Five Minutes Five Things

five minutes : five things

Does the Construction Industry need to transform?

Yes:

• One: The world is changing faster than ever before

Consider just one of the global megatrends shaking up the construction industry: the population of the world’s urban areas is increasing by 200,000 people per day, all of whom need affordable housing as well as social, transportation and utility infrastructure.

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Two: The construction industry lags behind all other leading manufacturing by at least 21% in productivity terms. The industry has stood still.

Our built environments are still by and large produced with methods in use for 50 years. As an industry Construction and Engineering has been too slow to innovate, has weak training and it’s image is poor As a result there is huge skill shortage of the kind of right brains in the industry.

The WEF advises 1% increase in construction and engineering output would create 10 billion dollars of additional capital for investment into our global and national economies each year.

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Three: There is a trillion dollar annual market shortfall in the supply of built infrastructure.

This lack of infrastructure holds back our global economies, societies and communities.

The construction industry has a moral imperative to change in order to meet this shortfall and deliver social and economical change. Major projects have a massive role to play in this. Yet our world population is growing (ageing and new-born) rapidly creating pressure on global financial resource.

• Four: Sustainability: Our world’s natural resources are running out and our global economies cannot afford to waste them.

Construction and engineering is the biggest single user of global steel output. The UK construction sector currently uses 460 million tonnes of material per year. 120 million tonnes are this is waste.

To this amount we must also add, lost and embodied energy. Our built assets also require greater resilience against climate change A more efficient, smarter, radically-improved highly productive industry must emerge to do more with less and for longer.

If change is needed, what is Government's role in this change?

• Five: Policy, People, & Process: As both a regulator and a major client the govt. needs to take action: Its role in construction industry change will be to:

• Create the right kind Policy: Transformational policy should reach out to and connect with the right people and vice versa. Regulation must also adapt to support industry transformation and productivity gains.

• Creating Connection with People: Govt. must ensure that transformative change is formed in participation with the key National and International actors. Our statutory authorities, our Institution’s and the Construction Industry Itself must all contribute. We should not exclude participation from communities.

• Shape process to allow data and information to be shared openly. Govt. must ensure, policies, programmes, institutions and partnerships align goals accordingly to support this and create change.

Procurement methods and processes must also evolve.

Good Government is and must continue to be, the crucible and conduit through which these processes are created and shaped.

Finally: In respect of the construction industries ability to change: I’d like to end on a positive note and agree with the World Economic Forum view that the industry does have the potential to transform within its grasp. BIM, digital prototyping, modular and off site construction, and increases in sustainability are happening already.

UK vision sets out by 2025 that initial construction costs should reduce by 33% and greenhouse gas by 50%.

We are already in the game.

Thank you.

This ends my short presentation. I have also prepared a series of evolved notes to act as resource to support any further discussion.

Both this presentation and further notes  have been published on www. Issuu.com at 10am this morning and are available for your future reference and comment. www.Issuu.com michaelcant1203 Five minutes five things.

Michael Cant FRSA