Digital and Built Environment

History

The “Digital and Built Environment” area is part of the Department of Civil Engineering Building and Architecture at Marche Polytechnic University. It is currently composed of four Full Professors in the disciplinary field of “Production and Management of the Built Environment” (ICAR/11), three researchers, one graduate technician, three doctoral students and one research fellow. The group is characterized by a strong interdisciplinarity due to the diverse backgrounds of the members ranging from construction engineering to automation and electronics. This characteristic strongly depends on the areas in which the group conducts research that focus on the digital management of processes related to the construction industry, including the implementation of new technologies and innovative approaches.

Mission

The Production and Management of the Built Environment group is engaged in teaching, research and third mission activities. The didactic activity concerns teaching activities related to the Degree and Master’s Degree Courses in Building Engineering, the Master’s Degree Course in Building Engineering-Architecture, and the vocationally-oriented Degree Course in Construction Techniques and Land Management.

The group is involved in national (e.g. PRIN, INAIL-funded projects) and international (e.g. Horizon projects) research projects. The group members are also involved in two PNRR projects, the MOST sustainable mobility centre and the VITALITY project. The research group collaborates with the Marche Region, with which it shares a research project aimed at developing guidelines and digital tools for the application of BIM methods and technologies in public procurement management.

With regard to the third mission, the group actively collaborates with important industrial partners for the implementation of new methods for the digital management of the built environment through the exploitation of state-of-the-art management technologies and through the design of specific solutions. The group has started two academic spin-offs and also has patenting experience.

Laboratory

DC3 – Digital Construction Capability Centre

Research activities

The Production and Management of the Built Environment group conducts research in various fields:

Process management technologies

development and testing of the technologies required for real-time control of construction processes (from conception to decommissioning in the life cycle of an asset)
new approaches and systems for semi-automated control of collaborative processes (e.g. mixed reality) and for data collection and monitoring of construction and infrastructure works;
technologies for process-integrated simulation to support decision-making in complex systems.

Production management

This sector includes all activities aimed at managing the execution phase of construction:

methods and technologies for the control of work processes;
technologies for real-time safety management;
quality management and technical controls;
cost management and multi-objective management.

Management of the built environment

This sector includes all activities aimed at managing the operational phase of construction and comprises:

Digitisation of works through information modelling and data collection;
Development of platforms for data management and health monitoring of infrastructures and buildings;
Development of Digital Twins.

Modelling and information flow management

data collection and survey of existing
digitisation of works through BIM-based information modelling;
process re-engineering for digitisation.

Knowledge management for the built environment

Development of AI tools for knowledge acquisition and structuring in facility management;
Development of AI methods, languages and tools for the standardisation of management processes and decision support in facility management.

The group is involved in research projects at national (e.g. PRIN “A Distributed Digital Collaboration Framework for Small and Medium-Sized Engineering and Construction Enterprises” – Protocol No.: 2017EY3ESB_001; INAIL-funded projects “DS2”) and international level (e.g. Horizon projects “Encore” – Grant Id: 820434; “Enough” – Grant Id: 101036588). The members of the group are also involved in two PNRR projects, the centre for sustainable mobility MOST and the VITALITY project. The research group also collaborates with the Marche Region with which it shares a research project aimed at developing guidelines and digital tools for the introduction of BIM methods and technologies for public procurement management.