The PTEC report (Spanish Construction Technology Platform) ‘The impact of AI on the construction sector’, published in 2024 with the collaboration of Tekniker, refers to thirty cases of application of artificial linteligence in the infrastructure sector, from the beginning of the projects to the maintenance of what is built. A more and better stage prepared for the challenges that works of all kinds, anywhere in the world, either in the optimization in the mixture of materials or in the so -called ‘predictive maintenance’.
Although technologies such as the ‘Machine Learning’ were already present in this activity of the economy, the infrastructure sector has been incorporated somewhat later to this application, as Enrique Serrano, president of the Artificial Intelligence Commission and Big Data of Ametic: added value, advances in efficiency, safety and sustainability ». With ‘Crown jewels’ as Serrano adds as “the development of ‘digital twins’, representation of reality in a digital environment, and of the entire deployment of sensory, to work in a more intelligent and resilient environment.”
As Carlos Martínez, Manager of PTEC, emphasizes: “The correct use of AI can improve productivity in more than 50% in certain business processes, as in the same origin of the projects, in the design phase, since it allows a greater customization of the spaces, ensuring that each building is better adapt to the needs of its users and the environment.” Martínez also highlights the relevance of the ‘digital twins’ and the Internet of things, as well as “better preventive maintenance management, optimizing energy efficiency and reducing construction risks. The early detection of failures through AI contributes to the safety of buildings, prolonging their useful life and minimizing repair costs ».
Advances on flat
Martínez points out how the PTEC report summarizes the present of the future of AI in the sector … in times when technology progresses exponentially. Therefore, data analysis will allow materials to resist better and better factors such as stress, temperature and humidity (as in the case of asphalt, to have greater durability, study new components that improve their final result, etc.). Or automated inspection, with the use of advanced systems, such as cameras and computer vision algorithms, to inspect materials and structures automatically.
«The AI is transforming civil engineering (José Miguel Atienza Riera, director of the School of Caminos, Canales and Ports of the Polytechnic University of Madrid). Thanks to advanced AI models, neuronal networks and algorithms of Machine Learning, complex problems can be solved with unprecedented precision and speed ».
In this context, the director comments on the recent creation of his institution, in collaboration with the École des Ponts of Paris and the Civil Engineering schools of Budapest and Istanbul, of “a center of excellence on digital twins for infrastructure and cities. This center offers avant -garde training in digital twins and the use of AI for infrastructure management, also promoting entrepreneurship and technological transfer ». An initiative that has already applied solutions to marine wind turbines, electrical energy transport networks, urban dams and exchangers.
Digital twins and the Internet of things are other technologies with great weight in the industry
Martínez adds ‘use cases’ such as «in the field of prey security, where we are developed commercial technology such as the spinoff acis2in and its smartdam tool, which uses predictive models based on AI, more precise than those used conventionally, which allows detecting and alerting potential problems more in advance, improving the safety of prey and the economy of corrective action». Another example of school ‘spinoff’ is Detektia, which integrates the latest satellite radar technologies with advanced AI algorithms to generate early alerts throughout the useful life of infrastructure such as ports, tunnels or linear works. ‘Work in progress’ to which performances are added “like that of our researcher Nerea Portillo, with the application of AI models to improve the prediction and management of the impact of climate change in the coastal infrastructure of the Spanish Mediterranean.”
On the ground
Specialized companies such as Action already have already used AI processes in tasks such as predictive maintenance, and are in full transition from the ‘classic’ model to the generative to make their processes more efficient. «We are testing the generative AI in many fields (they point from the company), and one in which it seems particularly useful is in the processing of large amounts of documents. Thus, we can ‘dialogue’ with Words or PDFs, obtaining information much faster. That is very practical, for example, to prepare offers in tenders, document management, location of references, contractual issues, quality controls … etc. ».
ACCIONA uses the Aquery tool, a chatbot that helps employees to find answers combining different RAG advanced technologies (Retrieval-Augmented Generation). «Another example (add) is the use in image processing or information from other sensors, for example, in the Road Monitoring project, the information captured by the recording vehicle is processed using IAS. Through recorded images and the analysis of vehicle vibrations, we can alert cracks, potholes and other firm problems, and also serves to make signal inventory or detect those with low visibility, dirty etc. This was done manually, so it was less accurate and more complex and expensive ». A development that is currently being tested on the A2 highway, whose maintenance is responsible.
In the case of FCC, the AI is already considered “an adoption with an integral and strategic approach, a ‘driver’ of the need for business.” Parameters subject to the fulfillment of the Government and Ethics model in Artificial Intelligence (AI) of the FCC Group and the FCC Digitalization Standard Construction, to monitor the day to day of the R&D projects in consortiums with technological companies (startups in many cases) and research centers, in processes that cover the tender for commercial solutions. «The use of AI (comment from FCC) is done at different levels, from the most basic support to personnel in their day to day (office, chatbots, attendees, etc.) to developments that, for themselves or in combination with other technologies (drones, bim, gis, etc.) need an investment and customization to achieve a certain objective. In these cases, replicability is always sought in future projects that allow us to continue improving the productivity of our projects ».
From Ohla, on the other hand, they coincide in this global, transversal application, in all processes … at such a speed that requires being alert “in the face of important legal, ethical, reputational and other risks that it is necessary to minimize. And all this in a disruptive context that advances at an unusual speed in our sector ». Therefore, the company has since 2024 with an AI policy signed at the highest level by its CEO and an AI committee, which directly reports to the group’s management committee and meets monthly periodicity to guide the progress in this area.
Teamwork
In this tour, Ohla began creating an incubator with the participation of employees of various profiles and geographies, who received training and accompaniment of the technology and innovation teams to identify cases for the use of potential interest to the company, analyze them, prioritize them, carry out tests of concept, develop and implement them, while learning on the road. «In parallel to the development and implementation of the first cases of their own use (they add), a point of maturity has been reached that has allowed to launch, at the beginning of 2025, the Artificial Intelligence Program in OHLA, Open to all group employees globally ».
A path in which artificial intelligence makes its way on fronts such as “tenders, contractual management, business data analysis, subcontractor management, billing, artificial vision in works, or data analysis in 3D models, among others.” Essential parts of a fundamental activity of the economy, in which Spanish companies stand out for their international leadership, in a scenario in which you have to be up to not to be left behind the stubborn speed of technological development.
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