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 24th 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 (2nd
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.