Construction Disruption
Walking in to the office on my first day of work in construction twenty years ago, I found my tiny space to be already populated with some key items. There was a giant roll of plans, indicating that I should get to work on doing something with them. There was computer, of course, and also a telephone. I also received a scale ruler and a big calculator.
I started my current job about two years ago, and to get me started I received a computer, of course, and a telephone. I also received a big calculator. An email pointed me to where to find the now digital giant roll of plans for my first project. I brought my own scale ruler.
Things don’t change very fast in property and construction. Maybe that’s part of the reason I am always searching for stories about disruption in this industry.
Recently there have been a few articles about technology in property and construction floating around that I found interesting, and maybe you will too.
- The first article is a wide ranging one on five ways the construction industry could transform itself over the next few years.
“Traditionally, the sector has tended to focus on making incremental improvements. But this will no longer do. Projects are ever larger and more complex. The growing demand for environmentally sensitive construction means traditional practices must change. And the shortage of skilled labour and supervisory staff will only get worse. These are deep issues that require new ways of thinking and working.”
2. A story about one company disrupting in property, or looked at another way, the techiest of tech companies turning back the clock for solutions to an affordable housing problem.
“The solution for many highly modern and futuristic industries may be to go back to the future — and start providing housing.”
3. A bit closer to home, a fluffy piece from The Deal in the Australian called Shaking the Foundations. See if you can relate to Brett Mason’s comment as much as I did.
“I was inspired by a McKinsey study that showed construction was the second-least digitised sector of the economy after agriculture and hunting. We’re so far behind it’s ridiculous; we’re still blokes pouring concrete and blokes digging holes,” says Brett Mason, managing director of Built, a self-described disruptor of building. ‘The way we build onsite is beginning to change. There’s some pre-fab, drones doing surveys and robots laying bricks so we’re on the cusp of it, but we’ve got such a long way to go.’”
