Lendlease Previews Podium for Development
Lendlease recently gave an exciting preview of its game-changing digital platform solution Podium for Development (P4D) – a transformative digital ecosystem built on common data standards that connect developers, designers, and the supply chain, to deliver higher construction productivity and promote sustainable building methods – together with go-to-market partner Surbana Jurong, developers, partners and stakeholders across the built environment.
Instead of the months involved in design using conventional methods, P4D accelerates directly from design to supply by using its automation algorithms to configure optimal designs using a ‘kit of parts’1 defined by manufacturers. This leads to reduced waste in time, cost and materials. At the event held at Google Singapore Campus attended by key players in the industry, many shared the challenges faced by the built environment sector, from persistently low productivity growth to continued supply chain issues. The consensus reached was that we are facing a critical need to transform our conventional building practices and leverage digital innovations like P4D, along with new ways of thinking including DfMA approaches to build better, faster and more sustainably.
With Managing Director of the Global AI Business at Google Cloud Caroline Yap delivering a keynote on the potential of generative AI in shaping the built environment, it is clear that now is the time for the built environment to reap the benefits of artificial intelligence and machine learning. P4D also signals that digitalisation will enable conventional career opportunities within the built environment to venture into new technology-based career pathways, further cementing Singapore’s role as a global technology hub for nurturing talents.
The recent exclusive look follows the go-to-market partnership announcement with Surbana Jurong in October to deliver P4D to the global built environment sector. Both parties are in advanced negotiations with other developers in Singapore and internationally, leveraging P4D to design and deliver projects in the future.
Government agencies like the Building and Construction Authority, Singapore Economic Development Board and JTC Corporation support the vision of a collaborative ecosystem designed to streamline the processes from design to supply, increasing project development certainty and reducing the materials and waste produced with the use of kits-of-parts. JTC collaborated with Lendlease to jointly develop design digitalisation tools that can automate preliminary industrial building design as Building Information Models (BIM). This function, which is built off P4D, allows for optimisation of the design process and enhanced coordination.
In addition, this initiative generates new job opportunities and enhances productivity in the built environment. At an industry level, coordinated and collective action is needed to reduce materials and waste, and consequently embodied carbon, and to deliver more sustainable outcomes for generations to come.
According to Richard Kuppusamy, Chief Product Officer and Head of Digital Asia, Lendlease Digital, “The existing approach to creating the built environment is unsustainable. P4D represents the possibilities we can achieve if we can reimagine how we build as an industry. We have a shared responsibility to adopt a more concerted and collaborative approach enabled by the technology we have today to build better and more sustainably.”
Junie Fo, Vice President and Head, Commercial & Professional Services, Singapore Economic Development Board said, “P4D is an example of how local businesses and talent in the built environment sector can leverage advanced digital and collaborative tools to enhance productivity and advance sustainable practices. With Singapore as an ideal testbed for innovative digital solutions, we welcome more like-minded companies to partner with our ecosystem and spearhead new initiatives that will shape the future of our industries and create new digital roles.”
Caroline Yap, Managing Director, Global AI Business, Google Cloud, adds, “Gen AI has the potential to dramatically transform our modern construction industry. Built entirely on Google Cloud and Vertex AI, P4D is an AI-powered digital ecosystem and platform which has the potential to increase the productivity, sustainability and profitability of the digital supply chain, and in ways we’ve not seen before.”
1 Kit-of-parts refer to standardised prefabricated building components in modular dimensions which are applicable to various building typologies.