Author: Laura Black
We are currently in the middle of a “hot” technology series, looking at one of the hottest, most talked about technologies of 2025: AI (artificial intelligence). To start the series, we are looking at AI in the lifecycle of a building or infrastructure asset. Last week, we kicked it off looking at lifecycle opportunities in design. Today, let’s expand on this a bit by looking at how AI could extend even further, into construction. Deltek recently published its 46th annual Deltek Clarity Architecture & Engineering Industry Study, surveying nearly 700 firms across the United States and Canada. Here is what…
Design, build, operate: Imagine if data could flow seamlessly through throughout the lifecycle of a facility, being shared with all project participants? This is the conversation we have been having at Constructech for decades. Easily sharing data across the entire project and across various project team members opens up new opportunities for construction to improve project efficiency, heighten collaboration, and ultimately lead to a better bottomline. It is the conversation we have been having with BIM (building information modeling) for decades. Now imagine the opportunities gen AI (artificial intelligence) could potentially unlock throughout the lifecycle. This is precisely what we…
Summer is coming, and things are heating up here in the United States. This summer, we will be embarking on a “hot” technology series, looking at one of the hottest, most talked about technologies of 2025: AI (artificial intelligence). You have likely heard some of the predictions. Gen AI will likely pass $1 trillion by 2028, which represents a more than 20-fold increase in the next three years. However, this is all easier said than done. New technologies often disrupt business flow, as roadblocks and new risks arise. Alignment becomes key to ensure the objectives of the business, the technology…
Let’s talk safety in construction—for women. We all know PPE (personal protective equipment) is one of the best ways to heighten safety in the construction industry, and yet so much of the PPE is designed to fit men. It is time for a candid conversation about safety. The construction industry continues to see the greatest numbers of fatalities. Falls, slips, and trips accounted for more than 39% of all construction fatalities. In 2023, 260 fatal falls to a lower level within construction were from a height of between 6 and 30 feet, while 67 fatal falls were from a height…
Safety is paramount in the construction industry—something that has evolved throughout the years and has become more prominent in the past few decades. But are there still areas where we can improve safety? April is National Safe Digging Month, but let’s review a little bit of U.S. history first. The Pipeline Safety Improvement Act of 2002 required all utility services to have abbreviated numbers for locating underground utilities. In 2005, the United States Federal Communication Commission made a universal number for the 71 regional services, simplifying the process even further. That number is still 811 today. CGA (Common Ground Alliance)…
Last night, I was in a heated debate with some friends from my women’s club about none other than ChatGPT, and I think it is applicable for any construction professional who is currently or who is planning to use ChatGPT to write emails, briefs, or other documentation for either work or personal purposes. We were reading applications for our scholarship committee and tried to spot when an applicant used ChatGPT. It wasn’t against eligibility to use ChatGPT on the application, but we were just noticing that it was pretty apparent when ChatGPT was being used. And then, someone brought up…
As we have been reporting here at Constructech, the construction industry is ripe for innovation and growth, and in order to achieve this, we will need more workers in the years ahead. Let’s narrow in on this job growth to get a better picture of the opportunities that exist today and tomorrow in the construction industry. The BLS (Bureau of Labor Statistics) suggests overall employment in construction is projected to grow faster than the average for all occupations from 2023 to 2033. For a number of different reasons, the bureau anticipates 663,500 openings projected each year on average. The median…
Infrastructure has been a hot topic in the past couple of weeks, as ASCE (American Society of Civil Engineers) has released its Infrastructure Report Card—something Peggy Smedley has reported on here on the blog and on The Peggy Smedley Show in depth. There has been much progress made, and yet there is still much work to be done. Let’s review the foundation, the facts, and the future of infrastructure. The Foundation Infrastructure is the foundation and the lifeblood of communities. It helps us move, live, and work, and without it, we can falter. This is precisely what NUCA (National Utility…
If we want to rebuild our infrastructure, we must consider a few key factors, chiefly innovation, which is something I explored in-depth last week. However, another key factor we must consider as we are rebuilding infrastructure and cities is resilience. The statistics are telling. We know of the 10 years with the most natural disasters, nine were in the last decade. Building on this, we also know the number of natural weather disasters with damages of more than a billion dollars has increased in the last forty years, from an average 3.3 per year in the 1980s to 17+ from…
Today, the ASCE (American Society of Civil Engineers) announced the launch of its 2025 Infrastructure Report Card, and it has me thinking about innovation in infrastructure and what that means for the construction industry in the years to come. For those who follow the report card, it is released every four years, and 2021 was the first time we saw the overall GPA out of the D range. Achieving a C- in 2021 was progress, and now in 2025, the overall GPA is a C. Peggy Smedley is doing a deeper dive of the report card over on The Peggy Smedley…