Laura Pinfold
Lecturer
Cape Peninsula University of Technology
South Africa

Abstract
Using Location Awareness Technologies for Innovative Construction Management In Urban Centres, Cape Town, South Africa

The continued growth of inner city construction coupled with the mounting costs of land in the urban centres puts pressure on inner city construction management. The complex nature of construction in urban centres requires innovative methods for site management. Confined space, congestion and overcrowding and the jamming of new buildings within existing structures poses challenges. Construction firms in South Africa tend not to be innovative or dynamic when it comes to improving building production processes. This is problematic as the success of building construction in urban centres hinges upon the ability of the construction firm to be strategic, which is to know better than others, what direction to go in, what risks to take, the available resources and capabilities to develop in order to fulfil some planned goal. Using the latest remote sensing technologies to provide real-time access to the location of materials, equipment and workers on a congested construction site could significantly improve the construction process. The confined characteristic of construction sites in urban centres makes location awareness critical. Location awareness technologies can improve manual processes and support important decision-making tasks in the field. This paper investigates the competitiveness and innovation of construction firms operating in urban centres within the Cape Town metropolis South Africa and whether construction companies find location awareness technologies and geospatial data useful for construction management on confined sites. A sample will be gathered from project managers, registered building contractors as well as building consultants and private owners in the Cape Town Metropolis using structured interviews and questionnaire. Empirical evidence shows that the use of automation and integration technologies improves construction productivity and exhibit tight integration of data and provides a workflow solution that improves production.