Summary and next steps
5G has the potential to deliver considerable benefits to on-site construction, enabling a large, positive impact on industry productivity. However, challenges remain to be addressed if 5G is to be effectively rolled-out.
- Construction projects are often delivered in geographically 'remote' locations or urban contexts where connectivity (digital, power, utilities) is not already in place. As work progresses the location of activity can also move. Digital solutions therefore need to be robust and reliable, whilst being easy to set-up and relocate by site teams.
- Site managers need to plan ahead with digital connectivity needs across the whole project considered. The 5G network needs to be running reliably and robustly from the outset of the construction project (with supporting infrastructure planned and in place - power supply may be a challenge on remote sites).
- Continuous connectivity should be planned for, with the impact of the construction itself considered (particular types of building or cladding may block 5G signals). Pre-planned placement of supporting infrastructure may need to be moved in order to avoid the creation of dead zones where 5G signal is lost simply by the planned construction of certain structures.
- Site workers require the right education and skills to support deployment of the 5G network and 5G enabled technologies.
- A plug-and-go 5G solution would allow the remotest sites to have 5G coverage from the outset.
- 5G will support the use of data-rich solutions that can deliver cost and time savings. However, many of these solutions are currently not commercially ready for mainstream use.
- The industry needs confidence that ‘ecosystems’ of complementary solutions can be effectively deployed to deliver benefits, and that the individual solutions are robust and reliable for on-site use.
- Innovation will not be optimised first time and the tangible benefits will accrue to future projects.
Based on the outcomes of the project a new consortium has now been setup to develop an innovative ‘plug-and-go’ solution that can be tailored to the needs of any site and deliver full 5G coverage from the outset using off-grid renewable power.