Innovation & Construction, are we keeping up?

When the construction industry comes to mind you might think strong or steadfast, but the word innovation rarely springs to mind. Whilst there are countless industries that are coming forward in leaps and bounds, for the most part the construction industry apparently doesn’t match the trend.

It seems that the industry is slow to pick up the latest technologies as it draws from traditionally skilled people using traditional methods. This is combined with a sizable portion of the workforce coming from small businesses and self-employed sub-contractors who may find it difficult to fund change at the scale of large business.

Even more so we see this in the passive fire industry, as an emerging niche there is an increase in the development of materials and increases focus on regulation, but documentation methods don’t seem to be changing quickly enough. Builders are facing increasing pressure by building certifiers to produce more documentation.

Take penetration registers, the documentation that records penetrations as compliantly fire sealed, yet the way they are recorded is hardly efficient. Going to site, taking photos, jotting down all relevant information, uploading them to computers, inserting the photos into an excel spreadsheet and then typing in all the relevant information. Even if you assume that no photos or information are lost and the photos of the penetration stickers are good enough quality to check and confirm information, there is a clear need for improvement.

This is not to say that the industry won’t consider tech, after all we have seen great innovations like the introduction of lighter materials, greener materials and of course the opportunity to 3D print part of, if not whole buildings, amongst other IT innovations.

Recently, Certifired created the ‘Certifired App’ produced by passive fire professionals to minimise the sometimes lengthy process of creating this documentation. Allowing all project information and photos to be easily recorded, tracking progress on one platform on site, producing a comprehensive report to send to your client at the touch of a button.

For more information on how Certifired, can provide your passive fire register solution visit www.certifired.com.au.