AI is coming to a desk near you! Here’s how to make sure you are ready

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.

The vanguard of AI-induced changes in the professions to date appears to have been in the management consulting and legal sectors and the precedents there show a rapid technological productisation of what was previously human work. The professional expertise, insights and face-to-face communication that we all rely on remain, but there is a rapidly shifting interface that has major ramifications for employers, educators, professional bodies and regulators.  

There is a growing realisation that the basic skillset of professionals and pathways to personal development and progression are  likely to change

Many of the issues are also agnostic as to whether professionals work for clients, consultants, contractors, financiers, insurers or other stakeholders.

From an employer perspective, there is a growing realisation that the basic skillset of professionals and pathways to personal development and progression are likely to change. AI literacy combined with broader domain knowledge and a requirement for “T-shaped” skills rather than siloed technical knowledge may be the order of the day.

It brings with it not just a disruption to how we train the next generation of young professionals but an even bigger challenge as to how existing professionals reskill to remain relevant. This in turn has implications for the role and nature of continuing professional development (CPD) and how the professions themselves – or indeed others – regulate competence.

Some of the basic questions I posed during the lecture include the potential for professional delivery to move from what are largely historically defined human expert roles to become more about certification and assurance of what are largely technology-generated outputs. If this happens – and is proven to lead to better results – will it result in funders, insurers and regulators pivoting to insist on AI-powered delivery?

>> Also read: What to expect from AI in construction in 2025

>> Also read: Embrace the AI revolution – or get left behind

Will it become a de facto lower risk, more fundable and insurable path, thereby creating a virtuous circle of transformation? Will we see technology-driven payment flows linked to AI-powered work validation that finally mean the end of late payment, retentions and flawed cash-based transactional models?

Will the world of consulting and contracting blur as delivery capability becomes less about balance-sheet risk-taking and more about data and knowledge, professional interpretation and the ability to assure end results?

Currently, it is fair to say that the funders and insurers who hold the key to wider transformational business model reform have justified nervousness about the risk of AI-induced errors. The same is true for professional and government regulation setting “guard rails” for AI applications. However, as AI evolves and harvests more and more expert knowledge and large datasets, it seems probable that we will see challengers come forward, employing fewer people, reducing the risk of human error, maximising the value of human professional input and delivering better outcomes.

No doubt mistakes will still be made but, if this ultimately reduces the inordinate levels of waste in our industry, it can lead to the reduction in end cost of construction while also funding improvement in margins for those in the value chain.

Increasingly, boardroom talk is about containing or even reducing professional headcount while increasing capacity through AI to deliver better. Many are not clear how to do that yet, but the seed has been sown

Such a shift also has big implications for strategic workforce planning. The shape, size and role definitions of the future built environment professions may look very different from the predictions I currently see trotted out based on business as usual. It may be uncomfortable to talk about, but the catalyst for accelerated consideration of AI by many business owners is that the burdens of employment legislation, HR friction and rampant wage inflation are not just trade worker issues; they equally apply to professional employment.

Increasingly, boardroom talk is about containing or even reducing professional headcount while increasing capacity through AI to deliver better. Many are not clear how to do that yet, but the seed has been sown.

All of this might seem a utopian (or perhaps dystopian?) vision of the future but who knows where the accelerating technology revolution will take us? It is no longer just a construction or property debate; it is a societal one.

What is nearer-term reality is that AI is already with us, from planning, design and procurement, on-site construction delivery, into sales, leasing and building operations. This means that we already need to urgently rethink professional education, future skills, personal development and emerging new professional delivery models to make sure that we are fit for purpose, both individually as practitioners and collectively as businesses and organisations.

If we do this, I believe we have a unique chance to improve our industry using ever more powerful technology in a responsible way. Our ability to plan and deliver built assets to budget, time and quality – and sustainably – largely resides in the performance of the professional cohort of our industry.

Problems are often unfairly laid at the door of poor onsite final installation, but this is often only part of a much bigger cascade effect from client briefing downwards. Professional practice therefore has a disproportionate role in the success or failure of built environment delivery.

We need to promote much more honest discussion on these issues. To this end, I am delighted to be working with the University of the Built Environment to establish Built Environment Futures Assembly. BEFA will be looking to take current and emerging professional employer needs and support them with fresh, multi-disciplinary knowledge and learning resources reflecting changing practices and the increasingly complex challenges of delivering built environment outcomes with improved public confidence.

We want to promote a healthy, evidence-backed debate across industry and with the government on the future of academic curriculums, professional standards, competency assessment and CPD. Collaboration is key to this, and we welcome all who want to look to the future and positively embrace change to work with us.

Mark Farmer is the founder of Cast Consultancy and chair of BEFA. To find out more about BEFA visit https://www.ube.ac.uk/befa/