Drivers of VR adoption in the construction industry

The VR implementation can be defined as benefits and significant project outcomes.

These contributions can improve current usage or create new business opportunities.

The main benefit of any emerging technology for construction is evaluated based on two parameters: time and cost for the project, as they need to finish the project in budget and on time. Although time and cost savings are also outputs of drivers that mentioned in this section.

5.1.1. Improving collaboration, communication, and coordination performance in Projects

The main driver for the adoption of VR technologies is to improve the delivery of the construction project. The interdisciplinary teams involved in the project need an agile and accurate communication platform. The virtual models in the design phase were used to improve and maintain coordination between project parties. In construction, the construction firm is responsible for ensuring that designs by architects, structural, electrical, and mechanical engineers match and function well in the entire construction process. However, the project team can detect clashes by using BIM software such as Revit and Navisworks but walking through a virtual model enable optimization clash detection. Also, it provides a negotiation platform to fix issues between different project participants.

The project manager is the key person of the success or failure of a project based on the self-capability. A capable project manager is challenging against project time. Vir-tual Reality might replace traditional operations methods, which could be done re-motely to save time and cost. Big construction companies are starting to use laser scanning and drones to track and monitor daily work. A drone collected the data can

be used to present the work progress in a visual mode. The visualization could be done by a series of panoramic pictures or a 3D model. The data can be checked on-site quickly and compare it to the original model of the building. This way provides a reliable source of information without visiting the site. Also, it helps the site manager to report to the project manager to keep tracking the operation progress.

Figure 42. Enhancing data flow by using VR representation

5.1.2. Design reviews

Many of the companies conducted design reviews and 3D virtual mockups to allow the client to discover and assess the initial priorities of the project and corrected any issues before execution. Reviewing design contributes the client to be apart from design de-velopment. VR technology helped the end-user to understand the overall picture of the project design and arrange design changes to the building. Designers and contractors’

parties can collect feedback from the end-users, which streamlined the decision-mak-ing process. Visualizdecision-mak-ing the project model in the final shape allows involvdecision-mak-ing project parties to fulfill client requirements before making any reliable decisions. In addition, design reviews provide opportunities for value engineering to improve cost savings while maintaining client satisfaction for future projects.

5.1.3. Planning and control of the construction site process

Control of the construction project has been considered a crucial aspect that directly affects the successful delivery and execution of the project. During the planning phase, the project team needs to create execution plans and define a critical path to organize the construction sequence and the required resources, virtual model aid in sustaining a safe and efficient site by simulating the construction process. The immersion of the project team in a virtual environment helps them check the construction sequence, work development, and control any potential risk. Also, virtual simulation can help to include the surrounding environment, such as the movement of pedestrians, move-ment of vehicles, and logistics in the virtual environmove-ment.

5.1.4. Training and safety

Safety is a critical term in the construction industry due to the highest number of acci-dents and injuries. Using VR can help to reduce site acciacci-dents and increase worker's awareness. VR models have been widely used in the construction industry for safety and training purposes. A safety training program based on VR provides an immersive method of training which enables the user to interact with a virtual 3D environment. VR also may visualize the unseen dangers efficiently without putting workers on real-life risk. This immersive training facilitates the creation of cognitive skills and comprehen-sion that usually increase the interpretation of the training content. It led to developing the safety culture that encourages a realistic routine for the health of construction work-ers.

5.1.5. Demonstrating technical competence

Nowadays, construction companies are rebranding themselves as smart providers for engineering solutions. They identify the need to adopt digital technology to improve company reputation. Strong motivators to adopt VR are the desire to not be left out and to have a differentiating advantage in the market. By implementing an innovative tool and emerging technology like VR in construction, it is showing technical competence for the company/project. Providing the virtual model of the project, a company can be

distinguished from the competition and gain the bids. VR can generate more business opportunities for the company. Also, it helps to gain client trust and satisfaction. VR could use in house building companies to avoid any potential issues between the client and company about the project scope. Also, the virtual model can be used later in the utilization phase of the building.