Innovation will ignite lasting growth in the global construction and water utilities sectors

Following several volatile years for the construction and utilities sectors in the wake of the global pandemic, it is encouraging that growth has been recorded across the first half of the year. Having just marked the fourth anniversary of COVID’s unwelcome arrival, some may believe the challenges it heralded are behind us. However, the industry would be wise to view recent growth with cautious optimism and consider the technological change needed to ignite lasting growth.

Construction activity in May and June grew at its fastest pace in two years in the UK, whilst planning activity for U.S. non-residential construction projects increased by 2.7% in May month-on-month. Further evidence of this impressive progress; a new report has predicted that construction industry growth in the U.S. will surpass $1.53 trillion by 2028.

Furthermore, the global water utility services market can also anticipate significant growth. The market was valued at $62.77 billion in 2022, and is expected to maintain a steady trajectory with a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 4.25% through to 2028.

The headwinds 

A cocktail of challenges including pandemic-related trade restrictions, a drop in customer demand, limited availability of materials and labour, supply chain bottlenecks, and Russia’s war on Ukraine which triggered an energy crisis, have had a long-lasting impact on these sectors. In fact, a whopping 80% of construction business owners said that they were forced to cancel or postpone projects as a result of the COVID-19 crisis. Many are still trying to recover from these interruptions in day-to-day operations, and get their projects back on track. 

Many economists have suggested that recent progress will stall, with a deceleration in global growth as a result of geopolitical uncertainty, monetary tightening policies, soaring inflation, and labour shortages, all on the horizon. However it’s worth noting that the spike in growth across the construction and utilities sectors has been partly attributed to great leaps in technological innovations. It is my belief that it is these advancements that could stabilise sector growth and renew confidence for the long-term if they continue at pace.

Technology keeps growth on track

Worldwide, pioneering new technological solutions are playing a pivotal role in shaping the future of the construction and water industries, and they could hold the key to accelerating further growth. Solutions driven by 5G, IoT, AI, machine learning, sensors and data analytics are allowing companies to gather unprecedented levels of data today, and when properly leveraged, they can transform operational efficiency and safety across whole organisations and projects.

Companies operating within these heavy industries are realising the incredible power of their data; benefits include improved decision-making to ensure a project stays within budget, highly optimised maintenance schedules to increase efficiency across a field workforce, as well as protecting the integrity of key equipment and infrastructure for long-term health and safety. 

From our own experience of deploying FYLD’s AI-powered technology in the construction and water industries, the impact is significant. The use of our solution resulted in a 12% increase in productivity within one customer’s field workforce, which was achieved in only six weeks. In addition, a 75% reduction in aborted jobs was recorded. What does this mean? It means project deadlines were met, safety levels were maintained, and budgets were kept on track: protecting profit and people. 

Another example of this efficiency was evident when FYLD helped a leading UK water utility reduce the time it took to fix leaks by 35%. This cost 85% less than it typically does across the industry. The solution we delivered is forecast to save over 450m litres of water in the first year of deployment alone. If this level of efficiency outlined above was recorded across the whole sector, then industry growth levels would continue to rise at record rates.

Health and safety at the heart of growth 

Furthermore, health and safety is firmly placed at the heart of efficiency gains. The same customer saw a 20% reduction in safety incidents, and injuries of field workers, as a result of a 30% uplift in safety interventions. This was only possible because of the increased remote visibility on offer through our FYLD platform. 

Statistics like these are a day-to-day reality for many companies within the construction and water industries because our solution reduces the need for workers to be physically on-site, limiting their exposure to dangerous environments and equipment, whilst making work risk assessments more efficient than ever before through AI-driven prompts. In addition, actionable insights created through the solution for project and site managers allows them to quickly establish the immediate real-time action needed to mitigate potential risks to their team. In doing so, they not only keep their people safe but can avoid hefty fines and reputational damage.

Sustaining long-term growth and upholding safety standards 

It is clear, by harnessing the power of technology, the global construction and water management industries can stay ahead of the curve, avoiding the delays we witnessed during the pandemic, and instead rebound by delivering projects to plan. This digital-first approach will not only aid recovery and sustain long-term growth for these sectors, allowing them to flourish and continue to recruit skilled workers, but it will also positively impact the reputation and bottom-line of the sector as a whole. It’s a win win.