Is your job safe from computer automation? It’s a question construction consultants will increasingly have to start asking themselves. And if you think you’re immune, you might need to think again. 

We may be used to the idea of robot automation on manufacturing production lines, but white-collar professionals are now feeling the heat from new digital technologies, particularly artificial intelligence (AI), given the exponential growth in computing power and algorithm-based computer systems. There is talk of automated nurses, even judges. A 2013 report from Oxford university estimated that 47% of all US jobs were at a high risk of automation in the next 20 years, including “a substantial share of employment in […] construction occupations”. Most recently, PwC reported that 20% of all UK jobs were at risk of automation by the mid-2030s.

For consulting firms working in UK construction, the rise of digital technologies such as AI, the “internet of things” and blockchain is, of course, a huge potential opportunity as well as a threat. For many, it is opening up the possibility of consultants’ more routine tasks – drawing up cost schedules or engineers’ calculations – being largely automated, freeing up time for more creative endeavours. And according to a report published last autumn by construction firm Mace, these technologies are coming quickly – with a widespread effect from AI and process automation likely within 10 years. 

Many are optimistic that more jobs will be created than destroyed by this so-called “fourth industrial revolution”. But there is no guarantee that new jobs will require the same skills, while, more broadly, there are fears that automation could further the commodification of what were once highly valued professional services. So as part of our Building Your Future  campaign, we’ve asked how technology will affect the industry’s architects, surveyors, engineers and project managers, and whether a race to the bottom can be avoided.

…