PropTech sets out to transform built world
8 September 2022
PropTech has become a new buzzword in today’s highly digitalised world. The umbrella term for tech-driven innovative building industry solutions, its adoption is accelerating rapidly – rising by a staggering 1,072 per cent from 2015-19, according to Forbes.
Property technology is only poised to keep growing. A recent study by PwC and the Urban Land Institute highlighted that the use of technologies by real estate companies in Europe will trend upwards over the next three to five years.
Expedited further by the pandemic, property technology is reconfiguring how all stakeholders relate to the built environment, from how they experience, design, construct and market buildings to property management.
Outlined below are some important ways this unfolds across the five property development stages.
Digitalised cities
Data technology is the cornerstone of smart cities. Offering multiple sustainability benefits, it is being used to integrate building and infrastructure systems.
Sensors, data centres and digital twins monitor key historical and real-time indicators of demographic trends, property inventories, power and water use, and building carbon emissions. By using urban data analytics, policies for waste reduction, building decarbonisation and even affordable housing can be better achieved.
A prime example is Singapore’s pioneering digital twin experiment. Data in the form of GIS, lidar and satellite imagery were processed to create a 3D digital replica called ‘Virtual Singapore’.
A snapshot of Virtual Singapore, the city’s pioneering digital twin project. Source: National Mapping Archives – gwprime (geospatialworld.net)
The single, centralised, real-time database is already helping the city to respond to challenges related to water supply management, track real estate market changes, and deploy solar farms to meet growing domestic and industrial demands.
PropTech adoption accelerated by 1,072 per cent from 2015 to 2019
E-real estate
In the real estate sector, technology is helping to solve problems such as lack of transparency, information asymmetry and high investment risks. In the UAE, a person renting or buying property exclusively through a broker is almost unheard of, while 93 per cent of US buyers use real estate websites when searching for a home. This may mean the entire market is becoming digitalised.
And for very good reasons. For one, online sales platforms simplify the arduous task of property hunting for people with little background knowledge in a sophisticated and highly technical field. Platforms such as Bayut and RealAR app offer in-depth information on listing characteristics, provide analysis of comparable properties, and even furnish virtual simulations to help guide purchase and modification decisions.
But technology is poised to go even further. For example, price-gouging algorithms are being developed to use predictive analytics that process data on transactions, forecast future trends, value property returns and assess mortgage quotations, all aimed at oiling the wheels of a heavy-moving sector.
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Building information management
BIM has sounded the death knell for the age of Computer-Aided Design (CAD). Architects and urban designers are now using advanced software to model multi-layered information instead of physical forms. By doing so, integrated design – so crucial for sustainable development – has become business-as-usual.
BIM allows professionals to design, modify and manage the building’s entire lifecycle using a single virtual model that simulates its performance. Further, using parametric tools, designers can even tweak design factors to meet priority sustainability targets.
This is how the National University of Singapore delivered its new School of Design and Environment. Using BIM technology, architects were able to explore options in massing and orientation, canopy and opening sizing, and room layouts by reporting their environment and energy performances in real time.
Optimising these, they passively minimised the building’s baseline energy and material demands. Then, a parity was struck by deploying renewable energy technologies such as 1,225 photovoltaic panels and hybrid cooling systems, allowing the university to pioneer the city’s first net-zero energy building.
The School of Design and Environment – Singapore’s first net-zero energy building. Source: NUS School of Design & Environment, SDE 4 – Surbana Jurong
3D construction
Technology’s introduction to construction is transforming the sector into a safer, wasteless, cost-effective and faster enterprise. One way this is happening is through innovations in 3D printing machinery. These use BIM models to digitally produce on-site or prefabricated components most efficiently, while complementary smart machinery robotically performs repetitive tasks like concrete pouring and plastering.
One notable example is Dubai Municipality’s largest 3D printed structure in the world, built in 2019. Standing 9 metres tall with an area of 640 square metres, the edifice employed only three workers.
Apis-Cor’s award-winning 3D-printed building, Dubai. Source: Apis Cor builds world’s largest 3D-printed building in Dubai (dezeen.com)
The breakthrough came in constructing the walls by a printer instead of the traditional wooden formwork, steel reinforcement and concrete pouring methods. This was complemented by precast slabs and prefabricated windows, which offered multiple cost and environmental savings.
Nonetheless, the extent of the scalability of 3D printing to multi-story residential and office buildings remains to be explored.
Technology is percolating and reforming every stage of the real estate value chain, from smarter cities to efficient building design, construction, operation and marketing
Green building management
Surprisingly, it has been reported that green-rated buildings can miss their performance and savings targets. According to a recent study, the primary cause is human behaviour. Either uninformed or disincentivised to take full custody of carefully-designed systems, end users frequently misuse them.
But technology has provided the solution: building management systems (BMS), through IoT or digital twins, can track parameters like energy and water usage, waste generation, carbon emissions and indoor air quality, and help to control them.
BMS can even compare performance to design metrics. This is demonstrated by the newly completed Beeah headquarters in the UAE. Acclaimed to be the first fully AI-integrated office in the Middle East, this LEED-certified smart building employs a digital twin as the basis for a Smart Facility Management System.
By learning occupancy habits, one novelty of this system is its ability to forecast energy demands and optimise electricity consumption, conduct predictive maintenance checks, and even take autonomous decisions to rectify faults in equipment performance, achieving a huge 90 per cent energy efficiency saving.
Zaha Hadid’s Beeah headquarters is futuristic in form and operation. Source: BEEAH Headquarters – Zaha Hadid Architects (zaha-hadid.com)
Although a relative laggard in digital transformation, the building sector is swiftly catching up. Technology is percolating and reforming every stage of the real estate value chain, from smarter cities to efficient building design, construction, operation and marketing.
By doing so, PropTech is helping to solve some of the sector’s perennial problems. It is improving information transparency, social inclusion, building design and residents’ wellbeing, in addition to reducing risk and limiting waste generation and carbon emissions, among many other benefits.
The views expressed are those of the author and do no necessarily reflect the company's position.
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Exclusive from Meed
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Yahsat wins $5.7bn UAE contract22 September 2023
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Riyadh builds the world’s largest urban park21 September 2023
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Amaala multi-utilities contract is valued at $2bn21 September 2023
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Saudi Arabia’s $2bn water pipeline expands private sector role19 September 2023
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Aramco extends Safaniya cogen bid deadline18 September 2023
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Riyadh builds the world’s largest urban park
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Tucked away from view behind site hoarding in the centre of Riyadh, work is progressing on a project that will transform the heart of the Saudi capital by creating the world’s largest urban park.
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Land at the King Salman Park site has been contoured to create hills
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“There is an economic aspect to what we are doing,” says Tanasijevich. “The primary highlight of our contribution [to Vision 2030] is more focused on lifestyle. It is not just being able to spend time in green spaces, but also all the sports facilities that will encourage younger people to become more interested in sports and athletics.”
Project progress
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Work is also advancing on infrastructure and buildings, including the Royal Arts Complex and a visitor centre.
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Amaala multi-utilities contract is valued at $2bn
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Concession agreement
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Each infrastructure system will be transferred to Amaala at the end of the concession term.
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Construction works on phase one of Triple Bay have started.
The scheme is part of the Amaala Tourism Destination Development project.
Amaala previously planned the project. In October 2022, Amaala merged with The Red Sea Development Company to form a new company called Red Sea Global, which is now implementing the project.
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Saudi Arabia’s $2bn water pipeline expands private sector role
19 September 2023
Commentary
Jennifer Aguinaldo
Energy & technology editorThe $2bn Rayis-Rabigh independent water transmission pipeline (IWTP) project in Saudi Arabia further expands the role of private companies in developing and operating public infrastructure assets within the kingdom.
It could have been just another water pipeline project if not for its scale – it extends 150 kilometres and can transmit up to 500,000 cubic metres of water – and its structure as a 35-year public-private partnership project.
It also links major municipalities in Medina and Mecca, further increasing the project's strategic importance.
The project is reminiscent of the Rabigh 3 independent water project and the Dammam independent sewage treatment plants, which were procured between 2018 and 2019 by the state-backed offtaker Saudi Water Partnership Company (SWPC), formerly known as the Water & Electricity Company.
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Aramco extends Safaniya cogen bid deadline
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Saudi Aramco has extended by three months the tender closing date for a contract to develop a cogeneration independent steam and power plant (ISPP) project in Safaniya.
It now expects to receive bids by December in lieu of the previous bid deadline of 17 September, according to a source close to the project.
Aramco held a job explanation meeting and site visit for the Safaniya ISPP project in May.
Aramco issued the tender for the contract for the planned cogeneration ISPP facility, which will cater to Aramco's Safaniya central processing facilities (CPF), in April.
MEED understands that the electricity generated during the steam production will be supplied to the CPF and offshore oil and water injection facilities through a new 230-kilovolt gas insulation station.
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The plant is expected to be commissioned in 2027 and will remain in service as a capital lease for 25 years from the start-up date.
It is understood bidders are required to provide committed funding for at least 50 per cent of the project's full senior debt requirement upon the tender closing date.
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Japan’s Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation (SMBC) and US-based White & Case are providing financial and legal advisory services to the project client. Germany's Fichtner is providing technical consultancy services.
Ongoing cogen projects
In July last, Korea Electric Power Corporation (Kepco) won the contract to develop Aramco’s Jafurah cogeneration ISPP project.
The plant will have a power capacity of 270-320MW and a low-pressure (LP) steam demand of 77-166 thousand pounds an hour (klb/hr) and high-pressure (HP) steam demand of 29-126 klb/hour by 2023. The LP and HP steam demand will increase to 283-373 klb/hr and 66-321 klb/hr by 2027, respectively.
Construction work is under way for Aramco’s Tanajib ISPP and desalination plant. Aramco selected a team comprising Japan’s Marubeni and the UAE-based Abu Dhabi National Energy Company (Taqa) to develop the project in 2020.
On 19 April, Saudi Aramco Total Refining & Petrochemical Company (Satorp) received proposals for the contract to develop a cogeneration ISPP serving the Amiral petrochemicals project in Jubail.
It is understood that Satorp has issued a conditional award letter to the preferred bidder for the contract, a team comprising Japan's Jera and the UAE's Abu Dhabi National Energy Company (Taqa).
The facility is expected to have a power generation capacity of 470MW.
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