Arcadis Construction, Engineering & Design by GineersNow Drones & Technologies in Construction Industry | Page 24

The Pressing Issues that the Construction
Industry Has to Face in 2017
Staff shortages, a weak pound and a potential
technological uprising are just some of the issues
the construction industry is set to face in 2017,
according to One Way.
An analysis by the leading construction and rail
recruitment consultancy has outlined some of the
major issues that the building industry is set to
face over the next 12 months. This comes at a time
when productivity has reached its highest point in
nine months and a number of major construction
initiatives, including the development of a new
series of garden cities, have been given the green
light.
Managing Director of One Way, Paul Payne,
outlined the issues:
Staff shortages – “From our perspective this will be
the big one. The number of skilled professionals
operating in the industry dropped dramatically
during the recession and now around 22% of the
workforce are in their 50s or 60s. Quite simply,
there are too many people retiring and not enough
entering construction to replace them. With more
projects being given the go ahead we need to see
greater focus on promoting careers to youngsters
and professionals looking for a change of career
before we hit a point where productivity is being
affected. This needs to happen sooner rather than
later.”
A weak pound – “The strength of the domestic
economy will naturally impact almost every field,
but it could have a particularly damaging effect in
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Construction Leaders • May 2017
construction. A weaker pound means that import
prices rise and with so many of our raw materials
being brought in from overseas, this could add
significant amounts to the bottom lines of builders
across the country. Currently, material costs are
at their highest point in five-and-a-half-years and
ultimately this could lead to them squeezing costs
elsewhere, for example in staffing, or even having
to pass on certain projects.”
Brexit – “As has been incredibly well documented,
no one really has any idea about what Brexit
could entail or what sort of deal we’ll be left with
once Article 50 has been triggered. However, if as
expected, there are some changes to Freedom
of Movement across the EU, then the likes of the
construction industry which often relies on the
skills of overseas workers, could be impacted by
even worse skills shortages. Therefore increasing
the numbers of people in the industry before this
happens is more important than ever before.”
The rise of the robots – “The growth of AI has
been more widely documented in ‘sexier’ fields
like technology and financial services, but it is also
having an impact on construction. Over the past 12
months or so we’ve begun to see the use of drones
and other tech like 3D concrete printers become
more widely adopted and it will be interesting to
see the role they play by this time next year. Many
have suggested that their growth could lead to
jobs being cut, but realistically anything like this
happening is way off in the distance. For the time
being, technology promises to make many of our
jobs easier, rather than taking them away.”