HKCTC Webinar on Latest Technology and Development in Building Inspection

The Hong Kong Council for Testing and Certification (HKCTC) and Hong Kong Accreditation Service (HKAS) organized a Webinar entitled “Latest Technology and Development in Building Inspection” held on 24^th Feb 2022.  HKSQ is one of supporting organizations. With the ageing of buildings in Hong Kong, building inspection and diagnostic testing have become crucial to access building conditions for proper follow up actions such as maintenance, refurbishment, and demolishment. In recent years, new technologies have been adopted in various aspects of building inspection to enhance its effectiveness and quality. This webinar aims to share with participants the experience and insights in using latest technology (e.g. artificial intelligence, drones, infra-red thermography, etc.) in building inspection.

The first speaker was Mr. Paul Lau (Senior Property Services Manager, Architectural Services Department, HKSAR) and his topic entitled “The Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Drone to Assist Building Inspection for External Wall and Chinese Tiled Roof”. Firstly, Mr. Lau briefed the traditional approach for building inspection and some challenges (e.g. more than 70% building age > 30yrs, building density and height).

Then he quoted Construction 2.0 policy in three Pillars involved Innovation, Professionalization and Revitalization. Therefore, latest technology solution combined Drone and AI for external wall inspection was proposed. It employed real time kinematics positioning, photogrammetric modelling, computer vision and deep learning. 

And then Mr. Lau showed some real cases which employed drone inspection and collected many photos for analysis.

After that Mr. Lau briefed how to train AI to build the model using identified defect photos.  It could be employed in different types of building such as Chinese Tiled Roof inspection.  Lastly, he concluded some benefits: to improve external wall inspection efficiency, to improve condition survey accuracy, to optimize resources for preventive maintenance and to safeguard building & public safety.

The second speaker was Ir. Dr. Wallace Lai (Associate Professor, Department of Land Surveying and Geo-informatics, PolyU) and his presentation named “Common FAQs of Infrared Thermography on Building Envelop Inspections”.  In the beginning, Dr. Lai briefed the background of mandatory building inspection scheme since 2005. Then the specifications for IR inspection HKCI TM1 issued in 2009.  This specification is under review. 

Then Dr. Lai said Infrared thermography (IRT) employed to look for defects such as delamination and debond that defects appeared in region of hot temperature.  And then he said the factors affect IRT inspection were 4M and 1E.

Man: Based on HKCI TM1 (2^nd Edition under review), personnel qualification of signatories (Level 2 Thermography) and testing personnel (Level 1 Thermography) are updated according to HOKLAS SC No.19.

Machine: Angle of incidence should be <40 degree (Drone) and on-site functionality test that proposed to recognize a distinct object (e.g. fingers) clearly at five locations.

Material: It is good for Rendering, Tiles, Bricks but not for Glass and Metal Cladding.

Method: Different method for normal case, ground based and high-rise buildings.

Environment: It included time factor, orientation factor, and fine weather.

Finally, Dr. Wallace Lai mentioned the infrared image interpretation and its limitations.

The last speaker was Ir Dr Fiona Chan (Senior Accreditation Officer, HKAS) and her presentation title was “How does Accreditation Deliver Confidence in Construction Industry?”. Firstly, Dr. Chan briefed the role and benefits of accreditation.  That included technical competence, integrity and impartiality.

Then Dr. Chan briefed the service scheme of HKAS including HOKLAS, HKCAS and HKIAS.  She mentioned the statistic of number of accredited laboratory and there were 1/3 under construction field. After that she said two important messages that adopt more accredited services and accredited laboratory not equal to accredited test.

Finally, Dr. Chan introduced the new accreditation service related to construction tests and HOKLAS supplementary criteria No. 55 for accreditation of underground utility survey.

Reference:

HKCTC - https://www.hkctc.gov.hk/en/home/index.html

HKAS - https://www.itc.gov.hk/en/quality/hkas/index.html

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