Construction Magazine September 2017 | Page 19

REDUCING ENERGY USAGE IN THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT
modularisation , alongside building information modelling ( BIM ) and the prefabrication of efficient buildings .
Nonetheless , Adams comments : “ We can invent a piece of technology that a very small amount of people would immediately get , but in the wider populous , it would take a lot of people a long time to get used to . How do you integrate new technology into society ? That ’ s a big challenge .”
Irrespective of these challenges , the built environment industry will need to invest in SMART solutions in order to counteract a predicted skills shortage . Reports highlight that in the next few years the UK engineering profession especially is likely to lose approximately 400,000 workers . Adams adds : “ It ’ s new people coming into the industry , but equally it is also about technology . Robotics replacing construction workers is not an immediate concern , but more of a long-term issue at this time .”
Collaborations Technologies such as BIM have supported increased collaboration between different teams through sharing of essential data , but most importantly , should enable companies to share generic mistakes which have been made . “ Companies don ’ t have to name the building , the client or any personable data , but just
19