Jurnal Kejuruteraan 33(3) 2021: 477-485

https://doi.org/10.17576/jkukm-2021-33(3)-10

Impacts of Covid-19 Outbreak on Civil Engineering Activities

in The Malaysian Construction Industry: A Review
Sharifah Akmam Syed Zakaria* & Amarpreet Kaur Mahinder Singh

School of Civil Engineering (SoCE), Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM) (Engineering Campus), Malaysia.

*Corresponding author: [email protected]

Received 18 April 2021, Received in revised form 06 May 2021

Accepted 20 May 2021, Available online 30 August 2021

ABSTRACT

The Covid-19 is a worldwide pandemic that has changed and disrupted the world’s economic perspective. The
construction industry, which is considered as one of the major growth engines for the economy, has been directly
impacted. The pandemic is having a wide-ranging effect on construction and infrastructure projects globally. All
developments and projects have been put on hold until further notice. Indeed, the current pandemic is a significant
cause of project delays in Malaysia. The chain effects of the pandemic and its impact on the construction industry is
extremely uncertain. In order to deal with this uncertainty, it is vital to determine and discuss the impact of Covid-19
on the construction industry since its early condition up until the current scenario in order to handle the potential risk
and lessons that can be learnt for future planning. The aim of this research is to determine the impact of Covid-19 in
civil engineering activities and the construction industry as a whole. In order to control the Covid-19 transmission,
Malaysia has implemented Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) during the restriction period of the Conditional
Movement Control Order (CMCO). In Malaysia, the entire construction and repair work progress that been subjected
to Movement Control Order (MCO) were suspended and thus causes project suspension, delays, labour impact, work
loss, time overrun, cost overrun, and other financial consequences. Therefore, it is recommended that the construction
industry should utilize innovative construction technologies in order to overcome the problem that occurred due to
Covid-19. It is also expected that the usage of construction technologies will assist in the development of a more
sustainable infrastructure development as those technologies can be well adopted and implemented as a new norm in
Malaysia.

Keywords: Covid-19; construction industry; MCO; CMCO; SOP; technologies; new norm

pandemic. The impact on both nature and scale relies on

INTRODUCTION its particular area of organizations and the underlying
projects to a large extent (Stiles et al. 2021).
During the pandemic, like many other nations, the
The current Covid-19 crisis that has not been seen on this Malaysian government had imposed a lockdown, from
global scale has significantly impacted the industry’s 18 March till 6 June 2020, which restricted the
organization across all sectors and activities. In the
individual mobility and gatherings. However, owing to
terminology of scale, complexity, short-period, and long-
period has an unprecedented circumstance that impacted the restrictions levied by the authorities, all development
on communities and organizations supporting local and operations and much of the industry activities around the
global economies. Nearly every country’s economic country have been halted (Ray & Noah 2020). Not only
operation is in the hands of unexpected Covid-19 that, the circumstances would obstruct the execution of
scenarios. Several businesses unintentionally flourish the construction and engineering contract commitments
under the pandemic because of the intrinsic existence of and after the lifting of the existing constraints, this
the market operation, while some faced weather like a would lead to several legal conflicts for the business. In
hurricane with considerable difficulties, but the
this paper, the coronavirus pandemic that have impacted
construction industry is undoubtedly on the wrong end of
the spectrum of the hardest impacted sector (Skanska the Malaysian construction industry is discussed. This
2018). Several members of the on-site sector, involving would help to identify the problems that occur in the
founders, contractors, clients, suppliers, and construction industry due to Covid-19 and to determine
subcontractors have experienced various levels of viable solutions to control and manage construction
impacts as the consequences of the coronavirus activities despite the outbreak of Covid-19. Thus, the
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readiness of the community in adapting to the new industrial goods from China. Lockdowns were imposed
norms of civil engineering practices in the construction by many states, triggering supply shortages due to
industry should be highly considered. Further, it is transport bans or post-travel quarantines (Fadzlina et al.
recommended that the utilization of construction 2020). Manpower is also another major problem as due to
technologies to be extensively developed for a better travel limitations; many foreign workers were unable to
future in terms of better economic performance in reach Malaysia or leave their home countries. There were
Malaysia. many construction firms and contractors had to deal with
the shortage of workers due to restrictions imposed on the
admission of foreign staffs. Therefore, construction firms
IMPACT OF COVID-19 OUTBREAK ON had to pay the higher price of wages and salaries due to
CIVIL ENGINEERING ACTIVITIES IN THE Covid-19 pandemic besides facing other issues with the
CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY introduction of the movement management order (Wahab
2020). Further, contractors had to deal with the
postponements of contracts or increased expenses and,
The coronavirus epidemic was proclaimed as an
besides other amendments that had to be made. In many
international public health emergency through the World
cases, plant and material shortages occur as a result of
Health Organization (WHO) by the end of January and
changes and delays in goods importations, site operations
announced as a pandemic on 11 March 2020 (Cucinotta &
and supply chain matters (Zamani et al. 2021). Therefore,
Vanelli 2020). In order to handle the epidemic, the
in order to handle the consequences of Covid-19 on the
restrictions of Movement Control Order (MCO) been
construction industry, employees need to adhere with the
implemented due to continuous and rapid growth in the
new standards enforced by the government of Malaysia.
cases of Covid-19. In general, the outbreak of Covid-19
and the MCO have triggered various and serious
interruptions to commercial contracts and also to civil NEW NORMS FOR CIVIL ENGINEERING
engineering sectors that involves infrastructure and PRACTICES IN THE MALAYSIAN
construction contracts, particularly on failures to comply CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY
with the regulations and requirements of a contract.
Typically, disruption to construction works that caused
by Covid-19 has badly impacted the recent upcoming From 4th May 2020 onwards, the construction industry
projects which have been cancelled during the MCO was resumed to its normal operations by adhering to the
period. Approximately 19,077 of the total number of Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) as outlined by
construction firms submitted to work under the MCO the Government. Industrial workers are responsible in
and those from the sector are recorded with an aggregate ensuring the compliance of all SOPs related to the MCO
of 17,000 firms have been impacted despite their role as to safeguard the welfare of workers and deter the Covid-
the construction industry's primary drivers (Ng 2020). 19 transmissions to building areas, construction sites and
According to the Ministry of International Trade and their nearby regions. Construction works can be stopped
Industry (MITI), there were 7,387 proposals denied and immediately and actions on the contractor can be taken if
also 1,856 proposals were permitted to work. Number of the contractor fails to comply with the required SOPs.
the projects that had been given permission to proceed Thus, SOPs must be strictly followed under this new
were advised to strictly follow the rules of project norm and it must become part of society's life. Best
implementation for instance, the G1 and G2 categories practices in Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) could
of small construction firms were among those prioritised aid in the prevention of Covid-19 from spreading to on-
firms to begin construction work, including those project site activities, particularly on construction workers, thus
proposals that were lower than RM200,000 and those reducing the level of labour productivity that could
not achieving to RM500,000 (Kalbana & Nor 2020). affect Malaysia's economic development. The SOPs that
Although if the Covid-19 comes to an end, construction all construction sites are required to comply must be
works and progress are expected to be interrupted clearly incorporated in its policies and operations and
because according to Chelsey (2020), construction (Jocelyn et al. 2020).
activities normally require a lot of time to be completed
due to their nature and complexities. Precautionary
measures of Covid-19 taken during the post-MCO are TESTING AND HEALTH SCREENING OF
likely to delay the progress of construction work and WORKERS
thus, projects required the Extension of Time (EOT)
(Esa et al. 2020). Besides, machinery such as bulldozers The temperature screening tool that is known as thermal
and lifts that were laid down for a certain duration had to scanners used by the Ministry of Health (MOH) are
be checked and examined by the authorities to ensure widely adopted to measure the body temperature of
their safety aspects (Biswas et al. 2021). employees. This protocol has been practiced throughout
Moreover, certain businesses in Malaysia were at Malaysia and the health screening is required for staff
risk as there was a strong reliance on the supply of with a body temperature greater than 38°C. For instance,
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Sunway construction also implemented body scanning The reduction of workers number is vital to allow social
temperature as a preparatory step for admission to distancing and to ensure safe movements among them.
construction sites (Sude 2020). Besides this, it is also According to Joseph and Rahimy (2020), the safe social
compulsory for all foreign and local employees to distance of at least 1 metre is a compulsory procedure
undergo Covid-19 health screening checks to ensure that that must be followed at all workplaces. Accordingly,
they are infection-free before they perform their tasks disinfection and decontamination exercises must be
and activities. In fact, supplying thermal scanners and carried out routinely, especially in common public
screenings for workers at construction sites are among spaces. Besides on-site activities in the construction
the standards and requirements that must be fulfilled by industry, organizations conduct virtual meetings due to
contractors and firms to commence with their work. travel restrictions and working from home orders during
There were 12,023 registered foreign workers in lockdown. Thus, it is important to ensure that virtual
Penang's construction industry and 9,654 of them have meetings are conducted effectively and comply with the
gone through the process of mandatory coronavirus company’s policy. Moreover, mass gatherings are
screening (Audrey 2020). In addition, 99 percent of prohibited and this require organizations and
overseas employees enrolled with the Penang Island City associations to hold meetings online (Iksal 2020). Even
Council in order to go through screening process, while if face-to-face meetings need to be conducted, for tracing
90.2 percent of overseas employees enrolled with the purposes, each worker is required to use the MySejahtera
Seberang Prai City Council (Jagdeep 2020). Thus, in the programme to ensure a systematic recording of their
construction industry, the screening of workers’ health is health condition (ThinkCity 2020).
very critical due to a high number of foreign to fulfil the Besides the aspects of health and safety at work,
demand of manpower needs for continuous infrastructure workers’ welfare is another priority in dealing with
development. construction activities. Training and briefing sessions are
held regularly to expose and train staffs on safer working
practises to ensure that they follow safety and protection
SOCIAL DISTANCING
laws. In the light of the Covid-19 pandemic, it is
important to conduct a safety briefing on a daily basis or
In order to ensure social distancing among workers in once per week in order to increase workers’ awareness
the implementation or operations of construction and focus on health and safety issues (Jeschke et al.
activities, workers are divided into to a few areas 2017). Construction projects need to continue with their
according to their scope of work at the construction site. activities and operations while maintaining health and
There was a case of 350 tested workers in Kuala safety standards and this could be challenging.
Lumpur and only 44 of them were tested positive with Therefore, construction sites have to get going as they
Covid-19 (Dawn 2020). The significant number of more contribute to the economic growth of the country but it is
than 10% infected workers from a particular vital to strictly follow the standard operating procedures
construction site, reflects that the practice of with more stringent monitoring and control system to
construction activities that limits social distancing, ensure the health and safety conditions of staff are able
besides poor hygiene practices. In order to reduce the to cope with the threat of Covid-19 pandemic. Thus, it is
chances of Covid-19 spreads, employers must educate important to practice social distancing at workplace or
staffs and construction workers on the requirement of construction sites, and in any dangerous or hazardous
hygienic standards, healthy and safer work procedures condition, personal Protective Equipment (PPE) like
and other preventative measures that must be taken to mask, shield, safety boots, and safety helmet can be
meet the Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) at used.
construction sites and living areas. The command and
orders by the authorities of various departments to
inspect the condition of foreign employees in Selangor
ADOPTION OF TECHNOLOGIES IN THE
CONSTRUCTION INDUSTRY
and Kuala Lumpur is a preventative step to ensure
workers’ well-beings are best-fit for their working
environment (Shah et al. 2020). As discussed earlier, the new norms of maintaining social
distance as practiced globally are essential to control the spread
As the site operations of construction works were
of Covid-19. At the beginning stage of Covid-19, the utilization
only approved during weekdays for about eight to nine
of technology been implemented with the focus on healthcare
hours of working time depending on the conditions of
systems, for instance, technology such as Makcik Kiah19
Covid-19, the manpower planning of construction
(MCK19) is the first Malaysian-made delivery robot for
activities is crucial. In addition, construction firms need
hospitals, designed to support healthcare frontline workers in
to ensure that workers’ mobility and logistics are
delivering healthcare to Covid-19 patients (Al-Ogaili et al.
properly arranged to enable safe movement among
2020). Looking into the construction industry, in general,
workers in performing their tasks, for instance the
Malaysia is still focusing on the manual way of
number of construction workers at sites is limited to a
manpower efforts rather than the application of
maximum of fifty percent as compared to normal days.
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technology in construction activities due to resources purpose of tracing and monitoring before entering
limitations. However, as things were getting chaos due to construction sites. On 4th June 2020, Perak was the first
Covid-19 pandemic, there is an urgent need to utilise and state to mandate the public to use the MySejahtera as
adopt construction technologies to handle and overcome the enforced by the local government authorities (Fadillah &
site issues related to Covid-19 pandemic. Construction Foo 2020).
technologies include current innovative tools that are
widely adopted throughout the world, especially in
developed countries. Therefore, it is vital to consider the BUILDING INFORMATION MODELING
utilization of construction technologies in Malaysia in (BIM)
facing Covid-19 pandemic. As a general, basic and
compulsory application or tool for health screening and Building Information Modeling (BIM) is an application
documentation, namely MySejahtera (Tay 2020), other developed in promoting inter-organizational and wide-
specific technologies related to Information and ranging coordination in the architectural, building sector
Communication (ICT) technologies are widely adopted in and engineering in order to increase the quality and
the construction industry. Although Covid-19 can be accuracy of building planning, renovation and repair
considered as a challenge to the industry, it opens up an operations. BIM is a modern construction management
opportunity for cutting-edge technologies to be adopted and process, which allows users to create object-based multi-
implemented as new norms in Malaysia including Building dimensional parametric models as a tool for construction
Information Modeling (BIM), drones, virtual reality (VR), project during their whole life cycle (Li et al. 2017). The
robotics, augmented reality (AR), and etc. These utilization of this technology as a solution in the building
technologies can contribute towards the improvement of sector resulted in improved job quality, improved work
workers productivity, besides ensuring the health, well- quality and competitiveness to control the overall budget
being and safety aspects of workers in the construction of a building project besides efficient planning and
industry as fewer human interactions are needed. These effective building maintenance (Doumbouya et al. 2017).
technologies are expected to stay and continue to evolve Related to BIM adoption in Malaysia, Construction
despite Covid-19 pandemic. Industry Development Board (CIDB) of Malaysia has
established a roadmap for the construction industry on
Industrial Revolution 4.0 (I.R. 4.0) which emphasizes on
TRACING APPS the adoption of BIM in the construction industry. With
the challenge of Covid-19 pandemic, BIM plays its
important role in the planning and communication of
Generally, in relation to Covid-19 pandemic, authorities building project as it integrates project members in the
have launched many smartphone applications to assist planning, design, modelling etc. from different places,
the community, authorities and the industry in ensuring thus limiting physical movements and contacts. BIM
all entities in the economy can continue their operations adoption is able to reduce the amount of time spent on
and activities despite the movement control order the preparation and development stages of building
(MCO) due to Covid-19 pandemic. Tracing application projects by 15-20 percent. The proposed planning and
is one of essential applications that is adopted to ensure modification of the project in terms of the design and
the compliance of standard operating procedures in construction work for instance, can be assessed by all
handling Covid-19 pandemic. Malaysia has launched project members and other relevant parties for faster
three smartphones’ applications namely GerakMalaysia, actions and more efficient decision-making process can
MySejahtera, and MyTrace, which are used by the be made (ARUP & thinkCITY 2020).
whole community in public areas and at work. The The utilization of BIM throughout a project lifecycle
MySejahtera application for instance, was launched in is optimised by various innovative technology-based
April 2020 by the Malaysian government as a pilot elements of IR 4.0, such as Cyber-Physical Systems
programme. It aims to track the Covid-19 transmission (CPS), Internet of Things (IoT), Internet of Services
through data collection from communities by self- (IoS), Artificial Intelligence (AI), Big Data, and Smart
physical evaluation using temperature recordings. This Production which involves various types of
application is used to ensure communities registered computerisation software. BIM expands the tool
themselves when entering a public place including functionality of information technology related
offices and construction sites. The Malaysian applications to be adopted at construction site by
government has agreed to make the use of this tracing controlling building design in terms of its structure,
application, MySejahtera as mandatory in all types of materials, manpower, and the overall performance of
buildings. Communities are required to scan the building projects. Thus, this kind of modelling can be
MySejahtera application to record their presence with linked to local authorities and council departments' that
personal particulars especially body temperature and require information on the project’s performance and
failure to do so, RM1,000 fine will be imposed progress (Diana 2020). Besides, it is encouraged to
(Alexander 2020). Construction employees are also develop the cloud platforms for BIM model management
required to use the MySejahtera application for the
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in order to create a monitoring and control framework involves various geographical locations and conditions,
for construction sites which can be performed on a the adoption of drones can ease pre-construction tasks
virtual basis with the aim to reduce the risk of Covid-19 and efficiently monitor and control work progress. In this
infection by reducing human interactions. Data and case, surveying works can be performed with minimum
information are communicated based on a real time involvement of staffs, thus limiting inter-personal
approach to the cloud network of an infrastructure interactions in facing Covid-19 pandemic. Due to the
project. the infrastructure. Therefore, BIM can be hilly terrain of the survey region for instance, the use of
considered as an effective supporting mechanism for drones will be of value. Obstacles in this particular area
ensuring that project members and external parties must be marked to ensure the smooth and safe operation
deliver a construction project efficiently and effectively of the drones. Surveyors, for instance, use aerial
while fulfilling the requirements of a construction site's surveying technology using drones to assess stockpiles
Safety Protocol and workers' health (Pavón et al. 2020). with a dense point cloud using photogrammetry
processes, which is faster and simpler. Thus, by using
drones, stockpile inventory tasks become more effective,
DRONES with the improvements of financial forecasts
manufacturing and supply chain management. Indeed, the
adoption of drone technology contributes to time saving
In Malaysia, the Department of Occupational Safety and
and manpower reduction in surveying tasks, but at the
Health (DOSH) has urged the construction industry to
same time it ensures the precision of survey works. In
use drones and remote sensing devices to monitor
comparison to conventional techniques, with the adoption
construction sites (Bernama 2021). The adoption of
of drone, surveying tasks will weigh up to 100 hectares in
drones involves technologies like are UAS (Unmanned
12 hours, allowing for significant time savings and by
Aircraft Systems) and UAV (Unmanned Aerial
using drone technology, the mining industry can improve
Vehicles), to perform various tasks on and above the
the precision of whole stockpile component
work site such as monitoring and surveying.
measurements and simulate the plant area in a 3D model
Technological advances and innovations have made
(Faine et al. 2015).
drones become a cost-effective tool for construction
sites. Construction projects of huge size and industrial
scale around the world adopted drones for real-time site VIRTUAL REALITY (VR) AND
surveillance to ensure secure physical distances. Drones AUGMENTED REALITY (AR)
perform various tasks and construction activities related
to inspection tasks, such as site appraisal, grading,
earthworks, ground-breaking, security compliance, The Covid-19 pandemic has triggered construction
documentation of asset inventory, progress monitoring, companies and projects to reconsider their priorities in
safety, and identification of drone-conducted or aided facing the economic challenges and uncertainties,
hazards while maintaining a secure social distance for since the slow take up of the construction industry to
those who are involved in the project implementation embrace emerging technologies. Therefore, new
(Elghaish et al. 2020). Even if, in the absence of site opportunities for a variety of innovations, including
engineers or site supervisors, the utilization of drones augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR),
can be used to track and improve the on-site construction which are expected to have an increasing impact in
work to make sure a good building progress as required the coming years to remain competitive in the
by the project’s specifications. For instance, drones can construction industry. It is imperative that the
be used for site mapping based on a faster and more adoption of augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality
efficient workflows with less effort of human resources (VR) technologies are recommended to be used in the
needed. Various secondary data products, such as construction industry especially in handling Covid-19
shapefiles, contour lines, and tracer products can be pandemic. As compared to the other developed
obtained via drones, and then generated and interpreted countries like the United States, United Kingdom,
by the Geographic Information System (GIS). The Japan, etc. Malaysia is still at its infant stage when
adoption of these technologies can assist construction adopting more advances or innovative technologies
firms and projects to improve their turnaround reporting such as these technologies and thus calls for the
by 25 percent and cut back on-site waste by 18.4 percent Malaysian construction industry to embark upon and
(Tkáč & Mésároš 2019). invest in these technologies, as they can be considered
According to Desa et al. (2019), resource tracking valuable tools for a higher and better project
in the mining and aggregate industries has been performance. Generally, augmented reality (AR) and
revolutionized by aerial data from drones. Drone aerial virtual reality (VR) can be of value in a project
data is used in image processing, cloud computing, and implementation as AR for instance, super-imposes
machine learning technology to ensure that inventory computer-generated images and facts on real-world
management become more effective in terms of its images, while VR generates an entirely virtual
storage and retrieval. In the construction industry, as it landscape. As a building project normally takes
482
months and years to be completed due to its instance, pouring concrete slab in an incorrect and
complexities, the adoption of AR and VR can assist inaccurate position is one of the most common error
in the project implementation more efficient and where the ground for the base can be destroyed, which
effective. Thus, AR and VR make it physically inevitably requires subsequent works to replace or
possible for engineers to verify any details, during rework the misaligned base. If a technology such as
the design stage in particular and also throughout the AR and VR can be adopted, work procedures can be
project life-cycle. In a building project for instance, planned accordingly and real work implementation can
AR and VR technologies inspect every corner of the be performed accurately. In addition, the adoption of
construction site, before laying the foundation, virtual reality technology allows for a more convenient
combining visual and physical views to help and safer working environment with less site visits and
construction teams drive greater quality and precision physical human interaction. In managing Covid-19
in their projects’ implementation (Ahmed et al. 2017). pandemic, workers, technical, and non-technical
Besides, virtual reality technology could experience in projects implementation are of value, but
enhance the experience of workforce in a building knowledge and skills in adopting these technologies
project with various simulation tools before a should be developed and supported with hands-on
building is completed, thus allows for changes and, training before performing simulations based on the
improvements. In addition to the convenient use of real site scenarios. Training on various construction
VR and AR in building projects, labour costs can activities can also be conducted using real-time
also be minimised. In contrast to the actual needs and simulation techniques and methods using AR and VR
involvement of many workers in the construction tools, before staffs can perform and deliver their tasks
industry to perform construction activities manually, and responsibilities on-site after related training take
the adoption of VR and AR enables work to be place once workers have achieved a certain level of
carried out off-site, from the workplace, thus competencies. In relation to its usage in the training
reducing the risk of Covid-19. AR and VR also assist programs of construction firms or projects, VR serves
in the management of construction sites in terms of as an important platform for the knowledge of health
tracking and the assessments of the overall site and safety aspects in a building (Woksepp 2007).
surroundings and environment. This includes as On the other hand, AR is designed to enable on-
assessment on the types and number of tasks that site staffs to automate any measurements related to
need to be performed in specific areas on a virtual the stage of projects’ development. It has the potential
basis first, rather than straight away assigning staffs to change the way humans collaborate with
on site to excavate the construction areas. In the autonomous computers in a more interactive way. As
planning phase of a project life cycle, it is essential for instance, the magic hat, known as the DAQRI
to make sure the project plan is developed to meet Smart Helmet developed by headquartered in Los
the needs and wants of the clients. In this case, both Angeles is a wearable augmented-reality platform
developers and architecture firms for instance, could being built for use in the industrial fabrication sector,
completely view and simulate realistic models by particularly in the structure and site sector (Asgari and
facilitating the use of virtual reality technologies in Rahimian, 2017). It enables architects, developers,
conjunction with BIM. Construction firms may create and designers to wear their BIM models on their
comprehensive, interactive models of construction heads and view them as a full-scale 3D world on the
projects in conjunction with 3D modelling software construction site. The new version of DAQRI
and BIM to visualize and show the outset and holistic developed to revolutionize building construction, but
view of a building project to a client. Based on this, it still depends on importing a static graphical model
clients are able to visualize, capture and comprehend of a building and superimposing it on the actual
the project’s rationality, results or outcomes and condition of a project. It could identify components
make any desired improvements or corrections before concealed from different views and automatically
a construction starts (Wang 2007). reflect them to users that push virtual reality to the
For instance, the virtual reality application called brink of X-ray vision, and the construction industry
Scaffold VR created by the United States, Avontus into a world of material omniscience in real time
Software, has a special feature of a visual walk- (Zach 2017). The use of augmented reality (AR) is
through of prototypes created using the company's expected to expand rapidly, particularly because the
Scaffold Designer software. The software also allows access costs are lower than those of virtual reality
the user to view and share building designs in a (VR). Workers will be given AR units that will enable
simulated 3D world. It allows team members to view them to automatically calculate the building
the sketches from either venue, reducing mistakes and components and compare them to the model's
expensive reworks (Brian 2021). While traditional 3D specifications.
models replaced the blueprints and rough mock-ups, Meanwhile, augmented reality is used to
virtual reality has a lot more to offer to project determine a space's physical features, including its
members and stakeholders as various tasks can be height, distance, and depth. Construction
performed real-time on a remote and virtual basis. For organisations transformed data into models, helping
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these models to generate prototypes that are more A team of robotics experts from the Faculty of
accurate and offer a more holistic view of the project. In Engineering, Universiti Putra Malaysia developed five
addition, AR provides specified working hours and robots to disinfect and avoid the transmission of Covid-
materials that are required in a project in a more 19 as the use of this robot may be helpful to the
effective manner as it allows more precise measurements hospital's Emergency Response Team (Zulita 2020).
through the utilization of augmented reality. It has exact Although this robotic project is specifically developed
construction metrics that determine the duration of a for the healthcare industry, it can also be adopted and be
project including productivity measurements and the used at construction sites and buildings. This opens up
precise labour requirements and materials available an opportunity that Malaysia has developed robots for
(Meža et al. 2015). In addition to the planning phase, health facilities which have the potential to be applied in
augmented reality has been built to allow field workers the construction industry. For instance, in the United
during construction to automate measurements on-site. States, a collaboration between Boston Dynamics and
Workers will be able to determine and compare an Trimble has developed the use of Spot, a dog-robot
automatic measurement of the built components with the which performs activities such as site surveying,
measurements specified in the building models by scanning, and progress reports. Spot was tested in pilot
wearing an AR unit. Staff were encouraged to detect and projects on building sites with difficult conditions, such
rapidly change any inconsistencies in the systems to as solar farms (Bouffanais & Lim 2020).
reduce the increase in costs and delays of a particular Besides, the advantages of using robots in the
project (Zhou et al. 2017). construction industry, the huge costs of initial
investment for robotic adoption must be highly
considered. In the long run, the adoption of robot
ROBOTICS appears to be more efficient, effective, reliable and less
costly as opposed to manual labour, but the adoption
Robotic is one of the primary focused technologies in should be outweighed with the benefits and advantages
the development of more productive, efficient, and of construction performance. Although there is a
effective operations in the construction sector. Robotics possibility of manpower reduction with the adoption of
have the potential to overcome the shortcomings of robotics, it can overcome the issue of skilled manpower
building components production, for instance but the supply while generating precision in craftmanship,
adoption rate is very low. Recently, due to Covid-19 higher outputs and competitiveness that bring additional
pandemic, the adoption rate of robotics technology is dimensions of values to construction projects. Moreover,
higher as robotics offer an automation system with with the introduction of cobots or collaborative robots
various advantages from their innovative features. Big which developed and produced to function with human
scale and huge size building projects for instance, are equivalents. Cobots help to improve and raise
more advanced in robotics adoption by using the power productivity by committing tasks that are perceived as
of robotics to perform repetitive and tedious tasks by repetitive, tedious and boring by workers. Cobots can
the massive use of automated bulldozers, excavators, also decrease running costs substantially by reducing the
and other traditional on-site machinery. In this way, a amount of manpower required for a project (Delgado et
huge amount of manpower is not required as human- al. 2019). Despite the need for repairs or other forms of
skills have been substituted by machineries and malfunction, robots are able to perform various tasks
automations. with less human interaction on a continuous basis to
With the existence of Covid-19 pandemic, it is handle the challenges of Covid-19 pandemic in a
important to ensure that the operations of construction progressive manner.
projects are continuous to meet the demands of the
construction industry. Therefore, in the adoption of
robotic technologies, investments in this technology are CONCLUSION
viable, despite its high costs and price as robotics assist
This article explores the impacts of Covid-19 pandemic
in the productivity and performance of construction
on civil engineering activities in the Malaysian
activities in terms of cost savings, time reduction and
construction industry. From the reviews, it is discovered
work quality. In addition, the adoption of self-operating
that some of the issues related to Covid-19 pandemic are
machines supports the lack of labour supply due to
time delay, shortage of supplies, lack of manpower,
restricted travelling and movement of foreign workers
postponements of contracts and financial impacts.
during Covid-19 pandemic. Despite the lower supply of
Despite technological innovations and advancements, it
labour, construction sites are able to operate in a more
is still not a normal and common practice in the
effective manner based on a careful consideration on
Malaysian construction industry to adopt various
the cost and benefit of using robots in a particular
technologies in the construction industry due to various
project implementation (Lim 2020). The construction
barriers such as cost, price, culture and technology
sector in Malaysia is on its way to invest this
technology, and trends to sustain it in the future.
484

know-how itself. However, the adoption of construction Brian. 2021. SCAFFOLDING TECHNOLOGIES
technologies with real-world applications and advantages is 2020 How Leading Scaffolding Companies Are
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O., Bilal, M. & Owolabi, H. 2019. Robotics and
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by the Research Creativity and Management Office Building Engineering, 26, 100868.
(RCMO), (Account Number: 1001/PAWAM/8014036) Desa, H., Azizi bin Azizan, M., Khadir, M. S. A., Suhaimi, M.
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