We’ve put together a list of five commercial construction
trends that should have a major impact on the industry in 2015. Look for more
technology showing up on the jobsite, healthier buildings being designed and
constructed and an increase in construction activity that should push
construction spending for the year over the $1 trillion mark.
Improved Growth
2015 should be another year of positive growth for the
commercial construction industry. Most industry analysts expect growth to be
about 8% for nonresidential construction. Total construction put in place was
at $884.6 billion through November 2014 which was 5.7% higher than the same
period of time in the previous year. The annual rate of construction spending
in November was $975 billion and if that rate holds through to December after
all revisions are made to the numbers it will be about a 7% increase over 2013.
On the private side, look for office and retail construction to see significant
increases and on the public side there should be a jump in educational and
healthcare construction.
According to the Associated General Contractors of
America (AGC), 80% of construction firms are planning to hire more workers in
2015 with only 7% expected to reduce headcounts. This could be challenging
since AGC also reported that 87% of companies have reported having difficulties
filling positions, especially skilled craft workers. Expect to see a big push
for funding apprenticeship programs to entice more workers to the construction
industry. Construction companies would be smart to either team up with local
community colleges to host programs or start programs of their own. We’ve
already seen some signs of this with the Iowa Workforce Development doling out
$4.3 million from federal grants to four training programs. Rhode Island is
considering legislation with a bill that would prohibit companies from bidding
on public construction projects valued at $1 million or more if they don’t have
an apprenticeship program.
Major Influx of Technology Use
Over the past couple of years there has been a paradigm
shift with commercial construction moving from being an industry reluctant to
change and slow to adopt new technologies to being an industry that embraces
new technology as it comes to market. You’d be hard pressed to find a major
construction project that isn’t using BIM technology these days.
With the recent Microsoft HoloLens announcement and the
news that Google is working on a new Glass product that will emphasize a
business-focused program, wearables and augmented
reality (AR) could see more widespread adoption in the construction
industry. Smart watches have potential, but adapting for use on the
construction site could be challenging. Some options could be using the NFC in
a watch to work as a time clock, pushing safety tips to workers, monitoring
vital signs of construction workers and for making phone calls from the field.
Two companies, Daqri and Atheer Labs, are working to be the first to bring a
smart hard hat to the market. Both would feature a heads-up visor display with
AR capabilities.
Other technology that will impact the construction
industry in 2015 includes the use of drones, or unmanned aerial vehicles, on
jobsites. We’ll see more software as a service (SaaS) and cloud computing
solutions geared to the construction industry as more companies move to
paperless solutions which also means seeing more tablets and phablets being
used at construction sites. 3D printing will continue to play a bigger role in
the industry as well as virtual design and construction (VDC) seeing greater
implementation.
More Tall Buildings
According to the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban
Habitat (CTBUH), 2014 was the “tallest year ever” with 97 buildings of 656 ft
(200 m) or higher being completed during the year.
Currently they are showing 175 buildings of 656 ft or
higher expected to complete construction in 2015 based on what has already been
completed, topped out or is currently under construction.
In the U.S., we saw 10 buildings of 492 ft (150 m) or
taller completed in 2014 with the tallest being the One World Trade Center in
New York. At 1,776 ft, One WTC was the tallest building in the world completed
in 2014 and is currently the fourth tallest worldwide. The number of buildings
of 492 ft or higher completed in 2013 and 2014 in the U.S. was 17 and that
number is expected to more than double to 37 for building completed in 2015 and
2016.
New design and construction methods have been developed
that allow us to continue building higher and higher which is important in
areas with limited real estate, because if you can’t build out, you can always
build up. Another factor in being able to build taller is the advancement in
elevator technologies made over the past few years. Not only are we seeing
elevators that go faster and feature double decker elevator cars to move more
people up and down at a faster rate, we’re also getting elevators that can go
higher thanks to technology like KONE’s UltraRope which is lighter than
traditional steel cables. ThyssenKrupp is expected to provide the construction
industry with the first cable-free elevator system with its MULTI
elevator that will utilize maglev technology, will be able to move
vertically and horizontally and allow for multiple cars to occupy the same
shaft.
Collaborative Construction
Expect the use of Integrated Project Delivery (IPD) to
continue to grow as construction projects continue to become more complex. The
American Institute of Architects (AIA) defines IPD as a “project delivery
method that integrates people, systems, business structures and practices into
a process that collaboratively harnesses the talents and insights of all
participants to reduce waste and optimize efficiency through all phases of
design, fabrication and construction”.
In order for IPD and other methods of construction
project collaboration to be effective it’s going to mean eliminating disparate
and localized sets of data and improving communication among all team members.
This means having a centralized and integrated software solution where all
drawings, BIM documents, project documentation, change orders, etc. can be accessible
by all of the lead team members from any location to facilitate collaboration.
Companies like Procore and Viewpoint Construction Software offer cloud-based
project collaboration software solutions to help you collaborate effectively
and deliver projects on time and under budget.
Healthier Buildings
The health and well-being of building occupants will
continue to drive owners, architects and developers to design and construct
healthier buildings. We should continue to see a push to improve the indoor
environmental quality in new construction and renovations with a focus on
things like improving indoor air quality, providing more natural light and
using building materials like carpeting and paints that don’t contain volatile
organic compounds (VOCs).
We are starting to see an emphasis on acknowledging the
importance of building
products transparency so architects and owners can make informed decisions
when specifying construction materials. To build healthier buildings we need to
know what’s in the materials and supplies being used and the health effects
that those items pose to building occupants. This is forcing manufacturers to
innovate and develop more eco-friendly and health conscious products and
provide building product declarations like environmental product declarations
(EPDs) and health product declarations (HPDs). LEED v4 has credit points
for building product disclosure and optimization. The Living Building Challenge
requires construction projects to be free of building materials chemical on
their Red List that includes items such as lead, mercury and PVC.
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