Future outook

A report looking at the role that technology will play in the construction industry in the future, and written by renowned future gazer, Dr. Ian Pearson BSc DSc(hc) has been launched by Colmore Tang Construction.

The report suggests that by 2025, drones that carry materials up building sites; self-assembling buildings under artificial intelligence control; and a biometric roof made from recycled plastic bottles from the ocean will all be mainstream.

However, it is 3D printing that will steal most of the construction headlines in the immediate future, according to the future-gazer. Cheap homes, built quickly using 3D printing, will essentially put an end to the housing crisis.

Colmore Tang Construction has also partnered with Virgin StartUp to deliver a £10m innovation fund that is open to entrepreneurial companies in a construction industry-first technology accelerator programme called ‘ConstrucTech’.

The fund will be provided to those companies that can successfully show how their innovation and technology could improve the sector’s productivity, sustainability and skills issues. Colmore Tang is providing start-ups with the opportunity to use the programme as a test bed and development platform to bring products and ideas to the construction sector. It’s hoped ConstrucTech will be the spark to improve lacklustre productivity levels and also begin addressing the need to re-skill over half a million construction workers to suit the industry’s future.