As per a McKinsey report, construction and civil engineering are the biggest industry across the globe, which makes up about 13% of the GDP the world. Even though existing for centuries now, it is a slow-growing industry where trends and styles take a lot of time to mature. However, one significant change we can notice over the last decade is that there are some new trends with the rate of change speeding up lately. This article will explore an expert view of changing construction industry trends in 2022.
Reddy Kancharla construction industry trends
- Virtual construction market
There are a lot of new technologies in the engineering sector, as pointed out by Reddy Kancharla, which are being adopted by the construction industry quickly. Many of such technologies involve visualization, 3D modeling, virtual reality, virtual design, etc. These technologies range from building info modeling (BIM) to the most sophisticated Construction Management Systems. VDC or virtual design construction demonstrates the increased use of virtualization to engineer the structural constructions before they are actually built in the physical world.
- Modular construction and prefabrication
Modular construction is the concept in which prefabrication is the technical part of the same. Prefabrication involves building about 60 to 905 of a structure is a factor and then bring to the construction site just to assemble it out there. Compared to the huge time taken for construction projects, prefabricated parts can be just transported to the site and fixed in a matter of days. As of late, the modular construction market across the globe is worth about $83 billion. This is, in fact, so small compared to the gigantic global construction market, but the idea is largely gaining in popularity and taking over the construction industry by storm.
- Smart cities
One another biggest trend affecting the construction sector is smart cities. Smart cities are fully integrated cities connected with the Internet of things (IoT). The buildings and infrastructure of a smart city will assist in connecting data and help everything to be well coordinated. It is said that smart city spending has totaled about 124 billion dollars lately. This is about a 20% overall increase over the last couple of years. There are also predictions that smart city investments may grow up to 203 billion dollars by the year 2024. By 2028, it is expected to be around 676 billion dollars. As the concept of a smart city matures, it will make some significant changes in the construction industry too.
- Green buildings
There is an increasing need for environmental friend construction or green buildings. This is a part of sustainable development, which uses innovative design processes and materials which does not harm the environment. Regulatory bodies and governments also now largely focus on this approach, not just in construction but in all industries. McKinsey’s research showed that about 90% of the construction sector respondents strongly support the shift towards green construction and sustainable models.
So, unlike the last several decades, now construction industry is undergoing a quick shift in its fundamentals, as Reddy Kancharla points out here. So, it is essential for all involved in this industry to upgrade themselves to be a part of this revolution.
