Seven Areas To Tackle Poor Productivity In Construction With ConTech
In the 2017 report “Reinventing construction through a productivity revolution”, MGI argued that, if construction sector productivity were just to catch up with that of the total economy, there would be a cumulative productivity boost of up to 60%, translating into a 2% global GDP boost. The report highlighted seven areas which, if acted in simultaneously, would permit us to achieve these gains.
Regulation
This is considered to be an enabler for the other efficiencies. The goals are to streamline permitting and approvals processes, reduce informality and corruption, and encourage transparency on cost and performance. Innovation and training grants are also encouraged.
Collaboration and Contracting
Today’s hostile tendering process must be replaced by a collaborative approach. This can be achieved by basing projects on a “single source of truth” such as BIM, as well as steering away from cost only based tenders. Incentives should be aligned at the project outcome level.
Genie Belt: Copenhaghen-based GenieBelt is a construction management platform centered on the project schedule that allows owners, designers, contractors, and manufacturers to collaborate across programmes, seamlessly and efficiently.
PlanGrid: San Francisco-based PlanGrid was acquired by Autodesk in one of the biggest ConTech buyouts ever. It is a construction productivity software providing real-time updates and seamless file synchronization over Wi-Fi and cellular networks.