13 Comments

Just wanted to say that I appreciate the time & energy you put into each of these posts. As a supply chain/logistics/continuous improvement geek, this checks a lot of boxes for me.

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The results of automated construction are mixed so far, but I wonder if it's not too soon to conclude it doesn't work. China, as usual, has made the process more efficient, especially Broad Construction Group. They had planned to use proven factory methods to create the world's tallest building before Chinese regulators disallowed it. President Xi is on record as saying he doesn't want any more "funny buildings."

In any case, Broad group thought they could prepare the site and erect this 200+ story (2,427 ft megatall building in just 210 days: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sky_City_(Changsha)

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Something that fascinates me when I read your posts is how many people have tried to innovate in construction and how long they have been trying for. Many cool and really innovative techniques have been tried from robotic bricklayers, to prefab, to off-site factories and on-site factories. And many of these ideas are centuries old! Yet, despite repeated attempts, all of these have failed to bring any meaningful reduction in costs, building time or labour efficiency. I remember watching a video awhile back about off-site construction factories and being "wow! if they do this more often we can really revolutionize how we build homes!". Reading your blog however, showed me that any big uptick in construction productivity is unlikely anytime soon.

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Mace tried a similar approach just a couple of years ago with their 'Jump Factory' on the N06 and N08 buildings in Stratford, London.

https://www.macegroup.com/projects/east-village-no8

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Have you heard of the hijsloods in Rotterdam? It is essentially the same thing. They've used it I believe only twice now (at least in recent times) – the first time at the Erasmus Medical Center in the 2010s, and then they just very recently finished up the Zalmhaven tower (tallest building in the Netherlands). I think both are by the same builder (probably different owners though?). I don't speak Dutch and I can't find anything much written about it in English, but here's a really interesting short YouTube video that you can watch with the translated closed captions – the translation is terrible, but it gives you a general idea: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kq5zwF5pz4c

Hopefully it's making a comeback!

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Typo: it's "Akatsuki", not "Akatuki".

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