1st DIGITAL CONSTRUCTION SUMMIT

(DCS 2023)
BASELINE STUDY ON THE LEVEL OF DIGITAL TECHNOLOGY
ADOPTION IN ARCHITECTURAL AND INTERIOR DESIGN
CONSULTANCY PRACTICES

14 March 2023

Presented by:
Assoc. Prof. Ar. Meor Mohammad Fared Bin Meor Razali

Prepared by:
Dr. Muhammad Azzam Bin Ismail
Introduction

1. Assoc. Prof. Ar. Meor Mohammad

Fared Bin Meor Razali Lembaga completed an online survey from the 11
Construction Arkitek
2. Ar. Tay Wai Fun, Lillian Malaysia (LAM) February 2022 to 6 March 2022.
Industry
3. Ar. Jasmeet Pal Singh Sidhu Development
Board (CIDB) Architectural
4. Ar. Jafri Merican Bin Din Merican Consultancy • determine the level of digital
5. Ar. Ahmad Farik Abd Ghaffar Practices technology
(ACP)
• productivity data due to the
6. Ar. Husam bin Abdul Fatah Haron Construction
adoption of digital technologies in
Research Interior Design
7. Ar. Dexter Koh Yew Peng Institute of achieving the SDG 9: Industry,
Consultancy
Malaysia Innovation, and Infrastructure
8. IDr. Sharifah Suzana Bte Syed Practices
(CREAM) (IDCP)
Hassan
9. Dr. Muhammad Azzam bin Ismail
Survey to measure the productivity level due to digital technology adoption
10.Dr. Aiman bin Mohd Rashid amongst construction industry professional service providers
 Methodology
 Sampling calculator Raosoft to determine the number of respondents.
 Eventually 297 respondents (16.98% of 1,749) completed the online
survey at a 94.1% level of confidence and a 5% margin of error.
 LAM is confident that the results can be generalized to the whole of
architectural and interior design profession.

Various questions within 4 broad topics:

2. Digital
1. ACP/IDCP technology
demography adoption
challenges

3. Digital 4. Production
technology measurement and
adoption opinions
Demography- Type of ACP/ IDCP and Based on Regions

Categories from 297 respondents

1. Architectural Consultancy Practice (ACP)
2. Interior Design Consultancy Practice (IDCP) and
the breakdown of practices type is as per Table 1.

Type of Sole Partnership Body Multi- Grand

Practice Proprietor Corporate Disciplinary Total
Practice

ACP 198 12 67 1 278

IDCP 14 1 4 1 19
Figure 1: Type of ACP/ IDCP Based on Regions in Malaysia
Grand
212 13 71 2 297
Total  187 of the respondents (62.9%) are located in the
Table 1: Type of ACP/ IDCP
Central region (Selangor, Kuala Lumpur and
Putrajaya),
 Sabah and Labuan have the least number or
respondents, and none from Pahang.
Demography - Number of Staff According to Type of ACP/IDCP
No of Staff 1-5 6-10 11-20 20-50 50-100 101 & Grand
Above Total
Sole Prop. 147 40 18 6 1 212
Partnership 5 4 4 13
Body 11 16 25 13 1 4 71
Corporate
Multi- 1 1
Disciplinary
Practice
Grand Total 164 60 47 19 3 4 297

Table 2: Number of Staff According to Type of ACP/ IDCP

 71 Body Corporates (23.9% of respondents) responded, only 4 of them have more than 101 staff members.
 164 practices (55.2% of respondents) of ACP and IDCP responded have 1-5 staff members.
 A practice of up to 20 staff members is still considered small and thus collectively 271 ACP and IDCP
form the bulk of majority of respondents at 91.2%.
 LAM’s should focus conducting courses in promoting digital technologies adoption within the profession.
Demography - Age of ACP and IDCP & Main Clients Based on Project
Cost/ Fees  176 practices that responded (59.3%) are
practices of 1 to 15 years of age.
 121 practices are matured and have been in
operation between 16 years and above.
 Sample is heterogenous and future plans on
digital technology adoption and promotions
can be tailored towards an individual group
of practices based on their years of operation
alone.
Figure 2: Age of ACP/ IDCP
 Practice sizes and locations have less
influence over the survey population.
 In terms of project commissions:
 178 (75.8% are sole Proprietors)
declared that they received projects
from private companies.
 61 respondents received projects from
the federal government
 17 from state governments. There are
Table 3: Main Clients Based on Project Cost/ Fees few project commissions received from
non-government organizations,
individuals, and foreign governments.
 Demography - ACP and IDCP Opinions on Construction Revolution
4.0 (CR4.0) and Digital Technologies
The respondents’ knowledge on the Importance of digital technology (DT) Either digital technologies (DT) a value
CR4.0? to their practices?. creator or a cost factor to their
practices.
Opinions on Digital Technologies No. of
in Practices Responses
1. Value creator 166
2. Cost factor 123
3. Both value creator and cost 1
factor
4. Makes work faster, efficient & 6
flexible
5. A practical necessity 1
Grand Total 297
Figure 3: ACP/ IDCP Knowledge on CR4.0
Figure 4: Importance of Digital Technologies Table 4: Opinion on Digital Technologies in Practices
56.1% of ACPs and 47.4% of IDCPs in Practice Rating
do not know of CR4.0, perhaps due 55.9% (166) of respondents stated DT
to lack of awareness or lack of  agreed that DT is very add value to their practices.
interest in this subject. important to their practices with 41.4% (123) of ACP and IDCP considered
a mean of 4.24 (ACP) and 4.26 DT as a cost factor to their practices.
(IDCP) with a standard deviation Respondents state other opinions which are
practices rely heavily on a few digital grouped into 3 headings that include ‘both
technologies but do not recognize of 0.81 and 0.73 respectively
value creator and a cost factor, makes works
their usages as part of the CR4.0 faster, efficient & flexible: and a practical
concept. necessity’.
Digital Technology Adoption Challenges – Technical
 Consistencies between ACP and IDCP in technical  Technical challenges similarly affected both ACP and
challenges IDCP.
 majority stated ‘very challenging or ‘challenging’  Minority voted ‘not challenging’ or ‘not challenging at
all’.
Technical Very Challenging Manageable Not Not N Technical Very Challenging Manageable Not Not N
Challenges Challenging Challenging Challenging /A Challenges Challenging Challenging Challenging /A
at All at All
Lack of Lack of
38 102 121 12 2 3 3 6 8 2
equipment equipment
Insufficient Insufficient
37 106 112 18 3 2 1 10 7 1
knowledge knowledge
Lack of Lack of
35 118 113 10 2 1 9 7 1 1
personnel personnel
Lack on Lack on
14 60 129 46 20 9 3 2 8 4 2
interest interest
Steep DT Steep DT
learning 31 111 115 15 6 learning 3 8 6 1 1
curve curve
Digital tool Digital tool
gap between gap between
64 117 84 10 3 2 10 7
project project
stakeholders stakeholders

Consistent Consistent
need to need to
107 112 54 3 2 3 9 7
change & change &
upgrade upgrade
Maintenance Maintenance
68 123 78 6 3 4 9 5 1
issues issues

Table 5: Technical Challenges Faced by ACP in Digital Technologies Adoption Table 6: Technical Challenges Faced by IDCP in Digital Technologies Adoption
Top Three Technical Challenges According to Type of Practice

Figure 5: Top Three Technical Challenges According to Type of Practice

1. ‘Consistent need to upgrade and change
hardware’ is the most challenging technical
issue as 231 or 77.8% of all respondents
voted ‘very challenging or ‘challenging’.
2. ‘Maintenance issue’ is the next most
challenging technical issue at 204 or 68.7%
of all respondents
3. ‘Digital tool gap between stakeholders’
is the third most challenging technical issue
at 193 or 65.0% of all respondents.
Other technical challenges only affected less
than 54.9%, thus can be monitored but might
not need many interventions
Digital Technology Adoption Challenges - Financial
 Vast majority of respondents
voted all financial challenges
as either ‘very challenging’ or
‘challenging’.
 More than 80.0% voted ‘very
challenging’ or ‘challenging’ to
all listed financial challenges
ranging from ‘insufficient
funds for training’ at 238
respondents (80.1%) to
‘expensive software
package’ at 280 respondents
(94.3%).
 comprehensive financial plan
is needed to promote and
sustain the adoption of digital
technologies in order to
increase the productivity of
the architectural and interior
Table 7: Financial Challenges Faced by ACP/ IDCP in Digital Technologies Adoption design professions.
Digital Technology Adoption Challenges - Management
 9 management challenges that the
respondents were asked to rate.
 Both ACP and IDCP are able to deal with
management challenges effectively.
 The top 3 management challenges:
 ‘difficult to find staff with practical
experience and digital technology’ at
186 respondents (62.6%)
 ‘client sees no value in digital
innovation’ at 185 respondents (62.3%)
 ‘lack of mutual recognition among
project stakeholders on the need for
technology’ at 183 respondents
(61.6%).
 Fundamental issues that would derail any
initiative to adopt digital technology.
 marginally affecting the industry.
 Other management issues can be
periodically monitored but do not need any
interventions.
Table 8: Management Challenges Faced by
ACP/ IDCP in Digital Technologies Adoption
 Digital Technology Adoption - Motivation
 189 respondents chose ‘work
standardization’ to utilize digital
technologies.
 31 votes for the ACP is ‘production
consistency’.
 ‘productivity and efficiency’,
‘production speed’, and ‘production
accuracy’ were voted by ACP at 18, 17
and 16 respectively.
 the IDCP also voted ‘production speed’
as the other significant motivation as 4
votes out of 19 respondents.
 ‘Statutory and project requirements’
and ‘incentives’ were the least of ACP
and IDCP motivations to utilize digital
technologies.
Practices are very much interested and
emphasize on production speed, accuracy, Figure 6: ACP/ IDCP Motivation to Utilise or Plan to Use Digital Technologies
standardization and work efficiency in adopting
digital technologies.
Types of Digital Technologies

Non- Building Cloud

Social Digital
Parametric Information Computing
Media Collaborati
Geometric Modelling & Document
Marketing Modelling on Tools Management
(BIM)

Smart
Internet Immersive Digital
Digital Mobile
of Things Visualisation Project Applications
Assistants Technologies
(IOT) Management
(BOTS)

Artificial
Intelligence/ Cyber Web
Machine Security Applications
Learning
Digital Technology Adoption – ACP Use According to Project Stages
 ACP and IDCP used almost all
listed digital technologies at
Schematic Design Phase (SDP)
and Design Development Phase
(DDP).
 ACP and IDCP earn most of their
project fees within these two
stages
 When both SDP and DDP are
added together for the ACP,
digital project management
tools such as Monday.com, etc.
scored the least at 63.0% of
respondents
 non-parametric geometric
modelling such as AutoCAD,
SketchUp, etc. scored the
highest at 97.8%.
 For IDCP, artificial intelligence
or machine learning such as 3D
scanning and 3D printing scored
the least at 52.6% while again,
non-parametric geometric
modeling scored the highest at
94.7%.
Table 9: ACP Digital Technologies Usage According to Project Stages
Digital Technology Adoption – IDCP Use According to Project Stages
 Majority of practices
heavily use digital
technologies for drafting
and 3D modeling
 project management tools,
digital collaboration tools,
artificial intelligence,
immersive visualization
technologies, and the
internet of things (ie
drone) make significant
presence
 Digital collaborations tools
such as Webex, Zoom etc
have been voted
extensively by ACP and
IDCP probably due to
Covid-19 pandemic and the
subsequent movement
restriction orders.
Table 10: IDCP Digital Technologies Usage According to Project Stages
Digital Technology Adoption – ACP Digital Technology Use Duration
 Consistently between ACP
and IDCP, all listed digital
technologies are in use for
less than 3 years except for:
 non-parametric
geometric modeling
(23.4% for ACP, 5.3% for
IDCP),
 cyber security (45.09%
for ACP, 42.1% for IDCP
 social media marketing
(48.9% for ACP, 36.8% for
IDCP)
 Other digital technologies
have been in use for more
than 3 years at 50.0% of the
respondent and above.
 A good sign that practices
are embracing the
Construction Revolution 4.0

Table 11: ACP Digital Technologies Use Duration

 Digital Technology Adoption - IDCP Digital Technology Use Duration

 Comprehensive plans are

needed to further increase
the use of these digital
technologies and provide
continuous capacity-
building programs and
training.

 Favorable financial plans

are needed to ensure
that practices continue
to use these digital
technologies and not
revert to conventional
practices.

Table 12: IDCP Digital Technologies Use Duration

 Digital Technology Adoption - Economic Consideration
 42.1% (ACP) and 47.4%
(IDCP) of respondents has
no plans for R&D
expenditure allocation to
enhance digital technology.
 Practices are more
comfortable with using
available digital
technologies, rather than
developing their own
digital tools.
 43.2% (ACP) and 36.8%
(IDCP) have economically
invested in digital
technologies, consistent
with the earlier findings of
heavy digital technology
use at the front end of the
work stages.
Table 13: Economic Consideration in Digital Technologies Adoption
 Digital Technology Adoption - Technological Consideration
 Both ACP and IDCPs have
successfully integrated digital
technology into practice
 only 36.0% of ACP and 42.1% of
IDCPs had no plans for digital
technology integration into their
practice or projects.
 Between 61.9% and 72.0% of ACPs
have no plans or are about to plan
on all other technological
considerations.
 ACP & IDCP are more comfortable
in using available digital
technologies rather than
conducting other tasks to fully
integrate digital technology use.
 Similarly, between 57.9% and 84.2%
of IDCPs have no plans or are about
to plan on all other technological
considerations. Table 13: Technological Consideration in Digital Technologies Adoption
Productivity Measurement and Opinions - Observed Time Savings

 LAM decided to measure time

savings (proof of productivity)
instead of monetary gains due to
digitalization to measure the
practices’ production level.
 Some practices even recorded more
than 51% of time savings in all
project stages from Schematic
Design Phase (SDP) to Final
Completion Phase (FCP).
 Between 11.2% (FCP) to 18.5% (SDP)
of ACPs observed more than 51% of
time savings in their project stages
due to digitalization.
 26.3% (CIMP) to 36.8% (SDP) of IDCPs
stated the same.

Table 14: Time Savings Observed by Practices Due to Digitalisation

 Productivity Measurement and Opinions - Challenges to Increase
Productivity Using Digital Technologies

Figure 7: Challenges to Increase Productivity Using Digital Technologies

 203/297 respondents shared opinions on various challenges to  12 respondents highlighted technical and
increase their productivity using digital technologies. communication issues in increasing their productivity.
 126 highlighted economic and financial challenges which are  8 respondents highlighted work satisfaction
grouped into : challenges which are grouped into :
 sluggish domestic economic  less soul and human in designing
 lack or projects  unreasonable Client expectation on task
 lack of subsidy/ government incentives. durations.
Productivity Measurement and Opinions - Other Novel Digital
Technologies in Use
 Other digital technologies used range from
online design tools to online financial tools
 available to any practice at reasonable costs.
 Practices created their own apps or documents
management/ archival systems.

Figure 8: Other Novel Digital Technologies

Conclusion and Recommendations

1. Various initiatives to boost the adoption of digital technologies

in Malaysia.

2. Economic and financial packages and incentives are needed.

3. Capacity-building programs to expand practices’ knowledge and

adopt digital technologies effectively throughout all project
stages.

4. Collaboration between construction industry and information

technology (IT) industry players .

5. Construction industry bodies, organizations, and authorities

should work closely.
Thank You