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“It is not the most intellectual of the species that survives; it is not the strongest that survives; but the species that survives is the one that is able to adapt to and to adjust best to the changing environment in which it finds itself.” — Charles Darwin

Adapt or die, as the saying goes. Over the past 12 months, construction companies the world over have learned this the hard way.

As companies switch to working from home, demand for office space plummeted. The collapse of global tourism makes hotels redundant. Local lockdowns saw construction projects in some countries shut down altogether.

But other opportunities have emerged. Investment in new medical facilities, particularly mobile and temporary ones, boomed. Demand for cold storage and fulfillment centers is through the roof. Some developers have adjusted their plans, hedging their bets by changing hotels and office blocks under construction into mixed-purpose buildings. Others are playing the long game, taking advantage of low occupancy rates to undertake renovations or conversions.

As these requirements shift, contractors need to catch up.

That means keeping on top of new health and safety demands, like HVAC units with built-in HEPA filters and other interventions designed to prevent viral spread. On a larger scale, it means exploring fresh approaches to construction management that shorten schedules, minimize risk and accommodate change requests – no matter how complex.

What is the current state of the global construction industry?

Nowhere in the world has the construction industry come through the COVID-19 crisis unscathed.

Data published by the International Journal of Real Estate Studies in November 2020 found that, globally, 97% of construction projects were affected in some way by the pandemic; 29% of these projects had been forced to stop completely, and another 36% experienced a partial stoppage.

A third of respondents described the impact of the pandemic on their workflow as major or severe. While most job sites were up and running again, only 6% said work had resumed at full productivity, without reducing their weekly progress.

In some areas, though, construction levels are creeping back to normal.

Having plummeted by 26% in April 2020, construction in the EU is back up to 96% of pre-crisis levels. As of December, 73% of the 1.1 million construction jobs lost in the U.S. during the pandemic had been recovered.

Much of this has been driven by an increase in homebuilding, particularly for the single-family housing market. This is one of the few industries that got a boost during the pandemic, as falling mortgage rates meant more American families started thinking about buying their own homes.

When it comes to non-residential construction, though, it’s a mixed bag.

Overall, U.S. construction spending increased slightly in 2021 (2.3%) in Q1 compared to 2020, but spending on hotels/lodging, office buildings and all kinds of recreation and amusement projects have plummeted, while healthcare, manufacturing, commercial buildings, public safety projects and public works (like highways, power, sewage, and water supply) are all on the rise.

It’s worth bearing in mind, though, that the costs of building materials are up across the board since last year. In many areas, lumber has risen nearly 200%, drywall and insulation over 25%, and HVAC and electrical nearly 50%. So while construction spending is up, profit margins are squeezed.

What’s more, rather than going back to “business as usual”, the impact is likely to be felt long term. Four in 10 construction companies worldwide are considering making permanent changes to their working processes.

What risks are lurking around the corner for contractors?

COVID-19 introduced a ton of new risks while exacerbating old ones, too.

Work interruptions and labor shortages threaten to push projects over schedule and budget. No contractor wants to be on the project longer than necessary. The longer the construction process drags on, the greater the exposure to potential dangers on the job site, including vandalism and theft. If delays occur before certain key milestones, for example before the building is dried in, that can lead to a ton of extra work and cost.

Disruptions to supply chains and transport logistics are a huge headache, too. Last year, Researchers in Russia reported a surge in these kinds of problems and warned that many large projects were threatened as a knock-on effect of partners and suppliers going bankrupt. They also saw a rise in leaks of commercially sensitive project data, as managerial staff switched to working remotely, on computers lacking enterprise-grade security.

These problems aren’t unique to Russia. Without a secure platform that can store up-to-date project information and provide visibility over progress and vendor relationships, any complex project, no matter how well funded, is in danger of falling apart.

Fast-adapting construction companies reap enormous rewards

While many have struggled, general contractors that adapted quickly to new pressures – embracing technologies designed to streamline construction workflows – have seen stunning results.

Take the 1,600-bed Thunder God Mountain (Leishenshan) hospital, an emergency engineering and construction project commissioned in Wuhan in January 2020, in response to the COVID-19 outbreak.

Even more impressive than that dramatic name is the speed and efficiency with which it was built. Usually, a hospital of this size would take three to five years to build, but this one was constructed in a matter of weeks! This was only possible thanks to a modular, BIM-driven approach to the design and build of the underlying, fabricated steel structure.

Using BIM combined with 5G, AI, and IoT applications, the team optimized the architecture, building development and logistics. By using cutting-edge technology to oversee and align their processes, the general contractor was able to meet highly complex project requirements in an extremely short space of time.

BIM technology assisted the design and construction work, while unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) provided data analysis and digitized the intelligence so it could be viewed and applied by the engineering and construction team immediately. To make things even more efficient, the team carried out on-site construction and overall hoisting at the same time.

With over 1,000 building supervisors, nearly 8,000 construction workers and 1,491 cranes, excavators and other items of machinery to manage, it’s hard to think how the project could have succeeded without the general contractor having total visibility over the project, including models updated in real-time to reflect the progress on the ground as well as an easy way to communicate and keep everyone in the loop throughout.

Around the world, urgent demands for emergency facilities led to similar innovations.

The international CURA project used BIM to design an open-source, modular intensive care unit for field hospitals that any construction team could replicate.

The U.K.’s National Health Service (NHS) also commissioned overflow hospital wards using modular design principles. In Germany, the U.S. and many other countries, existing construction projects were adapted to act as temporary medical facilities, while in the Philippines, modular quarantine centers and mobile ICUs were constructed rapidly using shipping containers.

Singapore General Hospital constructed a temporary COVID-19 isolation ward using prefabricated containers in their open-air car park. Planning began in mid-April 2020, work began at the end of May, and the scalable, modular design meant that the ward was completed in 50 days with a team of just 100 people, despite massive setbacks. These included a lockdown that suspended construction and an outbreak of COVID-19 in the workers’ dormitory.

This modular approach to construction isn’t new. Sweden, for example, already builds 84% of its homes using modular architecture, in the form of prefabricated timber structures. This compares to just 5% in the U.S., U.K., and Australia. Back in 2018, the IFS predicted that uptake of modular products would grow by just 6% by 2022. But having now seen for themselves just how efficient and effective modular design and construction can be, more and more architects, developers and general contractors are following suit.

Final thoughts: getting back on track

COVID-19 has propelled us into the worst global recession the world has ever seen. That’s scary – but it’s also an opportunity. A chance for GCs to rethink inefficient ways of working and embrace leaner, more effective, better-connected alternatives.

That means embracing BIM. It means exploring modular construction. It means switching to technologies that make communication a breeze and give you real-time visibility over the status of your project.

Over the past year, the world has changed in ways that may never fully revert. Those that adapt to these challenges will thrive. Those that don’t … won’t.

Find out how Hexagon PPM’s Smart Build technology can help you elevate your construction management. Click here for details.