Building an Innovative Future for Construction

Simon Robinson, MD of Red Diamond Executive Headhunters, looks at how technology is changing the way even the most traditional industries work – and will continue to do so into 2021.

When you think about sectors that have embraced technological innovation during 2020, the building industry is probably not the first that springs to mind. Cloud computing, A1, education, self-driven cars perhaps, but not construction. With the best will in the world, builders have never been renowned for either their speed or their grasp of the digital marketplace.

Yet the current pandemic is forcing even this most traditional of industries to rethink its way of working – and technology is threatening to disrupt processes that have been the norm for decades, while presenting opportunities to work both faster and smarter.

And that’s not just from a consumer point of view, where apps enable you to browse stock in real time and order products in store for immediate collection or next day delivery. Nor is about upgrading the building machinery itself – it’s more about the everyday solutions.

Software and mobile apps have been developed for use at various stages, from planning to field reporting. However, many are specialist in nature and can require a substantial initial investment. What’s really revolutionising the way the industry works are relatively everyday practices being used in practically every sector right now – such as video conferencing.

Take, for example, the role of the construction product salesman. Pre-Covid, a salesperson could be on the road from Monday to Friday, clocking up the miles with overnight hotel stays and sandwiches eaten hastily in the car.

Until March, it was the norm for reps for manufacturers of items such as valves or boilers to meet developers in person with a view to ensuring their products were chosen for a range of new builds.

If successful, and the products had been designed into the plans, the next step would be another meeting to establish specifics such as the number of bathrooms or kitchen size. Factor in another meeting with financiers – and the time taken for a salesman travelling to and from meetings and the almost inevitable traffic congestion and the process can easily become a relatively slow one.

While technology has certainly been incorporated into product development of late, with 3D printing and CAD becoming widely used, the process itself has changed very little – despite changing client expectations and the continuing evolution of video technology.

But along with the pandemic came the rise of videoconferencing technology and suddenly it became possible to have three meetings in one. All parties can be present at the one meeting while screen sharing enables the process to stay interactive, reducing the timescale by not just hours but weeks. Designers know what targets they need to hit and thanks to the latest generation of software, different products can be dropped in and their performance evaluated.

It’s unlikely that any of the players in the industry, be they designers, sales teams or the builders themselves, will remain untouched by technology, albeit at differing levels. Energy efficiency and IoT connectivity are huge considerations; BIM (building information modelling) – especially 5D planning and budget – is expected to bring improvements in cost, quality, reducing delays and security to the entire process, from design to sales.

While it’s not necessarily the case that video conferencing will replace face-to-face meetings entirely – after all, there’s nothing quite like a ‘proper’ get-together in person – ultimately, the technology exists to make all aspects of project management more time-efficient and as a result more cost-effective. And that has to be a win-win situation for all concerned.

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What can Construction Expect to Face in 2021?

With the pressures inflicted on the construction industry by Covid-19 in 2020 many firms will be breathing a sigh of relief to have reached the end of the year. Parm Bhangal, Managing Director of multi-award winning quantity surveying and estimating firm, Bhangals Construction Consultants, reflects on how the industry has fared during a tumultuous year and gives his insights on what it is likely to face in 2021.

The construction industry has faced unprecedented challenges during 2020 following the onset of the Coronavirus pandemic. Looking back to the second quarter of the year construction output in Great Britain fell by nearly 36%.

Firms working on everything from small domestic projects right through to multi-million commercial schemes saw their endeavours come to a standstill with the introduction of the first lockdown. As we know sadly, as a consequence, not all construction firms who were operating at the beginning of 2020 have made it through to the end of the year.

Fortunately, suspended sites in England and Wales reopened more rapidly than initially anticipated which brought a breath of life back to the nation’s construction industry. This translated into construction output growing by a record 41.7% – or in cash terms £11,070 million – during the third quarter of the year. This is by far the largest demonstration of growth since quarterly records were introduced at the beginning of 1997 and substantially larger than the previous record quarterly growth of 4.9% in the second quarter of 2010.

The growth in the third quarter of 2020 was also the first time the industry experienced month-on-month growth since the early part of 2018. However, growth did slow over the period, starting off strongly with output increasing by 17.4% in July, then dropping to 3.8% in August and finally ending with 2.9% in September.

September’s £369 million increase was driven by growth in the areas of new work and repair and maintenance. There was growth across all construction sectors, apart from public new housing and other new public work, but only private new housing and infrastructure recovered above their February 2020 pre-pandemic levels. New housing overall grew by 88.7%, or £1,527 million, in quarter three of 2020, driven by 102.9% – £1,531 million – growth in private housing. Anecdotal evidence has suggested work on larger civil engineering sites more easily adapted to social distancing measures. For housebuilders, anecdotal evidence suggested firms managed to continue to work at sufficient capacity, particularly on sites currently in progress when the first lockdown hit.

All other types of work failed to recover to their pre-pandemic levels by September 2020, with public new housing the furthest below its February 2020 level at 29.4%.

Despite the increased output in the latter part of the year, it is clear coronavirus continues to have an impact on the industry. Overall, productivity in the construction sector remained 7.3% lower in September than it was in February, before the main impacts of the pandemic were seen. Health and safety measures, such as social distancing, have meant the capacity and level of work are not at the same level experienced prior to such restrictions being imposed.

Looking ahead industry experts are predicting the construction business is likely to experience a gradual and sustained recovery over the next two years. Although health and safety measures may continue to have an impact on the industry going forward it was heartening to see a widespread closure of construction sites was not required during the second national lockdown towards the end of 2020.

It is expected that consumer confidence will go up when a Covid-19 vaccine comes out and that this will lead to a rise in the number of individuals undertaking construction projects. Hopefully, a vaccine will help to get the country back to normality and lead to a reduction in the current restrictions which hold back productivity.

There are also predictions of increased public sector investment in 2021, particularly in road schemes, to help underpin the ongoing recovery of the construction industry. There are suggestions that 2021 will see an increase in school building projects as councils seek to reduce the nation’s shortage of available secondary school places. There have also been promises made about increases to NHS capital funding which is expected to lead to the advent of more building projects. The Government has further promised to boost investment in infrastructure and there is an expectation that civil engineering projects disrupted by lockdown this year will recover in 2021. In addition to this, major schemes, such as the £4 billion Thames Tideway Tunnel project and HS2, are expected to boost Great Britain’s civil engineering output over the next couple of years.

However, the beginning of the New Year will also bring with it Brexit on January 1 which is expected to create its own challenges. It is predicted that new customs regulations and non-tariff barriers may disrupt supply chains for the construction industry and the wider economy which could have an impact on the country’s economic recovery from the pandemic.

If the construction industry does experience material shortages it could lead to an increase in costs which may in turn slow down future building projects. The UK’s departure from the EU is also expected to shrink the availability of skilled site labour in this country.

To safeguard themselves against the ongoing challenges presented by Covid-19 and Brexit in 2021 and the years ahead, firms would be wise to invest in digital and design solutions that reduce the amount of time spent on site at the pre-construction and construction stage of projects. This will cut down their reliance on on-site labour which will help them to reduce the impact of any ongoing Covid-19 restrictions and any difficulties they may face in hiring skilled workers.

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Gleeds on Track to Deliver New Cruise Terminal

Property and construction consultancy firm Gleeds has confirmed its appointment as cost manager for the new £55 million cruise ship terminal at Southampton’s Western Docks.

The scheme is the result of a strategic partnership between Associated British Ports (ABP), MSC Cruises and Norwegian Cruise Line Holdings and is to be the port’s fifth dedicated facility for cruise passengers.

Set to be next generation ready, once the terminal has reached completion it will be able to accommodate the world’s largest ships, which are capable of carrying 6,000 passengers each. It will also feature a host of sustainable features, including the use of glulam beams and roof-mounted photovoltaic panels. The building will also boast “Shore Power connectivity”, which will enable suitably equipped vessels to plug into a local power supply while in port, as opposed to using onboard generators.

Having received a grant from the Government’s Getting Building Fund, work on the 11,695m2 building began in early 2020, and has continued at pace despite the challenges presented by the COVID-19 pandemic. The fibre reinforced ground floor slab and steel frame have already been installed, with curtain walling and cladding now well underway. A link bridge to connect the ships to the shorelines has also been created to ensure the facility is fully operational in time for the 2021 holiday season.

Tony Deacon, Director at Gleeds, said: “Having worked with ABP on this scheme since its inception in 2018, it is incredibly heartening to see such fantastic progress now being made on the ground. As Britain’s busiest cruise port, around two million passengers would usually pass through Southampton every year and this investment in future proofing cruise infrastructure here represents a commitment to ensuring that it is able to bounce back stronger and greener from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic.”

Alastair Welch, Regional Director at ABP in Southampton, said: “We’re incredibly proud to announce this major advance in our cruise infrastructure. This investment is a huge vote of confidence in the future of cruise and this next-generation ready cruise terminal places us firmly at the forefront of a growing industry.”

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Reflections and Predictions for Construction

Christopher Wareing is Director of Wareing Buildings and in this feature for UKCO he reflects on a year in construction as well as looking at what 2021 holds for it. 

“Though our year got off to a flying start, with the order book filled up to April as early as the first week of January, we succumbed to the same halt on operations as the rest of the industry in March.

“There seemed to be a mass panic in the sector when lockdown was announced; this was completely unchartered territory. Even during war times – that which has been so commonly used as a metaphor to describe this strange period we are living in – construction continued. But in 2020, there was an uncertainty that no-one had any experience of.

“In hindsight, though every day we weren’t active felt like a week, it was only a relatively short space of time before the government gave construction the go-ahead to restart. It’s heavily invested in developing UK infrastructure, so while the world stood still, construction did not. We were some of the lucky ones. Low interest rates enabled customers to gain the capital to continue with their projects, using the downtime of their staff as an opportunity to refurbish their premises ready for when normality resumed. Though we were sceptical about how many team members could safely return to work, within a matter of weeks we were back to full capacity because demand required it.

“A major hurdle – not just for us, but across the board – was the sourcing of materials. We manufacture our own steel products and are lucky enough to carry stock for three months’ worth of developments. Still, we are reliant on several different supply chains working in harmony to source the products we buy in, such as cladding. But our clients quickly learnt the art of compromise; they could either wait months for the exact product we specified at the start of the build, or they could have their project delivered on time using an equally high quality product that was more easily sourced, but was simply a different colour than planned. Communication became even more crucial to our offering. By conveying that we were pulling out all the stops to meet our clients wishes, it made them even more willing to work together with us, and our partnerships thrived.

“Our heritage is in agricultural buildings, and we’ve seen an even greater surge in demand for them as the country strove to become more self-sufficient. There were already rumblings of this before lockdown, as Brexit and no trade deal talks developed, but Covid-19 – and government grants for harvesting and food manufacturing businesses – enabled growers and processors to ramp up their offering. As a country, we became more reliant on home-based produce, and we were an integral part in helping household name food manufacturers to adapt, to grow and to supply in line with demand.

“It would’ve been naïve of us to rest on our laurels and not put some investment into futureproofing the business. We spent on new machinery and continued working on our digitalisation strategy to ensure we remained at the pinnacle of our sector. Before the lockdown, we had implemented Tekla Powerfab across the business which, almost overnight, made us much more efficient and has proven the best natural evolution for what we do. It has enabled us to retain a level of continuity and, despite Covid-19, we have achieved an almost 10 per cent productivity gain. unlocking capital which we set aside to protect our staff should the going get tough. Thankfully, it didn’t.

“Coronavirus has made businesses much more risk averse; they now know the world has the capability to change in the blink of an eye and they want to make safe investments. Rather than go to tender and welcome unknown suppliers to present their ideas, clients are increasingly relying on word of mouth. Trust, reliability, and tangible evidence of professionalism is driving decision making. Recommendations are the best form of marketing right now, and we’re eternally grateful to those clients who have been happy to pass on a good word about our service.

“Looking ahead, we see steel framed buildings playing a stronger role in commercial and industrial sectors. Online delivery has dominated retail, and to ensure brands can meet consumer demand, businesses are developing satellite warehouses across the country to get products to the end user faster than ever before. Additionally, more corporate organisations are considering the benefits of building pop-up, steel framed offices on industrial parks, rather than renovate dilapidated buildings or empty units on high streets which are teamed with higher overheads.

“We count ourselves lucky every single day that we as a business, and the industry as a whole, hasn’t seen the downturn in productivity that was initially predicted. Seeing other sectors crumble has been devastating, especially when you know construction and clever design played a strong role in their previous success. If the government continues to prioritise incentives which enable businesses to bring teams back, or create new roles, it will spark a new wave of economic activity which might see the country recover relatively quickly. This, teamed with a continual investment into construction which enables companies to modernise and find efficiencies, will drive employment and growth. How long that will take, time will only tell, but we are committed to playing a role in getting the country back on its feet.”

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Construction: 2020 to 2021 Review

Nick Sacke is Head of IoT and Products at Comms365. In this feature he looks at what 2020 gave construction, and what 2021 holds for it.

A majority of businesses across a range of sectors have faced unexpected challenges caused by COVID-19, and the construction industry is no different. Being brought to a halt earlier this year, the pandemic has had a significant impact globally on the construction industry, with projects being cancelled or delayed, a reduction in workers through social distancing measures, as well as supply chain disruptions.

Recent research revealed that over 70% of construction businesses experienced a decrease in turnover, and nearly 70% of business owners reported having to cease operations during the pandemic. However, nearly half of those have now resumed trading – in the hope that the construction industry will rebound post-Covid. As businesses face increasing demand and pressure to pick up where they left off, a new and innovative approach needs to swiftly be put in place ready for 2021 to ensure that they can meet expectations whilst supply chains remain contended, for the foreseeable future.

Meeting Optimistic Construction Targets

After months of on-and-off lockdown, the European construction industry is gradually opening back up and resuming both old and new projects.

In November, the Government announced a target of building at least one million new homes in the next five years, but following COVID-19, this is going to become a much bigger challenge. With increasing pressure on the construction industry to build new homes, as well as the uncertainty and resulting fluctuating values driven by COVID-19 and Brexit, the incentives for developers to build in the short term are reduced.

Additionally, the planned HS2 high-speed railway in the United Kingdom has been under scrutiny since 2009, and was originally due to open by the end of 2026, which has now been pushed back to 2029-2033. Construction on-site has now formally begun after months of working restrictions, but now with office-based employees urged to work from home and a reduction in travel, many businesses are questioning again whether or not the building projects should go ahead.

The Catalyst for Digitalisation

The pandemic has accelerated the use of digital solutions across healthcare, retail, and now construction. The construction industry has often hesitated in the past when it comes to embracing technology, avoiding investment into digital trends without proof of return. However, new and innovative technology is now essential to construction businesses in order to keep up with demands, changes and to meet the aggressive government targets for building projects mentioned above.

The digital tools available to construction firms have advanced rapidly, including drones, robotics and augmented reality, which are proven to deliver efficiency and productivity opportunities across projects – revolutionising construction field operations as we know it.

However, all of these innovations require reliable and high-quality internet connectivity at sites to deliver the full value of these digital solutions.

Underpinning the Construction Industry with Connectivity

To effectively deploy digitalisation at sites, the basic requirement of portable and reliable internet networks to support applications and collaborative processes should be the first priority, not the last. All sites must have access to portable, high-quality internet connectivity to keep pace with growing user demand, retain profitability, and to expand the use of digital technology at the construction site.

With instant connectivity upon deployment, businesses can benefit from the adoption of new technology, even in rural locations where there is often no existing connection. As internet connectivity is no longer restricted to fixed-line provision only, portable wireless units can be installed so that sites have a suitable communications resource that satisfies business Internet needs – irrespective of location. For example, a high-quality internet connection at site offers the possibility of patching through data from drones directly to application hosting servers, cutting down the time to generate, deliver and make available field survey reports.

Furthermore, advanced bonded Internet solutions enable organisations to add resilience capability to their connection to ensure business continuity for applications and ensure productivity. Precise performance management of the unit can be included, along with management of data usage, to ensure there is control over costs and quality of service delivery. This is highly suitable for immediate deployment situations; especially if Internet services are required last minute and on an urgent basis.

Conclusion

New statistics have found that the UK construction sector has shown positive signs of recovery after reporting the sharpest rise in monthly activity in almost five years. In order to keep this pace up, the construction industry must set aside outdated processes and management methods, and instead, embrace digital advances and adopt smarter ways of working and technology to bounce back stronger in 2021. Businesses have two choices: either embrace the cultural and digital shift, or risk falling behind and failing.

To be successful in this transition, sites should consider working with an ecosystem of experienced and trusted providers who can supply both the digital communications infrastructure and the technology innovations without retraining and hiring additional headcount. For construction firms willing to harness digital technology innovation, 2021 and the years ahead look more positive, due to the potential operational rewards that it can bring to their businesses and customers.

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Brexit and the Construction Industry

With free movement of goods and people coming to an end and in less than 4 weeks, the construction industry must come to terms with the reality of UK’s departure with the European Union.

The construction industry has been heavily reliant on foreign labour for skilled and non-skilled workers, which includes a decent proportion of EU,EEA and Swiss nationals that had the freedom to travel for UK in the UK whilst maintaining their residence in the home country. This will no longer be an option from 01 January 2020, as EU, EEA, and Swiss nationals that are not already residing in the UK by 31 December 2020 will be required to satisfy the requirements of the new points system to reside and work in the UK.

So, were fears that the new points system could limit immigration prove to be detrimental for the construction industry?

The new points system appears to have simplified the process of recruitment of overseas skilled workers to meet the demands of the industry. The government has lowered certain requirements for skilled workers and to reduce fear of global investors starting to take their money out of the UK market. Mentioned below are some of the key changes to the new points system.

• The abolishment of the Resident Labour Market Test (RLMT) means that employers are no longer required to advertise the job for 28 days to find a suitable settled worker in the UK. This would help recruitment of specialist workers from overseas and reduce the lengthy immigration process.
• The industry can now benefit from a reduction to the required skill level from RQF level 6 to lower skilled occupations at RQF level 3 allowing business to recruit lower skilled staff not available in the UK labour market.
• A reduction in the minimum annual salary requirement for overseas skilled workers from £30,000 to £25,600 (or going rate for the occupation, whichever is higher) will enable businesses to target a wider market overseas. A migrant may be paid a lower minimum salary of at least £20,480 per year providing they are able to trade points for other attributes to meet the requirements.

The table below shows some of the key occupations in the construction industry and the required salary (going rate) for each occupation.

Occupation	Job titles	Salary (going rate)
Production Managers and directors in construction	·         Construction manager ·         Director (building construction)	£34,900
Construction Project managers	·         Contract manager ·         Project manager	£28,700
Architectural and town planning technicians	·         Construction planner	£23,800
Construction and building trades not elsewhere specified	·         Property developer (building construction)	£23,000
Construction and building trades supervisors	·         Construction foreman ·         Construction supervisor ·         Site foreman	£31,400
Civil Engineers	·         Building engineer ·         Site engineer ·         Structural engineer	£35,000
Town planning officers	·         Planning officer	£28,500
Chartered surveyors	·         Building surveyor ·         Chartered surveyor ·         Land surveyor	£30,200
Building and civil engineering technicians	·         Building services consultant ·         Civil engineering technician ·         Survey technician	£23,400
Inspectors of standards and regulations	·         Building inspector	£26,600

We recommend that businesses in the construction industry apply to the Home Office to become approved sponsors, which will enable them to recruit specialists and skilled workers from abroad. We appreciate that not all businesses recruit workers from overseas; however, you may still be impacted if anyone in the supply chain requires overseas specialist workers.

It can take up to 8 weeks after submission of the application to become an approved sponsor, so time is of the essence given that freedom of movement ends after 31 December 2020.

You will be issued a sponsor licence for 4 years and can request a Certificate of Sponsorship (CoS) using the Sponsor Management System (SMS) for individuals.

Contributed by Ikram Malik, Business Immigration Law Partner at Aaron & Partners

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UK Infrastructure: A Year in Review

Andrew Barker is Director of Dalcour Maclaren. In this feature he takes a look at the rollercoaster year construction had in 2020.

The end of 2020 is nigh! For reasons I need not explain, it has become famed as the ‘year to forget’ right across the globe.  Mentally, we are so desperate for 2021 to be a clean slate; we all want to be positive and hope that vaccines early next year will start the ‘post-covid’ era.  And let’s hope it is an era to celebrate!

But when you look back at the 2020 rollercoaster, it is not all doom and gloom across the infrastructure sector.  Yes, there have been some knock-backs and hurdles, but there has also been a fair share of progress.  Clearly the sector is vast, and the activity is widespread, but here are the highlights in my calendar based on what we, at Dalcour Maclaren, have been working on:

January – Hornsea One Offshore Wind Farm was declared fully operational and took the prize for the World’s Largest Offshore Wind Farm with a generating capacity exceeding 1GW for the first time.

February – UK Government approved the £106bn HS2 Project.

March – On 11^th March, the government promised “the biggest programme of public investment ever” as part of its Budget for 2020, with planned investment in roads, railways, affordable housing, and broadband.

Just 7 working days later, on 23^rd March, the PM announced the UK wide Lockdown; and it arrived with a brutal thump.  Heathrow’s Third Runway and Gatwick’s Runways Extension Projects were both halted as Covid tore up their short-term plans.

April – Covid started impacting on Public Inquiries and Hearings as DCO programmes start to slip and increasing numbers of projects suffered delays.

May – Sizewell C Nuclear Power Station DCO application was submitted.

June – Crown Estate Scotland announced the launch of ScotWind Leasing, the first round of offshore wind leasing in Scottish Waters for a decade with the potential to deliver up to 10GW of total generating capacity.

July – Norfolk Vanguard Offshore Wind Farm DCO is granted allowing the development of 1.8GW of energy off the Norfolk coast.

August – following a window of hope in the Covid statistics in July, we all try to find a quiet little corner of England for a short respite from our home offices!

September – HS2 formally started construction as the main civil engineering contractors launched the first ‘shovels in the ground’.  (Previous works focussed on preparatory work including design, ground clearance and demolition).

October – Wylfa Newydd nuclear power station DCO decision is delayed for a third time.

November – Boris launches a ‘Green Industrial Revolution’ with his 10 Point Plan, closely followed by the National Infrastructure Strategy and then Rishi Sunak’s Spending Review where Infrastructure is put in pole position.

December – could be an interesting month!  2020 has seen 17 Nationally Significant Infrastructure Projects having their DCO’s granted with 6 further DCO decisions pending, some of which are long awaited but due by the end of the month.

Whilst 2020 has had its challenges, and I sympathise enormously for those working in sectors that have suffered the most, there are now vast opportunities out there.  Boris is starting to set the direction; ‘building back greener and better’ is the headline and the National Infrastructure Strategy is a start to putting the meat onto the bones and providing the certainty that investors require to fill a funding gap which will require more than a little Polyfilla!

Our Prime Minister is hosting the 26^th UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26) in Glasgow in November 2021. The climate talks will bring together heads of state, climate experts and campaigners to agree coordinated action to tackle climate change.  The UK needs to have clear plans in place well before then if we are to shine on the national stage and stand a strong chance of reversing the economic damage of 2020.

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