BuildAudIt, is creating an ambitious new AI-enabled survey platform to enhance the circular economy in existing buildings, reducing cost and experience barriers for organisations.
The Innovate UK-funded research project, BuildAudIt, is creating an ambitious new AI-enabled survey platform to enhance the circular economy in existing buildings, reducing cost and experience barriers for organisations wanting to understand their building stock ahead of refurbishment for net zero.
BuildAudIt is being developed through a year-long collaborative programme between organisations developing digital and AI-based solutions in the construction sector, including Unit9, Enable My Team, the Building Research Establishment (BRE), Reusefully and Imperial College London.
Through application of state-of-the-art AI, BuildAudIt will increase the efficacy of pre-demolition and pre-refurbishment audits which are essential for driving circular outcomes for building materials. It will also mean a reduced level of experience is required to complete an audit, enabling cost barriers to be lowered nationwide as building owners prepare for net zero refurbishment.
The UK alone contains 30 million residential, public and commercial buildings that will require some form of refurbishment to achieve net zero, while 50,000 buildings containing valuable materials and components are demolished per annum.
Increased support is therefore needed to ensure the pre-retrofit and pre-demolition stages of projects can be equipped with the seamless combination of existing and new datasets to inform best practice.
Whilst new buildings are typically constructed with a BIM model or digital twin, these are not available for the vast majority of existing buildings, and their creation is both time consuming and expensive.
Proof of concept, combining scan of commercial building with existing building plans using using the BuildAudIt Platform
BuildAudIt will address this shortcoming by applying AI to datasets, such as existing architectural plans and drawings, and combining this with technologies including point cloud scanning, visual data capture and emerging AI technologies such as image recognition.
Beyond the initial project scope of addressing pre-demolition and pre-refurbishment auditing, the platform has the potential for adaptation across all stages of the built environment lifecycle as well as different types of building surveys, including condition surveys, planned maintenance, sustainability, energy efficiency, fire risk & health and safety.
Beyond net zero, the importance of surveys and auditing of existing building stock is growing at an increasing pace as a result of the Building Safety Act 2022, adding significant demand to an already burgeoning market in the UK.
With no other commercial solution currently linking these aspects into one offering, BuildAudIt has the potential to turbocharge the collection of existing building data required for the expansion of building retrofit activities, helping the UK lead the way in addressing global challenges in the built environment.
For more information on BuildAudIt please contact buildaudit@bregroup.com to register your interest in the project.
