Construction

Hong Kong start-up RaSpect specialises in remote building inspections using drones to gather the data and artificial intelligence technology to process it – faster, more accurate, more comprehensive and safer method than traditional manual building inspections.

Inspired by the heat-resistant silver ants found in the Sahara Desert, Hong Kong start-up i2Cool Technology has developed iPaint, a patented cooling paint that can greatly reduce building power consumption and accelerate the city’s efforts to achieve carbon neutrality.

Worries over tactile transmission amid the COVID-19 pandemic has driven many innovative cleaning and sterilising solutions for heavily used surfaces such as lift buttons.

Acciona’s corporate slogan – “business as unusual” – could have been designed for times like these, as economies across the globe reel from the global COVID‑19 pandemic.

To date, it is fair to say Sri Lanka has weathered the global coronavirus outbreak better than most countries. As of 20 August, it had recorded some 2,902 cases and just 11 deaths.

The annual International Construction Cost Index (ICC) by global design and consultancy organisation Arcadis indicated that social unrest in the second half of 2019 and COVID-19 this year have hit the construction industry hard, while environmentally friendly practices need to be more widely integrated to ensure a carbon-neutral future.