Lendlease and Surbana Jurong partner on digital platform Podium for Development
Lendlease has recently partnered with Surbana Jurong to launch Podium for Development (P4D) – a digital platform that offers solutions for the built environment. The tool strives to promote communication and collaboration between stakeholders and deliver high construction productivity and sustainable building practices.
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KPMG’s 2015 report revealed that inadequate communication between value chain stakeholders led to design errors, accounting for 38% of construction disputes. Additionally, only 31% of projects stayed within 10% of their proposed budgets. Another 2017 report by McKinsey Global Institute mentions how the construction industry’s annual productivity has grown by just 1% over the past 20 years, while also being responsible for 40% of the world’s greenhouse gas emissions.
P4D looks to address these issues through providing a platform that simplifies the decision-making process from feasibility through to design and construction. To do this, the digital tool generates building designs that consider the various regulations, kit-of-parts, estimated costs and timeframes.
Richard Kuppusamy, chief product officer for Podium, articulates that designers can now focus their energy on more creative aspects of the process: “By generating a structural design in 15 to 20 minutes instead of the months involved in design using current methods, P4D leverages what is replicable and repeatable in building design via computational algorithms and AI. With the possibility of 70% of the building design being automated by P4D, human designers can focus their energy and efforts on more complex and subjective aspects of creativity.”
Lendlease are working with Surbana Jurong to bring P4D to life, and they are in advanced negotiations with other developers and building authorities in Singapore and abroad to utilise P4D to design future projects. Bill Ruh, Lendlease’s CEO of digital, adds: “Our ambition for P4D is to reimagine how we create by changing entrenched methodologies and behaviours. This is why we are working with like-minded partners such as Surbana Jurong and inviting other developers and players in the built environment industry to join us in this journey as we promote best sustainable building practices that can be replicated and benefit other communities globally.”
Yeo Choon Chong, Asean CEO at Surbana Jurong, highlights the platform’s potential: “P4D gives architects, designers and suppliers greater control to drive higher productivity in the built environment sector, as well as net zero and zero waste outcomes at the earliest stages of a project life cycle to reduce embodied carbon levels. We are excited about the prospect of collaborating with multiple project stakeholders on the cloud at the design stage.”
P4D looks to be an inspiring initiative that, if successful, could revolutionise future building design and construction. Not only does it strive to improve productivity, it also has the potential to reduce carbon emissions, promote sustainable practices and decrease construction disputes.