The future of sustainability and wellness is achieving a restorative and regenerative economy as we are in the age of the Anthropocene- when human activities started to have a significant global impact on Earth's ecosystems. For the past century, we have been digging things out of the ground, turn them into products / materials that last from minutes to a few years at most, and then stick them back into the ground as landfill. We are NOT making the world sustainable through our linear approach to sustainability.
The AEC industry to stay relevant must come up an industrial system that is, by design and intention is restorative, using material/resources (either in a bio-cycle or in a techno-cycle) and applying materials /resources designed for multiple use cycles, at high quality. The AEC Industry must take a radical, restorative, regenerative approach to way we conduct business. We must move away from the way we do business which is deeply rooted in a linear approach to growth - make, use, dispose. We should design and build buildings that reuse components and structures that can be extracted without damage and at low cost?
This will require us an industry asking ourselves the question: Does this mean we must start from scratch and redesign everything we do today. Yes, this will require making changes that require new workflows, new training, and evangelism and commitment to from builders and owners the long-term benefits of transforming how buildings and communities are designed, constructed, maintained and operated across the globe.
This unique and deeply embedded culture and practise of transferring risk downstream is of serious concern for Project Managers such as myself who are contracted to deliver projects on time; on budget and on scope. A few who I conferred with in my network in the AEC Industry clear understand the benefits of changing this process which results in transparency and accountability in the industry. I will be implementing these changes on my next project in the New Year and will report back on the benefits of the changed- Changed Thinking leading to a Changed Outcome.
Very few business leaders nor education instructions and associations related to the AEC Industry have seen the writing on the wall but for the majority life goes on as they are caught up in the cycle of boom and bust, feast or famine not realizing this digital globalized economy will disrupt the all traditional industry. This is especially true for AEC industry that have not learned to adjust itself to the digital, globalised economy where society and technology are progressing at a faster rate than institutions and organisations. It is obvious the AEC industry must disrupt as in this disruptive, digital global economy, the AEC industry will find its environment of operation will have to change quickly to survive.
The traditional stick and build method to implement design and engineering solution used in our cities and towns are inheritably inefficient and consistently producing varying quality of work. The future lies: in design; engineering of building designed to evolve & built to last.
The key here is to design Build like Lego- build blocks from kit of parts which can be used in any required combination and can be conveniently assembled providing flexibility in manufacture; assembly; disassembly; relocation and reissue or recycle in its entirety.
We live in a world of digital Darwinism where through Disruptive Selection it is reported that, 70% of the companies on the Fortune 1000 list 10 years ago have vanished and in an environment where no business is too big to fail or too small to succeed, where technology and society are growing at a faster pace than organisation and corporation can catch. The AEC is an industry waiting to disrupt and requires re-tooling and needs long-term structural change through the participation of stakeholders across the industry.
It is obvious the AEC industry must disrupt as in this disruptive, digital global economy, the AEC industry will find its environment of operation will have to change quickly to survive. It will have to change the game internally to accelerating speed-of-execution and become agile to seize new opportunities while disrupting to gain critical competitive advantage. In short it will have to Out-Execute and Out-Innovate
The AEC industry will be disrupted very shortly as the business environment which the industry is based is being disrupted. Our age old assumptions in business are no more relevant and the metrics of success are being redefined and where the clarity of words we use to discuss business, standbys like marketplace and competitive advantage, are redefined and rendered almost meaningless, makes it imperative that the industry will be disrupted. In the globalized knowledge economy where the goal is not efficiency but is adaptability or innovation or unleashing human potential where a whole new management system and tools is being reinvented, it is only a matter of time.
A shifting of our mindset to disrupt our traditional process, and rebelliously discard old business clichés and remake the market landscape for Design, Engineering & Construction by deliberately targeting situations where the competition is complacent and the customer has been consistently overlooked or under-served and greatly accelerate the way firms operate internally to keep pace with a rapidly changing world.
Meeting client’s expectation through an enhanced client experience is key to making AEC industry relevant in digital globalized economy.
