The European Builders Confederation at HumanTech
The European construction industry faces three major challenges: improve its productivity, increase the safety and well-being of its workforce and make a shift towards a green, resource-efficient industry.
In the wake of these needs, the European Builders Confederation (EBC) decided to join 21 other organisations led by the German Research Center for Artificial Intelligence’s (DFKI) Augmented Vision department in the new ambitious project HumanTech, falling under the Horizon Europe research and innovation programme.
HumanTech, aims at developing Human Centered Technologies for a safer and greener European Construction Industry and will run for a period of 36 months with a consortium made up of leading research institutes and universities, innovative hi-tech SMEs and large enterprises, construction groups and construction SME representatives from 10 countries contributing with 11 different expertise.
EBC is eager to contribute to HumanTech’s objective of following the trail of the twin transitions towards a greener and more digitalized construction sector, proposing a human-centred approach, involving breakthrough technologies such as wearables for worker safety and support, and intelligent robotic technology that can harmoniously co-exist with human workers while also contributing to the green transition of the industry.
Against this background, it must be borne in mind that these new technologies must then be easily accessible and usable by SMEs, as they are the backbone of the European construction sector representing 99.9% of the market.
"The European Builders Confederation (EBC) will be involved in the usability assessment of the impact of the identified technologies on construction SMEs, in promoting the awareness of such solutions and in developing a new approach to training for the upskilling of the current and future workforce."
For the sake of that, EBC will be involved in the usability assessment of the impact of the identified technologies on construction SMEs, in promoting the awareness of such solutions and in developing a new approach to training for the upskilling of the current and future workforce.
What is more, thanks to its position, EBC will play a key role in the EU-wide dissemination of the main projects’ findings in the European Construction community and in building partnerships and synergies with other relevant initiatives and projects.
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Meet the HumanTech team: Gloria Callinan, passionate about sustainability and collaboration
Meet the exciting Gloria Callinan, who, after having worked on European project development and project management for 22 years, joined the Technological University of the Shannon (TUS) as a Project Support Officer in August 2021.
"While my background is in community development and sustainable energy, I am extremely privileged to work at TUS and now at HumanTech! I will work hard with the rest of the TUS team to create a suite of new micro-learning units for a safer, greener, more efficient and carbon-neutral construction industry."
We spoke with her to learn more about her background and role in HumanTech. This is what she told us:
Q: To start with, what are you passionate about, and what is your professional background?
A: I am passionate about supporting sustainability at individual household, community, local and national levels.
Before joining TUS, I worked on LEADER, a well-known, hugely successful EU-funded rural development programme, in Ireland. It was focused on supporting communities and SMEs (small and medium-sized businesses) to develop at a sustainable pace, fostering greater local employment and encouraging entrepreneurship, enhancing biodiversity and ecological protection and funding resilient, self-sufficient communities and local community-led economic, environmental and social development.
In my previous role, I also worked as a sustainable energy communities mentor, whereby local communities signed up for a government-supported programme for energy resilience and were offered mentoring support by a community development expert.
For TUS, I work on several funded programmes in sustainable construction skills, including Construction Blueprint (ERASMUS), BUSGoCircular (Horizon) and Green Public Procurement (ERASMUS).
Under these programmes, new and innovative training content is developed by TUS and piloted across European partner countries to a variety of actors in the construction value chain. For example, construction apprentices, SMEs, professionals seeking upskilling opportunities and educators ("train the trainer" programmes).
Targets for reducing carbon emissions across Europe are real and must be realised at speed. I know that green skills training in construction is a very real way to achieve this.
"Targets for reducing carbon emissions across Europe are real and must be realised at speed. I know that green skills training in construction is a very real way to achieve this."
While my background is in community development and community energy, I am extremely privileged to work at TUS and now at HumanTech! I will work hard with the rest of the TUS team to create a suite of new micro-learning units for a safer, greener, more efficient and carbon-neutral construction industry.
Q: Thanks a lot for telling us more about yourself. At HumanTech, we are delighted to have you and the TUS team on board, and you are doing a fantastic job! Can you tell us more about TUS and its focus, the department you are part of and the team you work with at HumanTech?
A: TUS is a relatively new organisation, having been established in 2021 as a result of two institutes of technology merging, previously known as the Limerick Institute of Technology (LIT).
The TUS department involved directly with HumanTech is the Development Unit based in Thurles, County Tipperary, Ireland. The Unit has a long-standing track record of over 25 years in European project participation and construction skills projects.
I work on HumanTech with Dr Liam Brown, TUS Vice President for Research, Development and Innovation, Padraic O'Reilly, Development Unit Manager, and Martin Breen, Researcher. As tasks evolve, we will bring other staff experts from various disciplines and faculties to work on and contribute to content for the HumanTech micro-learning units' design and development.
The Development Unit is dedicated to implementing our vision of supporting individuals, companies and industries to achieve social, economic and environmental changes by applying its expertise collaboratively.
"The Development Unit is dedicated to implementing our vision of supporting individuals, companies and industries to achieve social, economic and environmental changes by applying its expertise collaboratively."
We pride ourselves on working with people to solve real problems and challenges.
With a focus on sustainable energy, climate action, social enterprise, rural development and technology for education, our team leads and partners in projects and activities while working closely with academic staff and experts across the University.
We have a particular strength in securing funding from an array of EU programmes (H2020, Interreg, Erasmus+, COSME and others), both as coordinators and as partners/co-beneficiaries. Our dynamic team has extensive experience in proposal development and works in an agile environment to respond to specific partnership needs and requirements.
Q: Wow! How interesting, Gloria. It's inspiring to know that you are tackling today's vital social, environmental and economic challenges. Can you tell us more about your role at HumanTech in particular? What do you (and your team) do, and what activity/outcome excites you most?
A: We lead work package 6: Human Factors - Training and Usability Assessment, and in it, task 6.1.: Micro-learning units development and coordination, a role we are very excited about.
As educators, we will use our expertise to identify and design new training content for Task 6.1, resulting in new content for the education sector — the project outcome we will contribute to that we are most enthusiastic about. At least 200 construction professionals will be trained on this content, which is a significant added value for the project.
"We will identify and design new training content for the education sector. At least 200 construction professionals will be trained on this content, which is a significant added value for the project."
We will draft the content of the micro-learning units taking into account our partners' feedback and the best practices in Europe, and draw on the lessons learned from HumanTech's pilot projects and other work packages. With my colleague Martin Breen, I am also developing a train-the-trainer programme, and we will support our partners in delivering it across their countries.
All the technologies employed in HumanTech will be the subject of training content, including BIM, wearables, drones and robotics.
Q: How will your work improve the construction industry's health, safety and sustainability — making it more attractive to a new generation of highly skilled workers?
A: Training in new technologies and inherent health and safety features will be vital for the construction industry. Training on the importance of health and safety and how digitalisation can help attract workers into construction will be provided to apprentices, tradespeople, SMEs and professionals in construction design teams. The support of our partners will be vital to the success of this initiative.
"Training in new technologies and inherent health and safety features will be vital for the construction industry."
Q: Very ambitious projects are being developed to transform the industry and make it safer and greener. Do you know of any that have inspired you?
A: Yes! Construction Blueprint, a European project belonging to the Erasmus+ Programme, aimed at implementing a new strategic approach to sectoral cooperation on skills. TUS is one of its 24 partners from 12 countries, led by Fundación Laboral de la Construcción (Spain).
The project is due for completion in early 2023 and has resulted in innovative new VET content in digitalisation, circular economy and energy efficiency, piloted to over 600 VET students across 12 countries. The network of participants now training in innovative content, going out into the construction industry trained in EQF 5 digitalisation with an appetite for further learning, gives a great basis for HumanTech to provide upskilling.
Learn more about our work at HumanTech and the team behind it!
Know Jason Rambach, our project coordinator, Bharath Sankaran, from Scaled Robotics, leaders of our work package 3: Dynamic Semantic Digital Twin Generation, and Gabor Sziebig, Research Manager at SINTEF leading HumanTech’s work package 5: Construction Robotics and Human-Robot Collaboration.
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Meet the HumanTech team: Fabian Kaufmann, committed to making the construction industry more efficient and safe
Fabian Kaufmann, Researcher at the Rheinland-Pfälzische Technische Universität Kaiserslautern-Landau (RPTU) — leader of our work package 7: Pilots, Evaluation and Validation — tells us about his purpose, the activities he is working on, what he is more excited about, and his vision for a sustainable and efficient construction industry.
"HumanTech will provide ambitious technical solutions, but we need the ambitious action of the whole European construction sector to transform it into an attractive carbon neutral industry."
Q: Tell us a little about yourself. What is your purpose, professionally and personally?
A: As a trained carpenter, I have always been frustrated about the processes making construction dangerous, inefficient and slow. During my studies and professional life as a researcher, I found BIM and artificial intelligence (AI) to be key instruments for making construction more efficient.
Q: And about your organisation, the University of Kaiserslautern, what is your focus and what have you set out to achieve?
A: Our department, focused on solid construction, aims to provide concrete construction technology for a pathway towards a carbon-neutral resource-efficient construction industry.
Q: Now, let us know about your role at HumanTech. What do you (and your team) do, and what is the most rewarding thing about it?
A: Our team provides construction and engineering expertise to other domains involved in HumanTech, like AI, robotics and wearables. For me, learning about the methods and approaches of other disciplines and bringing everything together for a more sustainable and safe construction industry is the most rewarding thing.
"For me, learning about the methods and approaches of other disciplines and bringing everything together for a more sustainable and safe construction industry is the most rewarding thing."
Q: What activity are you working on that you are most excited about?
A: Delivering a dataset for BIMxD reconstruction is extremely interesting. It is outstanding that we are involved in developing AI methods from the beginning to bring in construction knowledge for the best usability. Also, developing the pilot scenarios is challenging but very interesting since it involves discussions with all disciplines involved.
Q: What positive impact do you hope to generate through this project?
A: I hope we can make the construction industry more efficient and safe and provide solutions to bring reality into digital twins of buildings. It would also be great to move forward in BIMxD reconstruction towards efficient and robust approaches.
"I hope we can make the construction industry more efficient and safe and provide solutions to bring reality into digital twins of buildings."
Q: Is there a net zero future for construction?
A: Absolutely yes. But this needs a completely new mindset and technologies from many disciplines, such as the ones involved in HumanTech. To achieve it, both the end-user and the industry must accept a technology capable of disrupting their business models.
Q: Very ambitious projects are being developed to transform the industry and make it safer and more sustainable. Do you know of any that have inspired you?
A: Definitely, the BIMprove project. I learned a lot from the partners involved. Also, some projects we were involved in (SeRamCo, Cirmap) helped us understand the challenges and the need for an interdisciplinary project such as HumanTech.
Q: Any final words to end on?
A: HumanTech will provide ambitious technical solutions, but we need the ambitious action of the whole European construction sector to transform it into an attractive carbon neutral industry.
Learn more about our work at HumanTech and the team behind it!
Know Jason Rambach, our project coordinator, Bharath Sankaran, from Scaled Robotics, leaders of our work package 3: Dynamic Semantic Digital Twin Generation, Gabor Sziebig, Research Manager at SINTEF leading HumanTech’s work package 5: Construction Robotics and Human-Robot Collaboration, and Gloria Callinan, Project Support Officer at TUS, leading work package 6: Human Factors – Training and Usability Assessment.
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