Harsh lessons and hopeful developments were the top line ideas at the BuildTech virtual conference, ENR’s annual look at the state of construction technology and management.

Efficiencies in design, construction and building use are being unlocked thanks to analysis and proactive changes informed by construction data. Even 3D printing for a NASA project on structures on Mars is on the table.

Predicting wildfires and combating them, smart building sensors, 3D-printed building materials, building integrated fire safety systems that go beyond sprinklers and clean-room protection were among the topics discussed Oct. 13-15 at the Society of Fire Protection Engineers’ annual conference and exposition at the Sheraton Grand Resort at Wild Horse Pass near Phoenix.

As the world’s largest equipment manufacturers convened in Munich for the Bauma equipment show April 4-14, the overriding question was what has changed in the industry since the last show three years ago.

The global management consulting firm McKinsey & Co. has released a new study of 2,400 construction technology providers serving the entire life cycle of the industry.

Pushing the limits of additive-manufacturing processes, 3D-printing startup Branch Technology recently completed installation of a bandshell in Nashville, Tenn., that it says is the largest 3D-printed structure in the world.

A construction tech company that printed the walls of a 350-sq-ft “tiny house” in 48 hours in Austin, Texas, in March is now partnered with a nonprofit that aims to start printing walls for 800-sq-ft homes in El Salvador—in 24 hours for each—by the end of the year.

Getting 3D-printing technology to work for construction has been a struggle for decades. 

A standard, industrial robotic arm has “printed” about a third of a 12-meter pedestrian bridge that is destined to span an old Amsterdam canal in the Netherlands as early as next year.