Estonian construction entrepreneurs and representatives of the country have gathered into a digital construction cluster in order to start developing e-construction. In the next three years, 600 000 euros will be invested in this field.
Merylin Rüütli, who is one of the initiators of the cluster and the Head of the Architectural and Engineering bureau Projekt Kuubis, says that Estonian construction sector has fallen behind due to lack of e-solutions.
“The development of e-construction is at the same place where our health care system was ten years ago. However, Estonia as a leading e-country has very good opportunities to become a world pioneer in this field,” added Rüütli.
According to her, the construction market in Estonia is opaque and a lot of resources have been spent unnecessarily. What is more, a lot of Estonian construction companies are not using the export potential due to ineffectiveness.
Andrus Väärtnõu, The Head of Construction and Housing Department of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Communications, says that it is noteworthy that people who are interested in developing the field of construction have joined forces and gathered together into a cluster.
“The field of construction in Estonia definitely has room for development and one possibility to advance the field is to start digitalising it. The construction sector in Estonia forms 7% of the GDP. It is an important branch of economy and further development would be faster if the processes became more effective,” said Väärtnõu.
Jüri Rass, The Chairman of the Board for the Architectural and Engineering bureau Novarc, says that creating e-construction systems would help solve various daily problems connected to the field of construction.
“It is very common in Estonia that construction costs are unpredictable and can vary from 10 to 20 percent during a project. This is a clear sign of weakness in the field. I am more than convinced that digitalising can help make the expenses more transparent and predictable, as shown by the example of the Scandinavian countries.” said Rass. In addition, he added that if the data is made available, it would help prevent various mistakes that occur during the construction process.
The aim of the e-construction project is to find best ways to digitalise the field of Estonian construction. E-solutions would create equal opportunities for all companies in the market, transform the construction processes to be transparent and common as well as reduce the cost for monetary, human and material resources.
The cluster for e-construction is a team of companies and country representatives that have united to start digitalising the field of construction. E-construction has been funded by Estonian construction companies as well as the European Regional Development Fund from Enterprise Estonia.
Marek Kuul
Editor of err.ee