Building houses with the help of smart phones – an innovation tested in Lithuania

Digital construction and application of BIM remains the main tendency of the modern construction sector. Construction experts are unanimous that having mastered the BIM, the processes of design, construction, maintenance or even the exploitation of the building, become much more effective, the probability of errors is decreased, high quality is assured and work costs are optimised.

The application created by the “Dalux” company allows the advantages of the BIM to be transferred to the closest platform to a modern-day person – a smart phone. This is the first mobile application for construction which allows the connection of the virtual building model to the real-time environment and view them both on a phone screen at the same time as an image of augmented reality.

“We have been using BIM for a while now – digital modelling is applied in all real estate projects implemented by us. We could say that digital construction is the present of the sector rather than the future, it is very important to adapt to it and take the advantage of all the opportunities the technology provides us with. Having integrated the application for smart devices to the BIM models in use we can reach a higher quality in the building’s design as well as in the final result”, - says Kęstutis Vanagas, the CEO of the “YIT Kausta” company.

According to K. Vanagas, the opportunity provided by the application to link the BIM model with the environment of the construction project through the image of augmented reality is especially useful. In other words, the building model and all the information related to building elements that is just under construction can be displayed on the screen of a phone or a tablet.

“The purpose of the application, just as of the normal BIM model, is to identify the errors of the project before the start of construction. However, when viewing the model on a computer screen, it might be hard to imagine the reality; therefore, the application is designed in a way, that it would allow to view the different layers of the project in real environment. Besides, it gives the access to a detailed model to a much higher number of people and brings all the participants of the construction project closer to actual works done on the construction site”, - says Lina Berg, the Head of “Dalux” for the Baltic States.

According to L. Berg, when you are capable to see a lot of relevant information of the project, new possibilities of control emerge. It allows assessing if the elements provided for construction come in line, if they fit properly in the provided areas and if the progress corresponds to that provided in a model. It not only allows anticipating possible errors, but also provides the possibility to exploit and maintain the building after the construction is over.

As K. Vanagas claims, the designers, supervisors and other employees at the construction site of “YIT Kausta” have been using the “Dalux” application for over 2 years and the functionality of the augmented reality will be applied in the near future.

The “Dalux” construction application for smart devices is used by advanced construction companies in many European countries – mostly in Scandinavia, where the solutions of digital construction are widely applicable and where the use of it had become a standard in the construction sector.