The industry skills narrative to date has largely been framed in the construction site trade context, something I analysed as part of the recent CITB review. In that report, I noted the more holistic nature of the skills debate spanning both trades and professionals. I recently had the privilege of delivering the annual Sir James Wates Lecture for the CIOB and chose to focus on the future of built environment professional services – and I will share some thoughts here.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is undoubtedly the biggest single mega trend bearing down on white-collar workers. Although there is debate about what is hype and what is real, it seems inevitable that change is coming for those in the knowledge economy, including planners, designers, surveyors, project and construction managers and many other job roles.

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