree in the field of Computer Science. Before starting her graduate studies at UNB, Sanya worked as a Data Scientist - developing solutions for the Healthcare and Pharmaceutical industries.
Anurag Sharma, President and General Manager, Hilti Canada
Anurag Sharma President and General Manager of HILTI Canada comes with 15 years of Industry experience in Construction and prior experience in Robotics and Startups. Prior to Canada, Anurag was managing the Industry and Energy business in South Asia out of Singapore which included various segments from Oil and Gas, power generation, mining and specialized and core industries like Data Centres and Pharma etc across India, Southeast Asia and Australia, New Zealand.
He is passionate about evolving technologies, newer differentiated products, software and business models, and truly believes innovation coupled with a focus on adoption can make the construction industry more productive, accelerate the transformations, and most importantly, highly attractive to newer generations.
At Canada, Anurag advises HILTI through its innovative technology solutions and unique direct sales model to create customer relationships across the value chain, from early engineering to construction, and operations and is committed to be a champion for productivity, health and safety, and sustainability.
What are the most exciting and challenging aspects that you experience when working with advanced technologies like AI, Big Data, and Automation?
Sean Robbins, Moriyama Teshima Architects
We are constantly humbled. As anyone in this industry knows by now, what we thought we knew was “new”, is already going out of fashion. We are in a perpetual, on the verge of dizzying, state of “excitement” as we ride the swift currents of advanced technologies and the tilt, pitch, and yaw that bear on our workflows. The challenge for us, truly, has been to carefully choose which technological headwinds provide the most lift. For MTA, the function that Big Data performs is foundational to our workflow. Every project is rooted in data, in its various alpha-numeric and visual forms, and connected to every other project like a rhizome, so that growth is extensible and new projects build on the evolving foundation of information. Our current challenge is to learn more about ourselves. By directing machine learning (AI) at our own fertile data field, we hope to open new runways for task automation, sustainability, and ultimately greater heights of design potential.
Emily Deeth, Infrastructure Ontario
New technologies present opportunities that span across the entire lifecycle of the province’s infrastructure portfolio. For example, we can improve how we plan to build critical infrastructure to best serve Ontarians, while balancing taxpayer obligations, and optimizing site planning for construction to minimize disruption to neighbouring properties through the responsible and safe use of AI. We can accelerate construction with our partners through robotics, 3D printing and drone technology, and improve our efficiency and minimize our carbon footprint when managing our existing buildings and land properties using digital twins (virtual representations of real assets and/or processes, enriched with analytics). Big Data and AI are providing insights that were previously inaccessible — allowing us to make better decisions and ensure the Government of Ontario’s investments align with Ontarians’ needs.
Construction of large infrastructure projects can be very challenging, given the number of stakeholders involved, scale, and often unique and evolving circumstances. While the province continued to build critical infrastructure during the COVID-19 pandemic, Ontario is still recovering from its broad-reaching impacts on our construction sector, including a stressed supply chain, market volatility and resourcing challenges. Using simulation tools, we can better predict outcomes sooner, and determine appropriate evidence-based mitigation strategies — alleviating the aforementioned risks and making Ontario a better place to build.
Aligning with our partners, such as Project Consortiums, Ministries, Utilities, Municipalities, and others on how we should allocate our technology investments is critical. Additionally, using new technologies requires new skills, including risk management — presenting new challenges and opportunities for Infrastructure Ontario (IO), as we plan on how to recruit staff and hire advisors.
Thomas Donoghue, CRH
The construction industry is undergoing an exciting transformation, with technology, digitization, and sustainability driving innovation and shaping the future of construction. At CRH, we see great potential to leverage advanced technologies to optimize our operations, reduce emissions, and increase circularity aligned with our ambition to be a net-zero business by 2050. The potential for technologies like AI to drive step-change improvements in efficiency, sustainability, and safety is significant — for example, CRH’s iManCrete technology uses AI to optimize concrete mix design and CO2 content, helping to deliver low carbon solution for customers on their projects. However, fully realizing the potential of advanced technologies will require navigating complex integration challenges across systems, processes, and workforces. Our focus is taking a collaborative approach: working closely with industry partners and technology providers and investing in our people to ensure we capitalize on the potential of new technologies while managing risks. The learning potential is immense, as advanced technologies provide continuous improvement possibilities across the construction value chain, and advanced solutions offer huge opportunities to accelerate sustainability and digitalization across the built environment.
Raphael Costa, City of Vaughan
The City of Vaughan continues to take a Smart City approach to deliver efficient, reliable and innovative city building. From improving infrastructure and roads to recreation and healthcare, this strategy is fundamental to delivering a high standard of living and exceptional quality of life for our residents. As one of Canada’s fastest-growing cities, advancing Smart City initiatives is crucial to Vaughan’s ongoing success. To do so, the City must build the infrastructure needed, develop the technology interfaces for that infrastructure and promote the use of technology by residents and businesses.
Smart Cities add digital intelligence and leverage data and technology to optimize urban environments. One of the most exciting aspects of implementing a Smart City approach is finding innovative solutions that can improve the quality of life for those who live and work in Vaughan. For example, we use AI to help optimize traffic flow, reduce energy consumption and enhance citizen engagement.
When it comes to deploying these solutions, one of the City’s main focuses is prioritizing the needs of people rather than adopting new technology for technology’s sake. It’s important our team addresses challenges to the community, such as data privacy and security, skills and expertise, and infrastructure and integration. We emphasize collaboration among various stakeholders in the Smart City ecosystem, including startups, residents, researchers, community groups and technology partners to help inform best practices. By fostering co-operation and focusing on people-centric solutions, our department aims to transform into a smart and sustainable city that meets the evolving needs and desires of our residents.
Dr. Reva Bond, SAIT
The most exciting things happen when we are able to get the latest and greatest technology into the hands of our students. They often exceed our expectations on what they can accomplish in a short 15-week semester using technology. The speed at which they are able to learn the equipment is astonishing. Whether it is remotely piloted aircraft systems (RPAS), 3D printers, lidar scanners, or photogrammetry software, our students who find their passion in these areas amaze us with their project outcomes.
The most challenging aspect we experience when using advanced technologies is the speed at which our students are able to learn the technology! Once it is loose, you can’t pull it back in. You need to be prepared to accept what has been produced and thoughtfully critique without dampening learner excitement for innovation. But placing adequate boundaries in place for exploration is also very important.
Advancement in technology doesn’t happen in isolation in a lab, it happens all around us in the real-world. Often the “new thing” introduces more complexity than it resolves, especially in the early stages. Attempting to challenge the status quo in what we use to build or how we intend to build is a complex endeavor. Privacy concerns over the data collection process, ownership disputes over who owns what and at what stage, and then information security as breaches become more common. Our student projects aren’t immune to these challenges. It takes dedicated, talented faculty to be able to push our students into real-world problem-solving and yet pull them back to ensure we are acting within acceptable limits.
Sanya Sahni, UNB OCRC
The construction industry is one of the top contributors to the country’s GDP, but in the last 20 years we haven’t seen a major jump in productivity. In contrast, other sectors such as real estate, agriculture, and manufacturing have shown considerably higher gains over the same time frame.
The secret lies in embracing digitization — integrating technology within our business practices to achieve cohesion, enhance quality, find insights, anticipate demands and plan for the future. There is a pressing need, an exciting opportunity, to transition away from traditional methodologies that no longer serve us, and are in fact, impeding our progress.
There is such a wealth within construction data, so much untapped potential that we haven’t even scratched the surface of yet. Big Data Systems could go a long way in creating models that unearth insights within the financial, logistical, and human resource aspects of construction. With advancements in AI, we can now have models that can augment activities including, but not limited to site monitoring, safety assessment, and progress tracking.
The OCRC aims to transcend traditional construction practices by harnessing the power of technology, by reaching across the aisle and collaborating with industry leaders to create products that the entire construction ecosystem can benefit from.
Greg Godbout, Soukup America
We continue to see a sustained momentum and interest in building better quality homes faster. Small to big players are getting into offsite construction for speed, quality, centralized skills, efficiencies, waste control, and year-round production.
Despite the inflation and other challenges, manufacturers worked on their plans over a year ago and are now receiving funding and moving forward with their factory executions. Government bodies continue to invest in construction and healthcare to help solve the housing crisis. While new private funding become cautious in recent months, builders seek industry collaborations and lessons to finetune their product designs and business investments.
Designing for Manufacturing & Assembly (DfMA), for example, is increasingly considered a fundamental strategy for automation. Readily available design tools and production processes allow builders to work from architect designs to the production floor and the final job site.
When designing a manufacturing facility, we see employing appropriate technologies at the right time is the key to a builder’s success. The industry exemplifies the importance of “growing with automation” rather than thinking robots can do it all now. Starting with digitized designs and materials, builders plan a system-wide production. Appropriate levels of automation are applied to each station to balance the entire line, workflow, human resources, and skills. We are seeing the trend to speed to market and get in for a long game. One technology does not fit all stations. None of us want to see idle robots and empty factories. We see growing collaborations among panel, modular, and mass timber producers on given projects. The industry will continue to benefit from knowledge sharing and networking opportunities to share experience and strategy. In a manufacturing facility, the challenge is technology application. Trade skills and experience are demanding, especially when we want to build fast at higher quality. We see growing offering of construction programs, including offsite construction and mass timber, across the education sector. These are great opportunities to start cross-pollinating trades and technologies.
Anurag Sharma, Hilti Canada
It’s an exciting time, looking at how Big Data, AI, Robotics, and Automation are making their way into mainstream industries. But let’s face it, for an industry that uses increasingly cutting-edge technology to execute their clients’ complex projects, companies in the construction industry still struggle to embrace tech that provides the same level of precision for the internal workings of their businesses. In fact, the McKinsey Global Institute’s Industry Digitization Index rates construction as the second LEAST digitized sector in the world. We at HILTI see this industry-wide challenge as an exciting opportunity because these technologies, if applied effectively, can fundamentally transform the industry.
Today’s job sites generate vast amounts of data waiting to be collected and exploited. IoT and generated data capabilities can capture real-time data and help make proactive operational decisions that save money, increase productivity, and enhance safety. HILTI is heavily investing in platforms, asset management software, back-end data-based analysis to transform customer data into business value such as an optimized tool park, enhanced control over inventory and costs, and seamless communication and processes between the office and field to enable automation and improve productivity.
Through our direct customer-facing business model, we have close to 280k customer interactions daily, providing us access to invaluable information on challenges customers are facing across the value chain. Through data analysis, we can funnel these to our R&D and have a strong innovation pipeline. In the coming years, deriving tangible value from data will be a game-changer. We see AI also playing a big role in enhancing our customer experience, and AI-driven recommendations or tools tailored to specific construction needs can improve user satisfaction.
How do you envision the future of the construction and design industry as advancements in AI and technology continue to accelerate? How do you think future generations can prepare for this new way of working?
Emily Deeth, Infrastructure Ontario
The future is exciting. I imagine a world where AI and the Internet of Things (IoT) may be used across the construction lifecycle — connecting our portfolio, to make our critical infrastructure more intelligent. Building Information Modelling and digital twins may become a requirement for any project related to designing, building and managing public infrastructure. As the benefits of these tools are realized, responsible use of them may become standard — impacting the construction and design industry.
To prepare for this, I believe that the construction sector should align on standardizing how we capture, record and store data. High-quality data underpins many of these advancements — but if we need to constantly audit and/or transform data, it becomes less efficient to use new technologies. Other jurisdictions have shown how standardization further enhances interoperability across different technology solutions, drives greater collaboration across the industry, and simplifies data management, among other benefits.
Additionally, data sharing strengthens transparency and improves decision-making and outcomes in various fields, including infrastructure development. Modernizing public assets and creating digital twins for public infrastructure can create immediate value. Sharing and using datasets across projects could further enhance collaboration across all stakeholders, driving efficiency in project delivery — making Ontario a more attractive destination to build in.
Future generations can further skill up — combining knowledge of construction and these innovative digital tools. The workforce will need to evolve to manage and work alongside AI and advanced technologies in the construction and management of public infrastructure.
Dr. Reva Bond, SaIT
The future of construction and design is as bright as it is bleak. This paradox needs to remain at the forefront as we embark upon an unprecedented pace of change and adoption of technology. The train has left the station so to speak, but we still have the responsibility to make a lot of important decisions that will dramatically influence what track we travel on, i.e. the ongoing use and impact of technology for building better. The hard work has yet to begin.
The application of technology is done with people, by people, and for people. We can’t lose our focus on the importance of life-long-learning, meeting people where they are at today, and pulling everyone along with us into a bright future. A future that must value equity, diversity, and inclusion. Inclusion is the foundation required to be able to truly collaborate and collaboration is required for innovation. We need to evolve our training and education in ethics and morals, sociology and psychology, change management, teamwork, and communication to keep pace with technology. These human skills must continue to be developed alongside the tech skills. To develop one and not the other will tip the future towards bleakness, something I think we would all agree is undesirable. In a polytechnic we don’t just teach tech skills, we design our curriculum to develop these human skills too.
AI, along with other technology applications, have the potential to free up precious time for the future workforce to focus their efforts and energy on more important work. Important work that can make bigger and bolder impacts on how we build and more specifically how we build better. For example, the use of ChatGPT can significantly cut down the time it takes to write a contract, create a specification, or develop a partnership agreement. Most of the manual requirements in these complicated documents can be completed using AI. The time that has been freed up can now be allocated to a deeper and more meaningful stakeholder engagement process. Vetting the design more broadly throughout the community and taking the time to consider and implement the feedback. Too often our measurements of success are time and money bound. Was the project on time? Was the project on budget? How often do we make time to explore and measure how is the project impacting the community it lives in? Is the project accomplishing what it set out to accomplish for the community? Any technology that can free up time for us to have more of those conversations — I’m all in! In my opinion, continuing to explore and adopt new technology is important for this reason alone.
Anurag Sharma, Hilti Canada
Inevitably, the construction industry will transform and adopt AI and newer technologies to become more productive. As an example, the integration of AI for design data tables and engineering optimization in the model itself is not a distant reality; in fact, it’s already happening in upstream Oil & Gas. Through data capture and analysis, standardization, modularization, and DfMA (Design for Manufacturing and Assembly) are happening today to significantly reduce project schedules. Personally, I have worked on and experienced how BCA in Singapore is spearheading DfMA to fundamentally transform how we execute our projects and reduce reliance on unproductive operations.
BIM to Field and Field to BIM will gain more prominence, and with real-time data, we will not only be able to reduce the total cost for projects, but clients will also have much better data-driven decisions during operations, which will have a significant direct impact on both CAPEX and OPEX.
As the industry undergoes this transformation, the speed of adoption and the ability to change will always be important. The newer generations can certainly be instrumental in driving this adoption by being more abreast with newer technologies, embracing the possibilities, and most importantly, identifying the right use cases. Even for a generative AI model, asking the right questions, the ability to remove noise, and rightly interpreting the data to make decisions remain and will always remain invaluable skills.
Raphael Costa, City of Vaughan
The rapid acceleration of technology will shape city building in Vaughan. Cities are recognizing the potential and power of technology to create interconnected systems. For example, we have an ongoing focus in Vaughan to create connected communities where homes, jobs, schools, open spaces, community services, parks and recreation facilities are easily accessible and within walking distance. Incorporating Smart City solutions and infrastructure allows cities to enhance data-driven decision-making, enabling informed choices and optimizing resource allocation and efficiency throughout the planning and development.
As the stewards of the City’s Smart City program, Economic Development has been directed to explore and implement, when possible, both building and infrastructure digital twins in the coming years. These will help construction professionals plan their projects more efficiently.
The City’s Economic Development team is exploring innovative ways to develop a vibrant, complete community, including preparing our local workforce for the future. We launched Talent City Vaughan, a funding program dedicated to workforce development and supporting eligible non-profit community and social service organizations in hosting training programs for residents and employees of local businesses. The program encompasses various micro-credentials, up-skilling and re-skilling initiatives, teaching participants how best to meet the demands of Vaughan’s growing economy.
Greg Godbout, Soukup America
There will always be new technologies and companies who want to employ them. These technologies are almost always demanding heavier investment and time. Given the current housing demand, we need to focus on more the trades and basics WHILE we continue bringing them into the digital and management world. Carpenters can become planners. Skilled CNC operators can learn a lot from a framer in a few weeks on the floor. Linking the two disciplines through project management and career growth will help a business to be more effective in manufacturing while growing its sales. We see the benefits of cross-pollinating disciplines at various universities and trade schools.
Technology suppliers can collaborate more on project planning and execution while maintaining their unique skills and disciplines. Open source is one of the keys. One way the supply industry can perhaps help the industry is to increase its values by considering the downstream processes, for example, in terms of material tolerances.
Through speed to market, designs for growth, and combining disciplines, companies can reinvest in higher levels of automation and increase throughput.
Thomas Donoghue, CRH
With climate risks rapidly increasing, we have to rethink materials, methods, and skills development to create the dynamic and adaptable built environment of the future. Emerging technologies are critical to this transition in the same way that innovative material solutions are critical to unlocking the future of construction. To thrive in the construction industry of the future, individuals entering the workforce must embrace the blend of technical, digital, and sustainability skills needed for a modernized sector. Future construction professionals will benefit from developing awareness in areas like data analytics, artificial intelligence, robotics, and mixed reality applications that are enhancing worksites. One of the greatest assets will be a shift in mindset focused on sustainability, with knowledge of innovations in green building materials, renewable energy systems and circular design principles. In addition to broadening their technical abilities, future generations should embrace open communication, collaboration, and change management principles as construction becomes faster-paced and more technology-driven. With offsite construction techniques gaining greater adoption, professionals may need to adapt to more manufacturing-style environments. In short, lifelong learning will be crucial, as the pace of technology development will demand flexibility, curiosity, and continuous skills upgrading. Going forward, the most in-demand construction professionals will combine traditional engineering and trades expertise with emerging digital capabilities and eco-awareness. Preparing the next generation with this blended skillset will be key for industry advancement.
Sanya Sahni, UNB OCRC
The future of construction is a synergy between sustainability and digital transformation. We have a responsibility to resolve critical environmental concerns within our sector, which is why the OCRC is very excited to contribute to decarbonization initiative, and build a more sustainable, ecologically conscious tomorrow.
Digital Transformation is an integral part of the long-term productivity enhancement discourse. The aim is to defragment the business processes, to tackle the current challenges such as lack of interoperability, stagnant productivity, and inadequate safety and training.
The time is ripe to accelerate technology adoption within our sector. The future is promising, but the steps to get to that stage need to be taken now.
When we invest in research, when we invest in providing training, hiring experts — that’s when we can fully mine the joined potential of Construction and AI.
We need to reach across the aisle and work together in cohesion. Steve Jobs said that, “Innovation is the ability to see change as an opportunity, not a threat.” Change is a part of life; we all change, grow, and evolve. So must our industry.
Sean Robbins, Moriyama Teshima Architects
The word “illimitable” comes to mind. It is not often used these days, but it expresses a critical difference in the feeling we get from the explosive catalytic reaction that AI is going to have on design and construction technologies. Rather than “unlimited,” or “limitless,” things instead feel impervious to limitation itself, like even if the boundaries were to constrict, the sheer force exerted by AI would snap them open again. Although it may seem scary, this is really a golden opportunity. The gnarliest waves just require a surfboard, a dash of courage, and the openness to have a little fun. Future generations (even us current ones) will have to pick up our boards, which is to say, we must now come pre-packaged with a higher awareness of our ecological impacts, and a raised baseline of digital skills, while also being absorptive to new ones. Things like databases instead of spreadsheets, code and algorithms, CAM and toolpaths, virtual construction sites, human-to-robot user interfaces, embodied carbon, and at the vanguard, an autodidactic posture will all come into play, per person. As the technology wave looms large behind us, those without this skillset-surfboard may be tumbled ashore, while those with one, and a splash of courage, might even have a little fun.
What role do you see for yourself in driving innovation and advancement in the industry? What changes or innovations are on the horizon?
Raphael Costa, City of Vaughan
The City’s Economic Development department is committed to driving innovation and advancement to promote economic growth. The team works closely with internal departments, other levels of government and external partners to foster partnerships to develop new economic assets and create more business opportunities in the city.
As urban centres expand and technologies advance, both are expected to be interconnected. Based on the current Sustainability Metrics Program framework, we are exploring opportunities to incorporate Smart City innovation metrics into the planning and development process to build a modern, smart, sustainable and resilient community.
Examples of proposed Smart City metrics include future-ready infrastructure upgrades, such as digital connectivity, smart homes and parking, common e-mobility, logistics, air quality monitoring, waste management, construction materials and resident engagement. With these metrics in place, we can proactively ensure new proposed communities are equipped to become smart neighbourhoods. By seamlessly integrating physical infrastructure and connected technologies, cities, like Vaughan, can unlock new opportunities for efficiency, sustainability and local economic development.
Our team also works to bring Smart City professionals and innovators together. We work with our partners at York University’s YSpace and ventureLAB to help innovators develop their solutions that will shape the city’s future. In addition, the City is working with the Ontario Vehicle Innovation Network (OVIN) to support the development of the next generation of first-and-last-mile transportation solutions through the OVIN Demonstration Zone, set to launch in 2024.
Greg Godbout, Soukup America
Any industry can benefit from further willingness to collaborate, negotiate, invest, and take the necessary steps together to make progress, when our industry demands such vast skills, disciplines, and now, technologies.
We see our innovation and advancement through process engineering through collaboration and technology consideration. Employing proven manufacturing strategies through careful planning is paramount to getting smaller and new offsite construction firms into the game. We need more players to build quicker and better, from tiny homes to affordable housing, to hotels, and to schools and hospitals in all neighborhoods. We count on the offsite construction industry across many disciplines to get this done.
We are in for a long game, and we can do it with speed. Designing and implementing a future proof system is a way to speed to market to chip away the housing demands. Many say it is less about competition and more about collaboration. There are enough challenges and potential growth for us to all work more together. Meanwhile, let’s continue investing in new and cross-pollinating our existing workforce.
Sean Robbins, Moriyama Teshima Architects
We do not see ourselves as leaders per se. To draw the distinction, we are more like adventurers deeply engaged with the path that we think should be followed. This is not to say innovation and advancement are not important, but rather to qualify that they are more important than leadership for its own sake, especially in an industry whose impact on our tiny blue dot cannot be overstated. Our hope is to forge a path, persuasively trodden and illuminated, as it relates to mass timber construction. For example, our recent 10-storey mass timber building, Limberlost Place (with Acton-Ostry and Fast+Epp), had its innovative structural system, and all engineering and testing data made open-source. We think mass timber is not only on the horizon, but it will become the horizon as we build it together. Heavy timber, as a building technology reborn, has already demanded a rigor in optimization that will see data, building information models, energy models, CAM, robotics, prefabrication, virtualization and sequencing, embodied carbon life-cycle analysis, live site monitoring, and building operation monitoring only grow more tightly entwined. Limberlost Place gave us a glimpse of the future, that as AECOO industry players we will become even more tightly linked through technology. Distinct, of course, in our various specialties, but, like the future, closer than you’d think.
Sanya Sahni, UNB OCRC
Innovation and adaptation to change is one of the key cornerstones of growth in our rapidly changing world today. As technology continues to grow and evolve, the challenge ahead is to stay toe-to-toe with it, to keep learning about these advancements, and exploring how they can cater to improving our existing gaps.
While there is scope for making improvements and enhancements within how the industry operates, it is equally, perhaps even more vital, that such changes be introduced while keeping safety at the foremost. This means high standards of precision, strict adherence to quality and persistent attention to detail. In construction the smallest of mistakes can cause wide-ranging ramifications. Therefore, the margin of error is very thin.
OCRC was created specifically with the goal of transformation in mind. With our dedicated, highly experienced, academic team and our longstanding relationships with our industry leaders and government agencies, we have a unique insight into the problems that the construction industry faces today.
With a team that has completed more than 40 projects within a very small timeframe, and research work extending into Process and Productivity Improvement, Digital Technology and Advanced Laboratory Testing, we believe we are on the path to revolutionizing the construction space, and taking it in a bold, new direction.
Dr. Reva Bond, SAIT
SAIT plays a pivotal three-fold role in driving innovation and advancement in the industry. Firstly, as a Canadian polytechnic, our mission is to deliver hands-on applied learning experiences, producing job-ready graduates for the local economy. However, the rapid pace of change requires continuous updates, introducing both freshness and administrative challenges, disrupting the traditional stability-focused post-secondary system.
Secondly, SAIT serves as a safe, neutral convener for industry and government agencies to collaboratively problem-solve. This involves hosting focus groups, forming advisory groups, and organizing conferences for knowledge dissemination. We actively increase our presence in this space to support innovation.
Thirdly, SAIT partners with industry to solve real-world problems through student capstone projects, offering a low-risk, high-upside avenue for industry mentors and students to test potential long-term working relationships. Additionally, applied research projects leverage government grants and provide professional development experience in research and development for the current workforce.
Looking ahead, SAIT aims to explore the application of cool training and educational technologies in construction. We’re particularly excited about partnering with industry to develop use cases for skilled trades, quality inspections, and facilities management to build better. While not inventing new tech, our strength lies in ethically, effectively, and safely working with existing technology to improve processes and build better.
Anurag Sharma, Hilti Canada
Customer-centric innovation focused on products, technologies, and services for the construction industry is deeply rooted in the HILTI DNA. Hilti invests close to 6% of our annual revenue in R&D to ensure the continuous improvement of existing products and the development of new, cutting-edge solutions. Our unique business model of direct customer interactions allows us to understand the challenges of all stakeholders at every stage of construction, and being a fully integrated manufacturer, we can bring our innovation to market faster. We see our solutions having a significant impact on the biggest cost blocks like asset management, labor productivity, or digitization to help our customers accelerate their transformation. The construction industry will need to transform; full adoption of newer technologies and ways of working will require close grassroots-level change management, where we believe we, in HILTI, can play an instrumental role.
Augmented machines and technology integrated with a user’s body to help enhance productivity or capability and prevent personal injuries are areas of focus for us. Robotics to carry out mundane, repetitive, or dangerous tasks and to make job sites more efficient, precise, and safer will see more innovation.
Data-driven asset management or full transparency to customers to evaluate true utilization will gain more center stage.
Thomas Donoghue, CRH
As a leading provider of building materials solutions that build, connect and improve our world, we’re committed to helping our customers build safer, quicker, and cleaner to deliver a more sustainable built environment. Collaboration is critical to driving change, and this means actively engaging policymakers, designers, contractors, developers, and communities to advance climate-smart construction and provide the tools needed for a net-zero built environment. Revolutionizing the core materials that are used to build our world unlocks the potential to reinvent the way our world is built, and CRH is committed to leading this transformation through pioneering material solutions and empowering partners.
However, material innovation is only part of the equation. Looking to the horizon, we see a wave of transformative changes in the industry. Our ambition at CRH isn’t just about pioneering novel products but fostering the sustainable construction solutions of tomorrow. This starts with innovating essential materials like cements, concretes, and aggregates that lower embodied carbon, while meeting stringent performance requirements. It also includes researching, piloting, and scaling technologies that sequester CO2 and designing roads of the future that are smarter, cleaner, and safer. As we navigate this evolving landscape, our investments, such as our US$250M Innovation & Venturing Fund, fuels innovation in transformative materials, net-zero techniques, climate-resilient infrastructure, and collaboration to drive systemic change.
Emily Deeth, Infrastructure Ontario
The Public Private Partnership model (P3 model) utilized by IO, promotes innovation. It drives collaboration with private sector companies that have specialized knowledge and technical expertise and pairs them with government partners that understand the regulatory landscape. P3s allow the government and the private sector to share risk — incentivizing our partners to innovate across the lifecycle to minimize risks and maximize returns. We can include incentives in performance-based contracts — and in the not-so-far future, I think we will see more incentives in our contracts to encourage partners to bring advanced technology solutions and practices to better infrastructure quality and performance. Additionally, as owners of the procurement process, we want procurements in Ontario to be competitive and drive value for money — and open and competitive procurements can drive the private sector to innovate.
Infrastructure Ontario is working to create even greater efficiencies in delivering high-speed internet access across Ontario and working towards improving all infrastructure construction and deployment across the province by building on success with data sharing standards in the Accelerated High-Speed Internet Program (AHSIP). We are exploring improving coordination, compelling the creation and sharing of electronic records, and establishing a standard for collecting standards-based, as-constructed records for all new and repaired utility infrastructure as our next steps.
We have the responsibility to ensure that the government is not bound to any particular technology solution, so are mindful that we need to add flexibility in our agreements to allow for changes and adaptations as technologies and best practices evolve over time.
