Industry Agenda

The report argues that the construction industry has suffered from stagnating productivity for 50 years due to fragmentation and a slow adoption of technology. It proposes a framework for transformation based on nine success factors for companies—such as adopting customer-centric design and product platforms—and three strategic roles for governments: smart regulator, long-term strategic planner/incubator, and forward-looking project owner. The document details ten innovation cases, including 3D printing (Winsun, MX3D), predictive analytics (Uptake), and sustainable design (The Edge), to demonstrate how these factors can be applied to improve project delivery, sustainability, and affordability.

• The construction industry has experienced stagnant or declining labour productivity over the last 50 years, contrasting sharply with other industries that have benefited from process and product innovations.
• The built environment is a major contributor to global environmental degradation, acting as the largest consumer of raw materials and accounting for 25-40% of total global carbon emissions.
• Successful innovation in construction requires a shift from an individual-project perspective to the establishment of product platforms, which allows for standardization and a stronger business case for innovation.
• Governments can foster industry innovation by acting as 'smart regulators' who update building codes to be performance-based and flexible enough to accommodate rapid technological progress.
• The Edge office building in Amsterdam is cited as the world's most sustainable office building, achieving a BREEAM rating of 98.36% and net-negative energy consumption of -0.3 kWh/m2/year.
• The New Karolinska Hospital project demonstrates that deploying Building Information Modelling (BIM) across the entire lifecycle—from design to operations and maintenance—is essential for managing complex, large-scale healthcare infrastructure.
• Moladi Construction Systems provides a scalable, low-tech solution for affordable housing and social infrastructure in developing countries, using reusable plastic formwork and a patented mortar additive to reduce costs and construction time.
• The Burj Khalifa project succeeded by assembling a best-in-class international team and engaging regulators early to overcome technical hurdles, such as placing transformers on multiple floors to avoid voltage drops.
• Anglian Water's @one Alliance uses a collaborative partnership model and product-based delivery to reduce embodied carbon and improve safety, achieving a 54% reduction in embodied carbon from 2010-2015.
• BROAD Sustainable Building (BSB) applies manufacturing principles to high-rise construction, using prefabricated steel-frame floor plates to drastically reduce construction time, such as completing a 57-storey building in 19 days.
• MX3D is advancing autonomous robotic 3D printing for metals using wire-arc additive manufacturing (WAAM), which allows for the creation of complex structures with zero waste and minimal rework.
• Aditazz uses design-automation principles from the semiconductor industry to optimize building layouts, which can improve design-and-construction productivity by approximately 30%.
• Winsun utilizes large-scale 3D printing to create residential and office buildings, reducing construction costs by up to 80% and labour costs by 60% compared to traditional on-site methods.
• Uptake employs a predictive analytics platform that integrates disparate data from heavy equipment to reduce unscheduled downtime and maintenance costs, potentially saving a fleet of 3,000 engines over $22 million annually.

APA

World Economic Forum (2017). Industry Agenda. http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Shaping_the_Future_of_Construction_Inspiring_Innovators_redefine_the_industry_2017.pdf

Chicago

World Economic Forum. Industry Agenda. 2017. http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Shaping_the_Future_of_Construction_Inspiring_Innovators_redefine_the_industry_2017.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=World Economic Forum |title=Industry Agenda |date=February 2017 |url=http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Shaping_the_Future_of_Construction_Inspiring_Innovators_redefine_the_industry_2017.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{worldeconomicforum2017industry, author = {{World Economic Forum}}, title = {{Industry Agenda}}, institution = {World Economic Forum}, year = {2017}, month = feb, url = {http://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_Shaping_the_Future_of_Construction_Inspiring_Innovators_redefine_the_industry_2017.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }