iLab presented and shared its digital construction solutions at the Global Construction Sustainability Forum and Exhibition 2023 (GCSFE 2023) held from 20 to 23 November, 2023 at Sky 100. GCSFE 2023 is the first-of-its-kind construction sustainability mega event in Hong Kong, with an aim to address sustainable development in the construction industry.

The booth garnered considerable praise from attending government officials, industry professionals, and academic scholars. Notable visitors included Secretary for Housing Winnie Ho, Former Secretary for the Environment Wong Kam-sing, CIC Chairman Ir HO On-sing, and URA Managing Director Ir Wai Chi Sing, who engaged with the team and listened to their informative introduction.

A team from the iLab in the Faculty of Architecture won a gold and silver award at the international 2023 IEEE / CVF Conference on Computer Vision and Pattern Recognition, outmatching teams from other leading universities around the world. The conference had a competition to see which algorithms could most accurately reconstruct an existing building from scanned data.

The HKU team, led by Dr Frank Xue, won gold in the category Scan-to-BIM 3D for their AI-based method to create a 3D BIM model, and silver for converting a point cloud scan into a 2D architectural drawing. BIM stands for Building Information Modelling, which lets architects and surveyors create a complete and detailed digital model of a building, including furniture and appliances. “There is an urgent need for Scan-to-BIM algorithms and software, which not only perform the entire process much faster, but are also much more accurate than current methods,” Dr Xue said.

The Kick-Off Forum of the ITF project "Scan-to-BIM Automation System (SBASE) for Built Assets Digitalization in Hong Kong" (ITP/004/23LP) was successfully held on September 3, 2023, at Knowles Building, HKU.

The event was hosted by the Department of Real Estate and Construction at HKU with the objective of promoting the application and development of digital technologies such as automated Scan-to-BIM in smart construction, smart BIM, and other related fields. The forum brings together experts, scholars, teachers, and students from various esteemed institutions such as Tsinghua University, HKABAEIMA, XenseTech Ltd, GeoSys HK Ltd, HKUST, Huazhong University of Science & Technology, and HKU.

The forum provided a platform for attendees to discuss the latest expertise, knowledge, and advancements in academia and industry, and explore ways in which automatic digital technologies could be used to enhance the construction industry. The knowledge and insights exchanged during the event would serve as a catalyst for future exploration and advancement in the realm of digital technologies, fostering innovation in the construction industry.