Included in the FMI/Construction Management Association of America’s Eighth Annual Survey of Owners is a list of the top issues that are going to force change on the construction sector in the near term. The executive summary to the report sees these challenges accelerating in parallel.

• Aging infrastructure is going to require trillions over the next 20 years to upgrade and replace;
• An aging workforce that is rapidly retiring coupled with weak attraction and retention of all age groups continues to fuel scarcity of experienced people;
• Accelerated schedules and buildings that are more complex than ever means new skills are constantly needed;
• Alternative financing and project delivery systems are requiring players to be broadly experienced in areas where they may not have needed to perform before;
• Global competition for resources and assets is shifting the balance of power to developing economies; and
• Low investment in training and education is hindered by clear ROI indicators and is affecting overall retention, attraction and productivity improvements.

While this document is largely a look at where Building Information Modeling is today it is interesting to note that four of the challenges have at their heart a requirement for more skilled and experienced people. The authors of the report summed this up very well:

The most dangerous issues we face are those that have the potential to erode our core ability to perform. These include the lack of qualified engineers, experienced managers and skilled labor. As an industry, we must switch our fundamental approach to talent acquisition from buying talent to building talent.

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