24 September 2020 4 min read

Why Do We Need Innovation In Construction?

 

The world is constantly changing bringing new opportunities and revolutionising old ways. How is this impacting our work? What are the changes innovations bring into the construction industry? Do we need them? If so - why?

Old times, good times? The society is divided into two groups; the first one is made by the geeks of technological innovations. The second one is the complete opposite - people who like to know the plan and value a stable environment. Both sides have their reasonable arguments, but when we look at the market and that it is constantly changing, we can definitely tell that the first group is leading the world. The construction industry is no exception here, as new solutions and technologies are introduced every day. We will try to take a closer look at some crucial changes in construction and understand why they are so important.

Workforce

History of construction shows us that for a long time workforce was a key component for any process. However, the reality is changing. Now the industry has to deal with the problem of ageing of society - especially in Europe and North America. According to researchers, the average age of constructor in the US was estimated at 42 years. Meantime in the UK, almost 40% of the workforce has more than 39 years. People between 16 and 21 represent less than 6% of all. If the industry decided to stick to classic solutions based on the productive power of employees, it would soon turn out that there are not enough people to work. Instead of that, many companies choose to innovate their processes and use more machines, drones and robots that require fewer employees to operate and that support the current ones to outperform themselves.

Environment

Construction industry innovations are not brought only by people who work in this field. An example of such change would be the increasing popularity of pro-ecological solutions on construction-sites. Nowadays, more and more people are concerned about the climate and environment. They modify their habits to be more eco-friendly as well as they also put pressure on companies to do the same. The ones who hear and address this call have their product better evaluated and with higher market value. We can already see some sustainable solutions in the industry, such as materials that use less CO2, energy from renewable resources or attempts to minimise the noise pollution and the amount of waste. Additionally, the management of supplies changed, and now when it is possible companies try to reduce the usage of electronics by turning off unused machines.

Style

One of the easily seen changes in the construction industry is the development of style and design - it is very visual, after all. Throughout the years, architects seek for unique solutions that will outstand their projects, among others. Such changes often meet with criticism, especially from lovers of classical architecture. Even though changes were inevitable as the pace of built buildings forced the constructors to stop paying attention to details such as ornaments or sculptures. Even without them, modern facilities can still amaze with their design - often a mix of the modernity history.

But Why Do We Seek Innovations So Much?

There are many reasons why construction innovations are an inherent aspect of the industry. People always seek improvement to make processes better, faster, easier and cheaper. Seeking evolution is in our humankind DNA for survival. New things usually interest us more, even when at first we are not big fans of it. Moreover, there is one pragmatic reason why construction industry innovations occur. The invention of the Internet accelerated the pace of our lives and aspects like decision-making processes and communication. So, to not be left behind and seeking the same benefits as other industries, construction companies decided to adapt, implementing many new solutions like the ones we mentioned above. How about you? Are you a fan of innovations, or you instead prefer to leave things as they were? Where do you see that these changes are more needed? Changes are as needed as uncomfortable, For they take us out of our comfort zone. It takes us time readapt and get used to doing things differently. We have to face the fact that they are inevitably part of any process.

2 Comments

  1. Ashley Boeckholt says:

    I’m a huge fan of innovation. It is interesting watching people fight technology at work and embrace it at home.

    • Aleksandra Mrowczyk says:

      Yes! It’s always surprising for me how open we are in our private lives for innovations, modern technology solutions (even apps we use daily!). But somehow in a work setting – it’s still much harder to implement and learn new solutions (that were ultimately created to make our job easier!)

 
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2024-11-11 14:36:28