March Overview – Tom Woodhead
Welcome to the March edition of our Constructing Excellence Newsletter. Before we dive in, on behalf of the board I would like to express our gratitude to all who attended our Annual General Meeting (AGM) on Wednesday 1st March. Your time, attendance and engagement are critical to our continued success.
As we continue into 2023, it’s clear that the challenges faced by the construction sector in 2022 are far from over. The compounding effects of Brexit, Covid, the war in Ukraine, energy prices, and inflation will continue to pose significant challenges, including rising costs and reduced cost predictability. Furthermore, the industry faces a shortage of skilled labour and the increasing prices of construction materials such as concrete, steel, and microchips. These materials are incorporated into practically everything we build. These challenges make it essential for the industry to adapt and embrace new technologies and innovations that will improve productivity, efficiency, and sustainability.
Smarter methods of construction, new technologies, innovative materials, and product designs offer opportunities to address these challenges. The adoption of digitisation, pre-fabrication, data analytics and AI deployment across a range of construction processes can drive better productivity and efficiency. It can also help minimise wasted resources on-site and reduce the reliance on traditional construction approaches, which can be affected by the shortage of skilled labour. Additionally, innovation in construction materials and product designs can improve the quality of buildings, reduce environmental impact and lower costs.
The CE Midlands team is committed to driving conversations and collaborations across the entire construction value chain in order to identify, promote, and take advantage of these opportunities. In the past year, we have made significant progress in a number of areas, including workforce safety, digitization, net-zero, talent development, and digital innovation. Our organization is proud to support our members in adopting these new technologies and innovations in order to meet the challenges that our industry faces today.
There have been a lot of talks, articles and publications in the recent months and years about the industry having to change or risk becoming extinct, and for good reason. But did you know that, dating back to 400,000 B.C., experts believe that the construction industry is one of the oldest industries in the world? The earliest evidence of large-scale buildings is in Mesopotamia. And in the coming months, we will continue to serve our members to help drive collaboration across the industry. This will enable us to seize the opportunities that exist and ensure the industry thrives well into the future. Together, we can overcome the challenges and build a sustainable and thriving construction sector.
Thank you once again for your continued support, and we hope you enjoy this edition of our newsletter.
