What innovations will drive construction over the next 25 years?

Looking forward to 2050, construction sites and contract management will be unrecognisable with the use of robotics, modular construction, self-repairing materials, and billions, if not trillions, of data sets measuring and predicting site performance and contract outturns. Real-time changes and data interpretation will occur every millisecond. An industry constrained by overburdening regulation, such as planning, will find automation and standardisation a fundamental necessity to simplify processes and create efficiency.

The step from today to 2050 requires investment, innovation and a cultural shift to effect change. There is a need for better governance and risk management, operational through to board level, without creating extra burden. The industry needs new skills and must review its processes from bid through to delivery, creating collaboration, simplification, and shared risk and responsibility in the supply chain.

Our Building the Future insights look at different aspects of business transformation as the industry moves into new territories and reflects on what the future holds.