Construction Automation: Smarter Sites, Stronger Outcomes
At Conplant, we’re not just watching automation unfold; we’re helping shape how it delivers for civil contractors on the ground.
The construction industry is undergoing a quiet revolution. As labour shortages, compressed project timelines, and sustainability demands continue to pressure the sector, automation has emerged as more than just a buzzword; it’s fast becoming essential. From regional roadworks to large-scale infrastructure builds, automation is helping Australian contractors get ahead of the curve.
What is Automation in Construction?
Automation in construction refers to the use of machines, software, automation technologies, and smart systems, including AI-driven tools and robotics, to handle tasks traditionally done by people. This shift is part of a broader digital transformation in construction engineering, helping to streamline everything from planning and design to quality control and worker safety. It spans a wide spectrum, from digital design and data capture to autonomous equipment and off-site prefabrication. The goal? Improve accuracy, safety, efficiency, productivity, and speed while reducing waste and costs.
Whether it’s Building Information Modelling (BIM), autonomous construction equipment, or 3D-printed housing panels, automation brings data, precision, and repeatability into the construction process.
Automation in Action
Let’s take PT Blink in Brisbane. Using their proprietary Blink Backbone® system, the team constructed seven floors in just 11 days on The Fells Apartments project, cutting the total build timeline in half. Or Perth’s FBR, whose Hadrian X® robot lays bricks autonomously, recently completed its first outdoor test build.
Closer to home, Volkel Intelligent Compaction System is putting smart data in the hands of roller operators, helping ensure every pass counts, reducing rework, and improving uniformity and quality control on-site. These examples show how automated construction equipment and process automation are reducing delays, enhancing productivity in construction, and creating safer, more sustainable project outcomes.
Key Technologies Driving Automation
Robotics and Autonomous Equipment
- Layout robots from Nextera Robotics can mark floor plans with high precision, slashing time spent on site.
- Conplant offers remote-control trench rollers and intelligent compaction systems that support safer workflows.
- FBR’s Hadrian X builds walls with speed and zero waste.
- AIM Intelligent Machines are developing autonomous earthmoving tech that’s next level. It’s not on Aussie sites just yet, but what they’re doing is seriously impressive and well worth a look if you’re into construction tech.
Smart Design and Data Tools
- BIM and digital design tools are transforming how projects are planned and delivered. For vertical builds, software like Autodesk Revit helps teams simulate structures, detect clashes and coordinate trades before breaking ground. For civil and infrastructure projects, Bentley’s OpenRoads Designer enables smarter planning of roads, drainage and earthworks helping teams reduce risk, rework and delays from day one.
- Machine learning and AI pair with BIM for generative design, procurement automation, and risk forecasting, transforming how teams analyse data and manage complex builds. Digital twins provide real-time insight into asset performance, as seen on the Western Sydney International Airport project.
Prefabrication and 3D Printing
- Off-site construction using automated systems improves quality and shortens timelines.
- Luyten 3D prints code-compliant housing in days, ideal for emergency or regional builds.
Why Automation Matters
Faster, Smarter Builds
Technology compresses timelines and cuts delays. Conplant’s Volkel system, for example, reduces over-compaction, saves fuel, and improves job quality, amongst other benefits.
Volkel Intelligent Compaction: Outcomes by Category
Here’s a breakdown of how Volkel IC delivers measurable value across key project priorities:
Category | Key Benefit | How IC Achieves This | Quantified Outcomes |
Productivity & Efficiency | Reduces Over and Under Compaction | Provides real-time, colour-coded feedback to the operator on pass counts and material stiffness. | Efficiency gains of 30% or more are typical due to improved visibility for the operator. |
Skill Development & Safety | Accelerates the development of new operators. | Provides visual, “gamified” guidance that allows novice operators to achieve uniform rolling patterns in a single shift. Minimises operator fatigue by reducing reliance on guesswork. | Empowers operators to take ownership of their work, leading to better outcomes. Delivers a more durable surface, which enhances road safety. |
Quality & Uniformity | Creates a uniform, consistent compaction outcome across the entire site. | Measures compaction uniformity and provides 100% coverage, overcoming issues with limited spot tests for QA. The system’s accelerometer identifies soft spots and anomalies that can go undetected with traditional methods. | Leads to fewer defects and longer-lasting pavements. Minimises rework by identifying issues immediately, while also providing detailed as-built data for quality control, issue resolution and ongoing operator training. |
Material Savings | Prevents over-compaction that leads to costly material wastage. | Provides visual guidance to operators, ensuring optimal number of passes and maintaining target layer thickness. Helps avoid lowering the base layer below design level. | Prevented an estimated $450,000 in material costs over a 9km dual carriageway. |
Sustainability | Lowers environmental footprint. | Reduces fuel use, material waste, and carbon emissions by avoiding over-rolling. | Leads to a smaller carbon footprint. The creation of |
Decision Making & Collaboration | Provides real-time visibility and data for supervisors. | Supervisors can view real-time data via a web app, with live sync across multiple rollers for full site visibility. At Salzburg Airport, 20 machines were in-sync using Völkel’s system, helping the team stay on top of what was done, where and when. Read more › | Enables immediate flagging and addressing of potential issues. Management can identify outlying patterns, like excessive speed, to prevent recurrence. |
Site Safety and Risk Reduction
Automation is helping reshape high-risk industries like construction and mining – not by taking jobs, but by making them safer and smarter. Remote-control and autonomous systems reduce the risk of injury, allowing operators to manage equipment from a safe distance or even from home. In mining, for example, remote-controlled machines have fallen into hidden voids without endangering the operator, who’s safely outside the cab. Beyond safety, this shift can ease mental strain and reduce the chaos of constant resource shortages – giving workers more stability, flexibility and peace of mind. Rather than replacing people, automation is helping them avoid repetitive, high-risk tasks and focus on work that’s more meaningful, sustainable, and better for their well-being.
Tackling Labour Gaps
Skilled labour shortages continue to challenge construction projects across Australia particularly in regional areas. Automation isn’t about replacing people. It’s about keeping worksites productive when labour simply isn’t available.
Rather than removing jobs, automation steps in to handle repetitive, physically demanding or dangerous tasks allowing people to take on safer, more technical roles that add greater value on site. In fact, we’re already seeing new opportunities emerge for equipment operators, site supervisors and tech-focused roles that didn’t exist a few years ago.
The future isn’t fewer workers. It’s smarter teams with the right mix of people and technology to get the job done safely and efficiently.
Environmental Performance
Less rework means fewer emissions. Smart systems use fuel more efficiently and reduce overordering. From smart rollers to drones used for terrain mapping, automation helps contractors limit waste and meet sustainability targets more effectively.
Supporting ESG Objectives
Environmental, Social, and Governance (ESG) criteria are increasingly shaping project delivery, particularly for tier 1 contractors and major infrastructure projects. Automation supports all three pillars of ESG:
- Environmental: Conplant’s Volkel Intelligent Compaction System enhances fuel efficiency and eliminates unnecessary passes, directly reducing carbon emissions.
- Social: By removing workers from higher-risk tasks and improving data visibility on safety-critical activities, automation contributes to safer, more inclusive work environments.
- Governance: Transparent digital reporting from smart equipment allows for more robust project oversight and regulatory compliance. Whether it’s tracking compaction data or emissions logs, automation adds accountability to construction workflows for both the construction process and future maintenance.
Overcoming the Barriers
Cost and Access
Yes, the tech is advanced, but it’s also becoming more affordable. Conplant makes automation accessible through flexible hire options, allowing contractors to trial smart gear without a big upfront investment. Conplant’s approach allows contractors to test and scale construction automation without needing to overhaul their entire operation.
Skills and Training
New tech means new skills. Initiatives from TAFE and universities are equipping the next generation of workers with the knowledge to thrive in digital construction.
As we’ve already covered, Intelligent Compaction doesn’t just improve outcomes on site it also helps fast-track operator training. By turning feedback into something visual and interactive, it builds confidence faster and helps new operators get up to speed with less time in the seat.
Regulations and Standards
ESG and sustainability compliance are driving changes across the industry. Bodies such as roads australia are actively reviewing and updating codes to accommodate emerging technologies such as off-site manufacturing, robotics, and low-emission equipment. This ensures that innovations like Conplant’s intelligent compaction systems, can be implemented safely and responsibly across projects of all sizes, particularly for major infrastructure and Tier 1 contractors with formal ESG reporting requirements.
Making Automation Practical
For civil contractors, the pathway to automation doesn’t have to be disruptive or expensive. The smartest strategies start small: trialling equipment, upskilling teams, and partnering with suppliers who understand the industry from the ground up. At Conplant, we provide flexible hire options, hands-on tech support, and safety-led solutions that make automation practical, accessible, and results-driven.
From intelligent compaction and remote-control rollers to fuel-efficient Tier 4 engines, we help contractors adopt technology that works in the real world on jobs happening today.
The Road Ahead
At Conplant, we believe automation is more than a trend; it’s a transformation. We work closely with contractors, engineers, and project leads across Australia to understand their real-world challenges and deliver practical, future-ready solutions. Whether it’s smarter compaction, safer workflows, or tools that meet evolving ESG benchmarks, our goal is to support civil contractors at every step of their digital journey.
What’s Next for Civil Construction?
Expect to see portable factories, AI-powered dashboards, and greater IoT integration shaping tomorrow’s job sites.
Conplant’s Role in the Shift
We’re not just watching the change happen we’re driving it. From our Volkel Intelligent Compaction System and remote-control rollers to Tier 4 engine technology, ROPS2 safety systems and Collision Warning Systems, we’re giving contractors the tools to build smarter, safer and more sustainably. Add in our innovative hire models, and you’ve got solutions that align with today’s ESG expectations without compromising on performance or safety.
Let’s Build the Future
Want to explore how automation can transform your next project? Reach out to the Conplant team and discover smarter, safer, more efficient solutions on-site and off.
Learn more about Conplant’s role in construction innovation by visiting our blog: Innovation in Construction: 2025 Trends.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
From digital design and off-site manufacturing to on-site robotics and real-time monitoring.
Automation of layout planning, prefabrication, material delivery, and environmental monitoring.
Full lifecycle integration with AI, autonomous machines, and IoT, enabling smarter, adaptive project delivery from design to asset management.
Planning, design, manufacturing, execution, quality control, safety, and post-construction monitoring.
By improving accuracy and reducing rework, automation lowers fuel use, limits material waste, and extends asset life, all while boosting on-site productivity. Conplant’s intelligent compaction systems are a great example, saving contractors time and fuel with smarter rolling.
AI plays a crucial role in analysing site data, forecasting risks, and optimising workflows. From machine learning algorithms that guide layout robots to digital twins for performance tracking, AI is central to the future of smarter construction.
Not at all. Automation supports workers by removing repetitive and high-risk tasks. It enhances worker safety, speeds up training, and helps crews achieve better outcomes, especially in times of labour shortages.
