The benefits of transforming construction will be enormous, but it won’t happen overnight.

Of course, the most pressing, current question is: how do we make a planet which sustainably supports 11.5 billion people?Population growth coupled with the required infrastructure will generate massive amounts of carbon.

We must find ways to deliver what we need using much less.Optimisation of materials, better control of logistics, automation in construction, fewer people on site – all of these factors will help to create an overall lower carbon version of the built environment.We’re already working hard with concrete manufacturers to find the lowest carbon form of concrete we can possibly use.

We’re talking to steel manufacturers about the types of steel which will be made by electric arc furnaces powered by hydrogen fuel cells.We’re evaluating whether it’s viable to grow enough forests to build buildings using timber.

All of these issues must be addressed now.. Modern construction for the next generation.

Finally, there is the question of the workforce itself.This approach – harnessing wide-ranging data, applying it creatively, iterating rapidly – can be applied in any number of other contexts, and we are currently working on several initiatives that need rapid implementation in the post-COVID world.

Watch this space.. It’s all about agility; the ability to plan and respond to changing circumstances in complex situations.But agility can’t simply be reactive.

We have to design it into our built environment.Future-proofing is no longer about thinking how we might repurpose a building in twenty years’ time.