What’s driving consultants’ race to invest in artificial intelligence and digital technology?

“I’ve never seen this pace of change with any other technology in my 25-year career.” That’s how one expert described the AI and machine learning landscape that leading built environment consultants are operating in right now.

He was reacting to our Top 150 consultants survey results, which showed that 89% of firms in the rankings think the new technology is “extremely” or “very” important to the transformation of their business over the next decade. It also revealed that 84% plan to spend more on it in future.

It’s the third year our survey has asked questions specifically about AI and in the last two we have seen an increasing appetite to prioritise and pay more for AI to be at the heart of consultants’ long term business plans. But this year the rise in digital optimism has been even greater, and is in stark contrast to worsening sentiment about the wider political and economic landscape.

So what is fuelling this AI arms race? A combination of factors for sure, but high up there is a fear of being left behind, according to one consultant. With the likes of Microsoft rolling out changes to their applications on an almost weekly basis, companies feel under pressure to not just keep up to date, but also to be seen – by staff, clients and rivals – to be actively “doing something”.

While many in our survey have a laser-like focus on AI strategies that will create competitive advantage, anecdotally we know that many in the wider construction industry are struggling to find a clear path through all the confusion.

Still, what is good to see in the Top 150 survey is that even firms at the earlier stages of AI adoption are able to reap rewards. Benefits that consultants of all types have shared in their responses fall into three very broad area: productivity gains, improved quality and new capabilities.

There is widespread use of off-the-shelf tools and, crucially, many are measuring the return on investment. Some impressive results include firms reporting figures such as a 30% reduction in manual estimating, £100k saved a year on bid writing, and a 20% uplift in project/cost management efficiency.

Clearly firms are at different stages, with most experimenting or achieving some returns. Then there is a smaller but growing group deploying proprietary AI tools in projects, creating added value for clients. And finally a few are embedding AI into their business strategy, measuring impact against client needs, and influencing others in the supply chain.

>>See also: Top 150 Consultants 2024: Driving efficiencies through artificial intelligence

So what about the small minority in our survey – and presumably representative of elements of the wider industry - who do not deem AI to be important to their businesses? It’s possible they are waiting for the perceived hype to subside. Perhaps they are banking on the idea of a “late-mover advantage”, not wanting to squander money on failed experiments that get superseded by new tech coming on to the market.

It is understandable that for smaller firms budgetary constraints weigh heavily on their ability to invest. However, many would argue that the bigger risk lies in doing nothing, or not enough. Many strongly believe that the companies that are going to be successful over the next decade – whatever their size – are the ones making decisions right now about how they are going to adopt AI in the future.

A piece of advice you hear from many data specialists is that if you’re unsure what you should be doing in the AI space right now, then think instead about the valuable data you have and make sure you are collecting, cleaning, structuring and storing it so that you could find ways to leverage it as new technology emerges.

Another tip coming from one middle-ranking consultant is to use size to your advantage. You may lack big budgets, but unlike some of the mega consultants you can pilot small AI projects quickly and pivot fast without wading through red tape at every turn. One consultant talked of how they try out multiple “minimum viable products” knowing that some fail, some succeed, but that the agility and the learning helps them stay aligned with rapid tech change.

If you think there is an element of hype to all the media coverage of AI, you are probably not alone. But the momentum we are witnessing certainly appears to be both sustained and transformational. It’s one thing to recognise that, and another to work out what it means for your business.

The companies in our Top 150 range from those still identifying low-hanging fruit through to ones with a fully integrated AI business strategies. What they share, however, is a willingness to embrace a change, focus on practical training and invest wisely.

Exactly what AI will lead to in the future is unknown. A plausible prediction is that it will increasingly be embedded into core design tools like Autodesk Revit, accelerating BIM modelling and documentation. This could reduce the number of roles needed for some processes, while massively speeding up project delivery. But ask many in the sector and they believe some element of human oversight will still be needed, and that consultants must keep developing skills so that people can understand AI and remain in control. That sounds worth investing in.

Chloë McCulloch is the editor of Building

Top 150 Consultants 2025: full analysis and data tables

• Top 150 Consultants: The main table
• Top 50 Engineers
• Top 50 Project Managers
• Top 50 Surveyors
• Top 150 Consultants 2025: Are we finally heading for growth or more stagflation?
• Top 150 Consultants 2025: Assessing a year of a Labour government for construction
• Top 150 Consultants 2025: Driving efficiencies through artificial intelligence