Lendlease is partnering Surbang Jurong on a digital platform offering solutions for the built environment. Podium for Development (P4D) aims to provide a digital ecosystem that connects developers, designers and the supply chain in order to deliver high construction productivity and promote sustainable building practices.

According to a 2015 report by KPMG, inadequate communication and collaboration between stakeholders along the value chain creates design errors which accounted for 38% of construction disputes. Furthermore, only 31% of projects have managed to stay within 10% of their proposed budgets. A separate 2017 report by the McKinsey Global Institute notes that the construction industry’s annual productivity has only grown by 1% over the past 20 years, while contributing 40% to the world’s greenhouse gas emissions.

P4D targets to counter these issues by providing a platform that streamlines and improves the decision-making along the property development process, from feasibility through to design and construction. The digital tool can generate building designs that take into account various factors, such as building specifications under prevailing regulations, supplier-defined kit-of-parts, estimated costs and timeframe.

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“By generating a structural design in 15 to 20 minutes instead of the months involved in design using current methods, P4D leverages what is replicable and repeatable in building design via computational algorithms and AI. With the possibility of 70% of the building design being automated by P4D, human designers can focus their energy and efforts on more complex and subjective aspects of creativity,” explains Richard Kuppusamy, chief product officer for Podium.

Lendlease is working with Surbana Jurong as its go-to-market partner to deliver P4D. It says it is in advanced negotiations with other developers and building authorities in Singapore and elsewhere to leverage P4D to design and deliver projects in the future.

“Our ambition for P4D is to reimagine how we create by changing entrenched methodologies and behaviours. This is why we are working with like-minded partners such as Surbana Jurong and inviting other developers and players in the built environment industry to join us in this journey as we promote best sustainable building practices that can be replicated and benefit other communities globally,” says Bill Ruh, CEO of Lendlease digital.

“P4D gives architects, designers and suppliers greater control to drive higher productivity in the built environment sector, as well as net zero and zero waste outcomes at the earliest stages of a project life cycle to reduce embodied carbon levels. “We are excited about the prospect of collaborating with multiple project stakeholders on the cloud at the design stage,” says Yeo Choon Chong, Asean CEO at Surbana Jurong.