OPINION MARK FARMER
MODERNISATION OR TRANSFORMATION TIME TO BE BOLD One year on from the publication of Modernise or Die, Mark Farmer explains how his findings of systemic failure are perhaps less disputed than the suggested path he proposes the industry should take to future-proof itself – fundamentally transforming our physical site-based production process and increasing the level of premanufacturing. that it first appears on – it is the subtlety in my thinking that perhaps some people are misinterpreting. I am 100% sure that the digitalisation of our industry will drive modernisation and transformational change. The fact that I don’t see ‘BIM’ as is currently practiced as the solution is down to how it is not making sufficient impact on our wider industry.
1 While the media, academia, industry protagonists and stakeholders all debate that point, my personal priority in the period ahead is to use my privileged position not only in my own business at Cast, but as a wider influencer, to turn my words into action. My recent decision to accept a co-chairmanship position at Constructing Excellence is linked to this aim and my desire to enable and operationalise a different way of thinking, amongst progressive people and organisations spread across the industry with no vested interests to protect. My decision to nail my colours to the premanufacturing mast was not accidental or taken lightly. I have seen enough though to know that pure promotion of collaborative working and behavioural improvement espoused by the likes of Latham and Egan is unlikely in itself, to
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change anything. The last 20 years of stagnation, if not now outright deterioration in industry processes, productivity and client outcomes is testament enough to that. Collaboration and integration is at the heart of what will modernise and improve our industry but it has to be hardwired to a new way of doing things. Too many people – rightly passionate about engendering positive change – have wasted time in this area applying new contracts or promoting new practices in an industry fundamentally fragmented and misaligned. You need to change the game not modify the rules. A specific area that I have drawn some criticism for is that I have not apparently wholeheartedly put my weight behind the BIM lobby. Bizarrely, some people have even gone to the extent of counting the references to BIM in my review or the page numbers
A recent study by Designing Building Wiki on the use and sharing of knowledge in our industry confirmed what I have been thinking for some time now. BIM evangelists are huddled together at the fringe of our industry, effectively talking to themselves. A cohort of very bright technologists and digital converted industry practitioners are speaking a different language to the bulk of clients, advisors and supply chain stakeholders which is continuing to marginalise them from the mainstream. McKinsey have recently reported that construction is one of the least digitalised industrial sectors in the world and this is reflected in on-going inability to improve productivity relative to other industries. No surprise then that out of the 50 smartest companies in 2017, ranked by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), not one of them is a construction company. The UK’s prognosis for a shrinking traditionally skilled construction workforce means that the
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