Construction’s tech investment rises in turbulent times

The rapidly changing economic climate has led three-quarters of UK and Irish construction decision-makers to increase investment in their business’ digital transformation over the past three to six months, according to a recent study.

The study, headed by construction company Procore, questioned over 200 UK and Irish construction leaders in order to examine how digitally mature the industry is, and the challenges and opportunities firms are facing.

The findings also showed that 12% of the respondents consider themselves to be a digital-first business, and over 40% say they are well on their way to digital transformation.

The remaining businesses state that they are ‘just starting out’ on their digital journey.

Digitalising pre-construction is a popular need for construction businesses, as most want to introduce technologies such as construction management platforms to improve productivity and profitability.

“In an environment where the pressures firms face come from the bottom line rather than the top, the scene is set for technology to play a greater role in driving the industry forward,” commented Brandon Oliveri-O’Connor, vice president of EMEA at Procore.

“This is backed up by almost half (44%) saying they plan to introduce construction management platforms into their business in the next 12 months,” he added.

Construction management platforms, prefabrication (design for manufacture and assembly), and extended reality, including augmented reality, virtual reality, and mixed reality, were the top three technologies construction firms are looking at implementing in the near future.

Adding to the report, Procore also found that construction firms are taking sustainability more seriously this year.

The results found that the majority of firms (86%) said that decarbonisation is an important challenge in the next three years, and over a third are already actively tracking carbon emissions on projects.

Therefore, the need to implement carbon tracking technologies is another reason for firms to up their digitalisation.

“Accelerating digital transformation and unlocking value of data to improve decision-making, visibility, security, client experience, as well as sustainability, will not only improve the industry’s efficiency and bottom line today but increase its ability to navigate unforeseen challenges and expectations tomorrow,” Oliveri-O’Connor concluded.