To address skill shortages and boost productivity, the University of Newcastle’s Dr Buddhini Ginigaddara is looking into ways to modernise construction and encourage a greater diversity of people into the industry
With cost increases, a lack of skilled labour and a greater focus on achieving sustainability, the Australian construction industry is having to find ways to modernise construction to increasing productivity in a challenging economic environment.
As with many industries, the advance of digital technology can open up more efficient pathways to infrastructure delivery by reducing waste and rework, improving project management and automating processes. However, a lack of training in modern digital construction tools is a significant barrier to achieving a greater uptake in this technology.
Dr Buddhini Ginigaddara, a lecturer at the University of Newcastle’s School of Architecture and Built Environment, has been focusing her research on this skills gap and how digitalisation of the construction industry can advance the sector.
“My research started in Australia in 2018 on offsite construction skills,” she says.
“In traditional construction, everything is done on a site, but on a hot day or a rainy day, work has to stop. In off-site manufacturing like car building, everything is done in a factory, which is less impacted by factors such as weather. So, I wanted to look into what opportunities would there be for taking construction activities off site.
“I also looked at how the skill requirements would change. Would we need the same number of architects, engineers, plumbers, electricians, etc, and how different would these roles look like with the greater use of digital tools?
“I have developed a skill profile prediction model to recognise emerging skills and other skills may no longer be needed based on technological developments. I am now investigating the evolution of technology impacting construction job roles.”
Ginigaddara says that despite there being significant advances in technology around digitalisation, industrialisation and mechanisation, younger generations are showing less interest in joining the construction industry. With construction seen as being slow to adopt digital technology, could the idea of long days of physical labour on a construction site exposed to the elements be a barrier to more people joining the industry?
“We are still using technology that’s been around for 50 years,” Ginigaddara says.
“Many people are reluctant to move into new technologies like industrialised construction and the next generation of digital content.
“We are seeing an ageing workforce in construction in Australia and we are behind when it comes to the uptake of new technology in this industry.”
Her research has focused on how the greater use of technology such as prefabrication and modular construction could improve health and safety, reduce build times, improve quality control and be more energy efficient, sustainable, as well as increasing automation so fewer staff are needed.
“Complying to the Australian Standard, offsite construction, where buildings are made in factories, can be the mainstream construction method for a country like Australia where there are a lot of skill shortages and also extreme weather conditions,” Ginigaddara says.
“Applied correctly, utilising robots and automation in construction can improve productivity exponentially.”
Increasing diversity
Another aspect of Ginigaddara’s research is how to attract a greater array of people into construction, with a recent program in the Newcastle and Hunter region offering expediated training to refugee women.
“We offered them an expedited training program so they could achieve their Certificate II in Construction Pathways in 12 weeks,” she says.
“In addition, they were also offered white card training. It was work integrated learning, so they were assigned to a construction site to learn what a typical day would look like. Unfortunately, due to the language and cultural barriers, few women completed the program. So those are the systematic problems in those cohorts, especially when we focus on refugee women.
“However, we are looking at other ways of how we can increase female participation in the industry, with a current project focused on providing childcare to women in construction.
“We are also doing a lot of outreach activities, especially in schools around Hunter Region and the Central Coast, with the aim of motivating young girls to enter construction.”
For more information on Dr Buddhini Ginigaddara’s work, email buddhini.ginigaddaraappuhamilage@newcastle.edu.au
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