Industry 4.0 for AEC Sector: Impacts on Productivity and Sustainability

The Architecture, Engineering, and Construction (AEC) sector is experiencing an intense internal transformation, triggered by two topics that must be addressed for assuring a prosperous future of the industry. Specifically, on the one hand, the actors of the AEC sector need to commit themselves towards sustainability, in order to reduce the significant impacts that the industry causes on the environment in terms of pollutant emissions. On the other hand, work practices must be reviewed for improving their actual scant efficiency, which results for AEC sector in a very low productivity rate with respect to other industrial sectors. To ensure long-term business continuity based on the two pillars of productivity and sustainability, AEC actors are considering a deeper use of Industry 4.0 into their businesses. In fact, Industry 4.0 technologies are recognized to have positive impacts on both operational and sustainability performance in the AEC field, so much to determine the birth of the new Construction 4.0 paradigm, which is fascinating although scant adopted. In this context, the following chapter aims to analyze the changes that some of the most cutting edge and revolutionary technologies of Industry 4.0 bring in three phases of the construction life cycle. Specifically, the chapter explores how such technologies allow to address productivity and sustainability issues during the phases of architectural and design planning, works’ execution, and support processes management, acting as levers for building more efficient and sustainable constructions.