L’ÉTS accueillait ce jeudi Jean Boulet, ministre du Travail, dans les laboratoires du GRIDD, le Groupe de recherche en intégration et développement durable en environnement bâti.

C’est en compagnie des professeur(e)s-chercheur(-euse)s Ivanka Iordanova et Gabriel Jobidon que le directeur du GRIDD, le professeur Erik Poirier, a abordé la question de l’évolution de l’industrie de la construction et des modes de réalisation de projets intégrés, notamment du projet pilote du Complexe Dow. Des discussions pertinentes qui laissent présager des collaborations prometteuses pour l'industrie de la construction du Québec.

Francois Gagnon, directeur général de l'ÉTS, Annie Bouthillette, directrice exécutive des relations institutionnelles, Jean Belzile, directeur exécutif du développement stratégique et des ressources, Souha Tahrani, Ph.D., directrice adjointe de l'intégration BIM, et Clement BLANQUET DU CHAYLA, associé de recherche au GRIDD, ont également participé à la rencontre.

That's three years in a row! GRIDD is very proud of Mehrzad Shahin-Moghadam to have won this year's CANBIM (Building Transformations) Academic Award ! (supervised by Prof. Ali Motamedi).

Also proud of Walid Anane (a former GRIDD graduate - now working with Dassault Systèmes) who created the design of the awards !!!

Congrats GRIDD team ! 🔥

Traditional methods of supervision in the construction industry are time-consuming and costly, requiring significant investments in skilled labor. However, with advancements in artificial intelligence, computer vision, and deep learning, these methods can now be automated, resulting in time and cost savings, as well as improvements in product quality. This research focuses on the application of computer vision approaches to monitor the quality of welding in prefabricated steel elements. A high-performance network was designed, consisting of a video capturing station, a customized classifier based on a YOLOv4 detector and an IoU tracker, and a user interface software for any interaction with quality control workers. The network demonstrated over 98% accuracy in identifying steel connection types and detecting missed welds on the assembly line in real-time. Extensive validation was conducted using a large dataset from a real production environment. The proposed framework aims to reduce rework, minimize hazards, and enhance product quality. This research contributes to the automation of quality control processes in the construction industry.

BIM‐enabled multidisciplinary coordination is one of the most widespread practices in the construction industry. Despite its popularity, integrating the required technologies, and reconfiguring the practices necessary to benefit from it, remains a challenge. As currently practiced, multidisciplinary BIM coordination tends to replicate traditional coordination processes in digital, rather than transform them. This article presents a case study of the implementation of BIM‐enabled multidisciplinary coordination within an architectural firm with considerable BIM experience. The objective of the research project is to investigate the implementation of BIM tools and processes aimed at taking full advantage of the potential offered by the centralization of information and the federation of disciplines within a single digital environment. This research identified the components, advantages, and limitations, as well as the functionalities and support required to implement BIM‐enabled multidisciplinary coordination within the agency. Due to considerable implementation challenges, the emergence of hybrid multidisciplinary coordination practices, a mix of traditional and BIM approaches, was noted, limiting the potential benefits of the approach.