[edit] How can tomorrow's challenges be met by today's buildings?

Identifying some of the challenges faced by the construction industry:

1) Biodegradation of Construction material & Wastage of construction material (2) Urban hydrology & depleting water resources (3) Soil Degradation(4) Negative implications of globalisation on local contractors (5) Low usage of sustainable materials in developing countries (6) Lack of skilled workforce, declining workforce (7) Fragmented structure of employees/stakeholders (8) climate change and carbon emissions

The main challenge is linked to climate change and thus it is important for governments and construction industry to come together and form a common platform that can encourage and mandate the use of sustainable building materials like timber and recycled steel & concrete along with using carbon effective construction practises.

the idea that I have come up with is 'Electrifying the Construction Industry'. This is a proposed idea in which the whole industry is dependent on clean energy generated by renewable resources (tidal, solar, wind, nuclear(Thorium)). From the transportation of materials using electric trucks and trailers to the utilisation of electricity at sites from sustainable sources. Along with electrifying it is imperative to digitize construction. with the help of building management systems, BIM and various ICT softwares it is possible to keep track of energy usage and keep control of flows of electricity in order to minimize wastage.

For example, a residential site 'A' is to be constructed in a tier 2 class city in Europe, the preference of the electric model would be : -

1) Design and planning of residential complex using sustainable materials like CLT, Recycled steel and concrete, straw bale, bamboo etc.

2) Using BIM for project prediction and thus maximising cost-time efficiency.

3) Procurement of materials from local manufactures thus reducing transport costs; transporting materials using electric vehicles.

4) Have efficient construction management, thus no increase in cost and delays in delivering project due to inefficiency and mismanagement.

5) Construction of the project using less but highly skilled labour so as to decrease cost and increase efficiency. Along with the use of electric machinery that can do repetitive tasks quickly and more efficiently.

6) Maintenance of building after construction using BMS to keep energy usage and data for reviewing and encouraging energy savings.

These points help us move towards a more skilled and complex construction industry that employs a vast amount of people from various disciplines and thus helps take the economy forward along with leading the world in sustainable development.

Global warming is seen to be the greatest threat to mankind in recent times and construction infrastructure is the foundation on which the human civilization stands; thus it is extremely important for the most primordial industry to take responsibility of the situation and help build a better world for future generations.

Thankyou,

Eeshan Shah..