Shaping the Future of Construction: A Breakthrough in Mindset and Technology

Thirty measures are presented in the report, Shaping the Future of Construction: A Breakthrough in Mindset and Technology as part of a construction “industry transformation framework”. The report describes and promotes the effort needed by all stakeholders for the industry to fully realize its potential for change.

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Scope

This report is the first publication of a multi-year project for guiding and supporting the Engineering & Construction (E&C) industry during its current transformation. The report describes the industry’s present state, assesses relevant global trends and their impact on the industry, and devises an industry-transformation framework with key areas for development and action. It also features many best practices and case studies of innovative approaches or solutions, and offers a view – at different levels, such as at the company-, industry- and sector-level – of how the future of construction might look. The project’s subsequent phases and reports will deal with specific topics or will explore the subject in depth by geographical region. The project as a whole, and this report specifically, builds on the findings of an earlier World Economic Forum project – the four-year Strategic Infrastructure Initiative. That initiative identified and described the key government measures needed to close the infrastructure gap, by such means as improving the prioritization of projects, enhancing public-private partnership (PPP) models, improving the operations and maintenance (O&M) of existing assets, and better mitigating risks.1 During that research, it became evident that important contributions can also be made from the supply side – the E&C industry – in the form of improvements to and innovations in project delivery.

Audience

This report is aimed at all firms active along the construction value chain, including suppliers of building materials, chemicals and construction equipment; contractors; and engineering, architecture and planning firms, as well as project owners and developers. Governments are another target audience, as they not only have an impact on the industry via regulation but also act as the main procurer of most infrastructure projects. Finally, this report is also aimed at members of academia and civil society, in view of the socio-economic importance of the construction industry. The industry will rely on effective collaboration with all stakeholders for its future success.

--Future of Construction 09:27, 19 Jun 2017 (BST)