Issues and challenges for the construction community

Abstract

There are significant industry trends in the Architecture, Engineering and Construction (AEC) industry today. The industry faces major changes in owner requirements and contractors' roles, globalization, skilled work force shortages, increased role of suppliers, reduced cycle time requirements, and increased capital effectiveness requirements. Construction industry today is moving to fully integrated/automated project processes. This has caused outsourcing, alliances, contractor consolidation, and experimentation. These events present both challenges and opportunities for the construction community. This article highlights the existing and future issues and challenges for the construction industry from the perspective of trends and new technology development. The authors have explained qualitatively what steps industry should take to minimize these future challenges. The paper describes the role of management, technology, clients, industry and academia to address the challenges. This paper also identifies the qualities or abilities construction students should achieve during their study time. And last, foci of potentially meaningful research are listed.