What’s the next big innovation or development in the built environment that you’re most looking forward to?
I would say it has got to be how AI can improve the design process and give more choice to occupiers and developers and produce a better product.
What have younger team members pushed you to rethink?
What I have become aware of in more recent years, partly because of younger team members and having my own kids, is how much harder it is for them to get started in their careers and the difficulties in becoming personally and financially secure. Though this generation have a much higher number of university graduates, they are entering a very different job market with more and more graduate roles being replaced by AI. They are also subjected to a very different housing market and general cost of living compared to previous generations. A lot more is expected from a much earlier age, and I think there is a need for more guidance and mentoring, in order for them to gain a better understanding of the wider political climate and business world. Many graduates entering their professional careers have no idea about the world around them, from national and global politics to basic history to business. There is a need for greater support to their generation.
What would need to change for more women to reach partner level in the built environment industry?
First and foremost, there needs to be more women entering the profession, there is a half reasonable number of female architectural students, we also have seen an increasing number of women train as Geotech’s, however I can’t remember the last time I met a female civil/structural engineer. These are just not career choices women are making and they are not sold to women as careers when they are in education. So, what needs to change is awareness of careers and an understanding of what a professional career as an engineer can looks like for a woman that doesn’t involve a spanner or a boiler suit. There needs to be an understanding that a professional engineering career is business and is on par with being a lawyer or an accountant, it is a profession and part of the problem is complete misuse of the word engineer.
Once they are in the industry it is important to make sure an organisation will support a career journey that will not be de-railed by having a family, it’s got to be accommodated for. Having a professional career and a family shouldn’t need to be a choice.
What dangers could introducing AI into the construction industry bring?
The biggest problem we could face in the built environment sector with the growth of AI is that people forget how to do the job properly, becoming over reliant on it and becoming unable to recognise its short comings and failings. If you are too dependent on AI you might not recognise when it gets something wrong, and we are at risk of professionals losing a depth and feel for the subject. We are also at risk of a large skills gap occurring, with an aging workforce and the decreasing number of entry-level graduate jobs as a result of developments in AI, it is very possible that the foundational skills learnt in the early years of a professional’s career are lost.
I would also question that whilst AI will learn from us will it ever be able to truly innovate on its own, can AI be an inventor?
