Leaders Emphasise Digital Solution and ESG for Construction Industry at ULI Summit

2022 Urban Land Institute (ULI) Asia Pacific Summit, one of Asia Pacific’s most established real estate industry gatherings, was held in Hong Kong on August 29-September 1, attracting over 500 industry participants from around the world.

Through the summit, Glodon company limited taps into the collective experience of participants to address pressing global and local challenges facing the real estate industry and communities worldwide.

Glodon Vice President – International Business Development Pierpaolo Franco joined young industry leaders at a virtual group forum, exploring how digital solutions and new materials have enabled smarter and healthier ways to build, manage and use real estate.

“The traditional industry has rarely seen as much innovation as in the past few years. Digital solutions and new materials have enabled smarter and healthier ways to build, manage and use real estate,” he said.

Smart building digital twins have always been a trending topic in the construction industry. In the panel discussion, Mr. Fraanco answered the question of what digital twins is, explaining that “digital twins are not limited to the complex ecosystem, BIM centre, big data, IoT, artificial intelligence, modeling, computing clouds and etc.”

Glodon Software has always been a pioneer player in the digitalisation of the construction industry. One example can be the Olympic village Project in Beijing. The project not only preserves the ecological environment but also represents technological breakthroughs. The result of applying BIM 5D and digital twin shows that workload was reduced by 50%, work speed improved by 130%, work efficiency improved by 150%, and 60,000 cubic meters of earthwork were saved.

ESG has been mentioned at the summit multiple times. Changes in investor attitudes to environmental, social, and governance (ESG) over the last five years have been exponential – it’s now considered “one of the most important parts of an investment decision,” and five years from now “it’s going to be a very different conversation again.”

Of the three themes the “E” (environmental), has recently come to the fore, with climate change the main factor. Net-zero carbon targets, meanwhile, are hard to understand and even harder to meet, though “we are trying to put ourselves on a path to go there.” Meanwhile, the “S” (Social) is also gaining traction – Blackstone now has a target of one-third diverse membership on boards: “What we’re latching onto most is diversity and equity and inclusion,” said one of the industry leaders.

Leaders agree that one area that is set for growth is the technology that facilitates the uptake of ESG strategies. Few real solutions exist yet in this area, but there is a huge demand for sensing and monitoring hardware that can measure performance and compliance. This is one area where the lack of regulatory frameworks setting standards for everything from planning codes to environmentally oriented construction standards is holding back the environmental cause.

Glodon has always been sticking to its original aspiration and being diligent on the right path. Digitization has made the construction industry full of vigor and hope. Glodon has always adhered to the lofty mission to “develop a better working and living environment with technology” and insisted on continuously integrating technology and ideals into the construction field. We have been promoting the transmission and implementation of digitalisation with professionalism and creating a new ecosystem of the industry chain with the platform concept of openness, interconnection, sharing, and coordination.

Other industry-leading insights shared at the summit include: How real estate investors incorporate digitalisation of finance in their structure and the continuous rise of alternative asset classes. Explore the links between smart city technology and ESG solutions. How do we take stock of innovation in our industry and better understand the immense developments in this space? What are the major macro themes to watch out for that will fuel real estate demand?

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