In the wake of a global and cross-sectoral increase of technologies in the industries, it is expected that Artificial Intelligence will revolutionize also the building sector, especially in the area of labor management and coordination.
The professional organization that promotes the professional standards and qualifications for the development and management of land, buildings and infrastructure, called RICS, endorsed and confirmed this prevision in its report on the effects of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in this sector.
Artificial Intelligence in the Built Environment identifies the Facility Management (FM) segment as one of most affected by AI because of the repetitive nature and the high level of workload of many involved jobs, which make it the ideal context for the automation of tasks that were primarily carried out by humans.
Paul Bagust, Global Property Standards Director of RICS, claims: "The Facility Management will always have a crucial role in the built environment and although many operational roles will increasingly be technology-based, AI will bring great strategic benefits to the industry. For example, with the use of AI, the machineries will revolutionize the Facility Management sector, making many tasks faster, safer and less costly, and this - ultimately - will improve the supply service of a company and increase its profits".
The report Artificial Intelligence in the Built Environment - together with the organization Artificial Intelligence in Facilities Management (AI in FM) - analyses the way in which Artificial Intelligence will transform the real estate sector and how it will build intelligent and efficient structures, from design until the construction phases. Moreover, the report underlines how industry professionals can leverage the latest applications and AI developments - including drones and BIM (Building Information Modeling) - to plan and work in a more efficient way, besides improving and ensuring a better maintaining of the quality of the buildings and the entire built environment.
Chris Hoar, co-founder of AI in FM, comments: "The main message of this report for the organizations is to seek and exploit the opportunities offered by artificial intelligence, minimizing the potential threats as much as possible. This will enable them to better control their business strategy, orientation and financial soundness".
Daniele Levi Formiggini, RICS Italy president, tells: "As outlined by the RICS survey 'Raising the Bar 2017', which involved about 2,500 facility managers from around the world, in the next years the diffusion of the new technologies will be one of the most demanding challenges for the industry. It is clear that artificial intelligence and robotics will have a disruptive impact on sectors characterized by a high-intensity of human work, such as the Facility Management. The challenge is to transform a potential criticality into an opportunity to change processes and products and renew a job such as that of the Facility Manager, which has a strategic importance for the entire built environment".
