It may strike you upon reading the title, that construction and innovation should not be antithetical. I agree; they SHOULD not. However, they often are. This is typified by the reluctance of the construction industry to embrace new technologies. We, as an industry tend to do things, the way things have been done for centuries. Many is the construction professional, who can relate an anecdote (or often several) where a desire to innovate has been curtailed by a colleague or manager saying “but this is how we’ve always done it”, or some similar retort.

Before delving into the drawbacks of this mindset, it is necessary to explore its benefits (or at least the reasons behind it). The “this is how we’ve always done it” mindset, is a mindset built on an unyielding foundation: proof. That is the proof gained through decades if not centuries of experience showing that a particular method undoubtedly works. The strength of this foundation cannot be overstated in an environment where the smallest mistakes can be immensely costly. It is not uncommon to hear that a construction company has collapsed because of a single mistake made on one project. Aversion to change in this context then, is easily understood.

The limitations of such a mindset, however, are strikingly apparent. The industry globally has only seen a 1% annual increase in productivity on average over the past two decades[1]  ​The Office for National Statistics (UK) reports that as of 2023, the construction sector continues to be among the least productive industries in the UK, with output per hour remaining well below the national average. While the sector experienced a 1.6% year-on-year increase in productivity, it still lags behind other major industries such as Manufacturing, Finance and Insurance, and Services (excluding finance) . This trend has persisted into the latest financial year, indicating ongoing challenges in improving productivity within the construction industry. the other hand, innovation-friendly industries such as finance and manufacturing have seen an extensive increase in productivity.

Granted, construction is different to industries such as manufacturing. While manufacturing can allow replication and mass production of products, each “product” that construction builds is a bespoke one. It is governed by a variety of constraints, from site conditions to weather, from local skills to local regulations, there are a vast number of factors that impact each project uniquely. This means that construction cannot easily benefit from automation of processes in the same way manufacturing has been able to.

That being said however, I would argue that there are many ways the industry can benefit from innovation. Automated systems could improve logistics and supply chain management, visualisation software could reduce clashes in work activities, autonomous plant could reduce health and safety incidents, the list goes on.

In the past decade it would seem that the industry is making a step in the right direction. We have seen a push towards DfMA, BIM and digital engineering, paperless processes, and drones for imaging and LIDAR scanning. I have first-hand seen the benefit of every single one of these, and can say without doubt that they have made myself and many other construction professionals and operatives more productive, and in many ways, more safe. The potential is there, and if we continue to push to carry on improving and carry-on innovating I believe we can truly harness the productive potential of the construction industry.

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[1] https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/operations/our-insights/improving-construction-productivity

[2] https://www.ons.gov.uk/businessindustryandtrade/constructionindustry/articles/constructionstatistics/2019