- Sustainability
- Planet
- Innovation
L&T’s focus areas for innovation are driven by the impetus to reduce material consumption, increase the use of non-virgin and eco-friendly materials, enhance resource (manpower, machine) productivity, reduce delivery timelines, strengthen climate resilience of structures, and improve product design/features.
L&T Construction Research and Testing Centre (LTCRTC)
L&T Construction Research and Testing Centre (LTCRTC) is a Department of Scientific and Industrial Research (DSIR) recognised and National Accreditation Board for Testing and Calibration Laboratories (NABL) accredited facility. It is the only such facility for the construction sector in India housed within a private company. It is authorised to conduct quality tests on all types of materials used in the construction sector as well as undertake research on new materials and mix compositions.
Water Technology Centre (WTC)
L&T’s Water Technology Centre, located at Kancheepuram, Tamil Nadu, is first-of-its-kind facility in private sector and developed to support Water & Effluent Treatment business. The WTC is committed to fundamental, methodological, and practice-based research with a focus on continuous research and development to innovate scalable solutions, to meet present and future water needs, and build safe, resilient, and sustainable ecological systems globally. The Centre offers highly specialised R&D facilities in the entire gamut of water including reuse, energy neutrality of treatment facilities, detection and removal of emerging contaminants, biofilm and biokinetics studies, membrane technology innovations, biosolids management and valorisation from organic waste.
Engineering, Design & Research Centre (EDRC)
Our Engineering Design and Research Centres (EDRC), located at Chennai, Faridabad, and Kolkata, are equipped with multi-disciplinary teams of engineers, sophisticated software and hardware offering value-added integrated engineering services for clients across projects with basic & detailed design and engineering support as part of the comprehensive EPC services as well as on a stand-alone basis. These centres have core expertise in areas of Civil, Structural & Architecture, Mechanical & Utilities, Controls & Information Systems and Process Engineering and offer comprehensive design and research services linked to these areas. Innovation efforts of these centres are focused on value engineering, use of sustainable materials, innovative designs and deployment of new technologies and solutions.
Other innovation efforts are driven by special teams housed within respective businesses e.g., Construction Methods and Planning Cell (CMPC), Formwork Method & Planning Cell (FMPC), Special Projects and Construction Methods (SPCM), Tunnelling Excellence Academy (TEA).
Textile Reinforced Concrete
Textile Reinforced Concrete (TRC) uses technical textiles in place of steel for reinforcement, which reduces the embodied carbon. It also facilitates the fabrication of thin structural elements with improved strength and durability. LTCRTC (L&T Construction Research & Testing Centre) has developed an optimised fine-grained concrete mix incorporating glass fibre textile as reinforcement and has made a prototype of a precast structure with TRC enclosure panels. TRC will be useful in applications where structural flexibility and corrosion resistance are required, such as sacrificial formwork for metro piers, wall or enclosure panels, and foldable portable structures.
Asphalt Mix with Steel Slag Aggregates
LTCRTC has undertaken studies to improve mix design of bituminous pavements using steel slag, and studies have shown that dense bituminous macadam with up to 50% coarse steel slag aggregates is more durable and less prone to fatigue, rutting, and moisture related damages. The use of steel slag aggregates can also reduce the cost of construction by 20-30%.
Recycled Aggregates
India is estimated to generate around 150 million tons of Construction and Demolition (C&D) waste annually, but only ~1% of it is recycled. There is a significant opportunity to enhance the use of C&D waste in construction. LTCRTC has carried out technical evaluation of recycled material for use in processes such as backfilling, mechanical modification, and partial replacement of Granular Subbase layer.
Digital Initiatives
Digitalisation remains a key thrust area for L&T to transform the way contracts for EPC Projects and Hi-Tech Manufacturing are delivered. This has helped to improve project delivery, reduce cost, and achieve a high level of quality and safety. A few examples:
Initiative | Description |
Dhruv | GPS-based app for simplified survey along with BOQ for the project |
Constructability Simulation | VR-based constructability simulation aids in better detailing and reviews by clients |
MatNxT | Enhanced application for material tracking/ common material solution |
Help Lighting | AR-Enabled Remote Assistance application, including video collaboration services that enable experts to work virtually side-by-side with site personnel |
VR Walkthrough & ePossession | Web-based property walkthrough and end-to-end possession-related transactions via customer app |
ConPro | Application for tracking the entire concrete supply chain, including integration of batching plants and transit mixers |
Wrench | Centralised platform with automated live S-Curves and progress dashboards; enables document management and communication control across all stakeholders |
eALPSNxt | Application for construction management of Civil, Structural and Piping disciplines. It manages engineering inputs, detailed planning, material allocation, quality inspection, and status monitoring |
PRONTO | A centralised digital system to support client invoicing and subcontractor billing activities, enabling resource optimisation & prompt delivery of services |
HSE-Mitr | Behavioural Safety tracking application for workforce to report safe/unsafe behaviour and unsafe conditions |
VR-Based Safety Induction/Training | VR-based immersive video for safety training during induction or refresher courses |
IoT Stations | Smart IoT stations for Heat Transfer Equipment (HTE) business units (PBU) in Feeder shops and Nuclear PBU shops |
iRUDRA | Solution to integrate various independent systems from design to estimation, procurement, fabrication, quality assurance, etc., enabling robust analytics and offering valuable insights |
Automation of NDT Methods | Special applications developed for time of flight, diffraction and phased array ultrasonic testing; reduce inspection cycle time for non-destructive testing methods by 50% |
Value Engineering
L&T’s Engineering teams are focusing their efforts on optimising the design specified in the contracts, experimenting with new types of design, incorporating sustainable materials and other related activities to make the designs more sustainable during the construction as well as operational phase. A few highlights:
Initiative | Description |
Toe-Pin for D-wall | An economical method of diaphragm wall construction in places with rock at shallow depths |
Large Diameter Piles | Increasing pile diameter to range 900-1800 mm, economical design for high lateral loads and gives better quality control and productivity |
Heat Reflective Coating on RC Walls | Cost and space effective solution to help reduce cooling requirements of buildings |
RC Wall with Aluminium Formwork | RC wall with high repeatability formwork instead of typical brick wall, reduced construction time as well as improved work quality |
Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) for Airflow and Ventilation Design | Computational Fluid Dynamics tools used to analyse and optimise design to reduce cooling requirements in buildings |
Modular Design of Mud Mat | The modular design used for Mudmat to enable fabrication at the yard instead of onsite fabrication reduced construction time by 20-30% |
SBR with TPAD Technology | Temperature-Phased Anaerobic Digestion technology was adopted for Sequential Batch Reactors in wastewater treatment plants, reducing dependency on external automation vendors |
PSC Slab for Underpass | A pre-stressed concrete slab was designed to eliminate in-situ construction of Light Vehicle Underpass single box structures, reducing construction time and material requirements |
Precast Pier Cap | Offsite fabrication of pier cap instead of in-situ casting; reduces construction time and minimises traffic disruptions |
Precast Design of Substation Buildings & Electrical Rooms | Unique precast design and construction of utility buildings for high volume (~50,000 sq.mtr.) work, enabled through an innovative precast structural system and advanced joints with no shear walls for lateral load resisting system; helped reduce construction time by 25% |