Is there scope for building inspections to continue remotely?

The construction industry is not unfamiliar to a digitally-driven way of working. Technology has evidently been at the fore of construction, engineering and design processes. For different fragments of the sector, this forced acceleration of technology generated varied results. In some cases, processes were made more efficient and smooth, however, the switch to a remote way of working potentially posed challenges in other cases.

Speaking to Construction Week on a podcast, Cavendish Maxwell’s Head of Project and Building Consultancy, Benjamin Walker said about performing surveys and inspections in a post-COVID scenario: “Due to the technicality of the work we do, the necessity of being on-site will always be present, to inspect buildings first-hand. While we have had to use high-definition video cameras for cross-border work where we could not get over to these premises, it has been business-as-usual since the month-long lockdown last year.

When we inspect the building, we don’t need a lot of human interaction. Some of the work, however, is still conducted remotely because of the pressures in place with quarantine regulations in different countries.”

Cavendish Maxwell is operating out of five different offices, three in the UAE (Dubai, Abu Dhabi, Sharjah), Oman, and Bahrain.

Watch this space for the podcast, as we’re looking forward to present the next one to you differently!

This article was originally published in Construction Week