What will change with i-Construction 2.0? A gentle整理 of the three pillars

These three pillars may look complicated, but the way to organize them is simple. "Construction" is about how to automate the work itself on site, "data linkage" is about how to automate the transfer of information from design through construction to inspection, and "construction management" is about how to remoteize and reduce the labor of site management and supervision/inspection. Looking at the publicly released planned initiatives for FY 2025, it is clear that these are already moving into the stage of field implementation: expansion of remote construction, rulemaking for formalizing 3D models as contract documents, and digitalization of supervision and inspection.

Table of contents

• What is i-Construction 2.0

• Why is an update to 2.0 needed now

• First pillar: Automation of construction

• Second pillar: Automation of data linkage

• Third pillar: Automation of construction management

• What will change for practitioners

• Points to note when promoting adoption

• Summary

What is i-Construction 2.0

The important point here is that 2.0 is not a denial of previous measures. Rather, it is easier to understand if you see it as entering a stage where, on the basis of the already widespread 3D data, ICT construction, digital measurement, and information-sharing mechanisms, we seriously consider how far we can reduce the parts that have depended on human labor. In other words, i-Construction 2.0 reconsiders the assumption that people must do all the measuring, building, and verifying directly in each situation, and redesigns the division of roles among machines, data, and management.

Why is an update to 2.0 needed now

Practically speaking, this discussion is not only about reducing personnel. The real aims are to ensure that sites can operate even with fewer people, to avoid sending people into dangerous places, and to direct limited human resources away from re-measuring and transcription tasks toward higher-value work such as judgment and coordination. That is why i-Construction 2.0 speaks of "labor saving," "ensuring safety," and "workstyle reform" together.

First pillar: Automation of construction

The first pillar, automation of construction, is the most intuitively easy to understand area. Traditionally, experienced engineers planned the work and each operator rode and operated individual construction machines. In contrast, i-Construction 2.0 points toward a direction where one operator manages the actions of multiple construction machines based on site information acquired by various sensors and automatically generated construction plans. In other words, the world is shifting from one in which people are affixed to each machine to operate it, to a world in which multiple machines are monitored and controlled.

What is important here is that the benefits of automation are not limited to mere labor saving. In highly hazardous places such as disaster recovery sites, in locations like mountain tunnels where high skill and difficulty in securing personnel are issues, and in offshore work that requires long-duration and wide-area operations, the practice of having people constantly on site itself becomes a constraint. The publicly released initiatives for FY 2025 indicate rule development for further implementation of remote construction and expanded trials of automation and remote operation in mountain tunnels and offshore construction, showing that automation of construction is becoming a theme not limited to some special sites.

From the perspective of practitioners, what this pillar means is less "there will be fewer workers" and more "the way skills are used will change." From now on, not only will the skill of lever operation itself be required, but the importance of monitoring the status of multiple machines, intervening when abnormalities occur, and maintaining safety and quality will increase. The value of the site will shift from the number of hands working to the design capability to run the whole with a small number of people. The automation of construction most strongly symbolizes that change.

Second pillar: Automation of data linkage

The second pillar, automation of data linkage, may seem modest at first glance, but it is actually the most foundational of the three pillars. At the ministerial press conference, it was explained that whereas design data used to be converted and re-entered as construction data at the time of construction, going forward design data will be used directly as construction data. The core of this pillar is thus to reduce the waste of people repeatedly retyping, changing formats, and transcribing the same information into other documents.

Looking at the planned initiatives for FY 2025, this pillar is quite concrete. For the construction stage, the roadmap indicates standardization of 3D data, development of shared platforms, and development of data-utilization tools, and it also specifies directions such as integrated display of each company's schedule and drawing information and automatic generation of quality and as-built management charts. In other words, automation of data linkage is not just digitizing drawings; it is ensuring that the information needed for site decision-making does not become scattered across separate forms or in the heads of different people.

Put simply, this pillar places "data for measuring," "data for building," and "data for verifying" in the same flow. No matter how much construction is automated, if the underlying design data are not connected, the site will still require people to convert, correct, and explain things. Conversely, the more data linkage progresses, the more realistic both construction automation and labor-saving of construction management become. The reason this item sits in the middle of i-Construction 2.0's three pillars is that data are the backbone that connects the whole.

Third pillar: Automation of construction management

Symbolic here is the digitalization of supervision and inspection. The FY 2025 initiatives state that, based on the trial results of FY Reiwa 6, they have revised guidelines so that if as-built surface management data are overlaid on-site to conduct supervision and inspections, the creation and submission of as-built management charts will not be required. Furthermore, examples are shown in which 3D models or as-built management charts are projected on-site using AR technology to visually grasp the acceptability of as-built conditions. This means we are moving from a world where large amounts of paper materials are prepared for inspection toward a world where data are checked directly on site.

This shift will greatly change how construction management works. Previously, indirect tasks such as organizing photos, preparing forms, creating as-built charts, and preparing for inspections tended to consume site personnel's time. However, if data acquired on site can be used directly for inspection and management, staff can spend time on progress tracking, risk response, and coordination with stakeholders rather than preparing paper materials. Including the fact that the implementation guidelines for remote onsite participation are to be applied in principle from FY Reiwa 6, automation of construction management should be seen as a movement to return site supervisors to their core management duties rather than merely lighten their workload.

Moreover, automation of construction management is connected with the idea of assembling sites like factories. Promoting the use of precast elements and standardization/modularization of structures reduces on-site work, suppresses quality variability, and aligns well with reducing hazardous or long-duration on-site tasks. If gathering many people on site to repeat manual work and checks increases management complexity, then reducing what is done on site directly leads to labor-saving in management.

In addition, signs of automation are appearing even in some aspects of quality control. The FY 2025 initiatives introduce trials that aim to replace some of the quality tests performed at receipt of ready-mixed concrete with image analysis to reduce personnel, and they show cases demonstrating the effects of staff reductions related to acceptance testing. Although such examples are still limited, they indicate that automation of construction management is beginning to extend not only to documents but to methods of quality verification itself.

What will change for practitioners

The biggest change for practitioners is that digitalization will become not a "convenient add-on" but the "assumption of work." Until now, it was sometimes possible to carry out construction on site in the traditional way and then sort out 3D data and forms afterward. However, in i-Construction 2.0, construction automation, data linkage, and labor-saving of supervision and inspection all depend on how data are initially captured. Because it is assumed that the surveying data and design data initially taken will connect through later stages, effects are harder to achieve if the measurement, design, and construction stages remain fragmented.

Next to change will be the abilities for which site personnel are evaluated. Until now, much rested on the length of site experience and individual intuition, and there were many processes that could not proceed without a skilled person on the spot. Of course, the value of experience does not change, but going forward it will be more important to be able to translate experience into data, run multiple machines and processes with a small team, and intervene appropriately in abnormal situations. In other words, i-Construction 2.0 seeks people who can design and manage the whole site, not people who take on all the tasks themselves.

The points to look for in procurement and discussions will also change. Going forward, it will not be enough to simply ask whether something "supports ICT"; it will be more common to ask whether 3D models and attribute information can be used in later stages, whether data are continuous between design and construction, whether remote verification and paperless workflows are supported, and whether the operation can include safety rules and human resource development. The publicly released initiatives show that rulemaking, operational guidelines, trial construction, and human resource development are being advanced in parallel, indicating that redesigning operations, not just introducing technology, is being emphasized.

Points to note when promoting adoption

The first misconception to avoid when considering i-Construction 2.0 is assuming that "bringing in high-performance equipment or software will achieve automation." In practice, even if you advance automation of construction alone, if design data cannot be used in construction and inspections remain paper-centered, the overall burden on the site will not be greatly reduced. The three pillars do not exist separately; they only take effect when construction to move machines, data linkage to pass information, and construction management to verify outcomes are all in place. Be careful that partial-optimization introductions can instead create new rework.

Next, do not regard paperless as merely reducing documents. Fewer papers are a result; the essence is creating a state where things can be verified by data. The reason for advancing rules for checking consistency between 3D models and 2D drawings, standardizing attribute information, and using as-built surface management data for supervision and inspection is to clarify on what basis judgments are made instead of paper. Paperless without rules can obscure the basis for decisions rather than improve efficiency.

As for the order of adoption, a realistic flow is first to stabilize the quality of positional information and 3D data acquired on site, then to set up data sharing and paperless processes, and finally to expand automation and remote operations. Rather than aiming immediately for full automatic construction, it is more reproducible for site improvement to first make data reusable in later stages. i-Construction 2.0 may look like a flashy story about unmanned operation, but what truly makes a difference on site is whether you can build an unglamorous but reliable operation in which data do not break.

Summary

If we gently整理 i-Construction 2.0, the first pillar is "automation of construction to run tasks with fewer people," the second pillar is "automation of data linkage to reconnect information from design to construction and inspection," and the third pillar is "automation of construction management to reduce work that can only be done by being on site." These three are not separate measures but together form a blueprint to automate construction sites.

The practical essence is not digitalization itself. It is reorganizing workflows so that the basic construction actions of measuring, building, and verifying can be performed safely and continuously by a small number of people. If the original i-Construction was the phase of spreading ICT utilization, i-Construction 2.0 can be said to have entered a phase that updates the very way sites are operated based on those results.

In that sense, having a system that can properly acquire positional information and 3D data usable in later stages from the start will become increasingly important on future sites. The more the direction strengthens to connect design, construction, and supervision/inspection by data, the more the usability of the initially acquired information will determine the productivity of the entire site.

Having means that quickly capture coordinates on site and make positioning data easy to link to daily construction and as-built verification, such as an iPhone-mounted GNSS high-precision positioning device like LRTK, aligns very well with the flow of i-Construction 2.0. Before aiming for large-scale automation, start by reliably running simple surveying and preserving site data in forms that can be used later. Those accumulations will be the strength of future construction sites.