Sustainable buildings: how low carbon design saves more, and costs less

The operatives who are there will be working much more safely, with greater productivity.

She also says that while her team has really begun to understand the business model innovation that’s possible, they don’t yet understand how to take it forward.Action research is needed to be able to study and do at the same time.

Sustainable buildings: how low carbon design saves more, and costs less

Testing out some different business models on live construction projects would be risky, she says, but also a magnificent opportunity.. Bryden Wood has previously discussed the fact that the issues currently holding back the construction industry aren’t the technical aspects, but rather the cultural issues, insurances, warranties etc.In essence, we need someone to take the brakes off, overcoming the friction and constraints.COVID-19 facilitated that to a certain extent, with companies forced to transition to digital very quickly and managing to do so successfully.

Sustainable buildings: how low carbon design saves more, and costs less

However, while every other sector has experienced disruption to their business model creating major changes, construction is very risk averse and the implications are long-term.To get a digital thing slightly wrong has, in a sense, a transience that doesn’t matter.

Sustainable buildings: how low carbon design saves more, and costs less

However, there are bigger implications for not building a building correctly..

In terms of where the construction industry is heading in the near future, Professor Glass says that in addition to prioritising our climate change issues, she’d like to see an end to the use of Return on Capital Employed for all of the major contractors.This should send a strong message to the construction industry.

This shift is coming.We've already seen other sectors - entertainment, retail, music - being disrupted over the last 25 years.

Rather than resisting the process, the big players of the construction industry need to acknowledge the reality of where we’re heading.They should be evaluating the types of opportunities this will create and figuring out how to shape themselves in order to take advantage of those opportunities.