With COVID-19 in 2020 came many changes throughout several industries, including commercial construction. These changes brought trends in the construction industry that both commercial construction companies and their clients should be aware of. Here are the top 5 trends that are important to know about!
Although safety is always an important consideration in commercial construction, COVID-19 has caused safety to be on the top of the list in this industry as well as many others. Enhanced safety protocols such as masks, hand sanitizer, and smaller crews have become part of the everyday for many construction businesses.
Non-residential building has gone down since the pandemic. Most of this can be due to uncertainty or loss of money that businesses went through in 2020-2021. Investment in expensive spaces such as office building towers or hotels, (2 large sectors of the commercial construction market), are difficult for those who have the uncertainty from the past year in the back of there heads. However, with hope for the end of the pandemic also has come hope for upturn in the commercial construction industry.
One very interesting trend in commercial construction is living materials. These are biological compounds that grow themselves. And example of this is self-mending concrete, which is concrete that is saturated with bacteria that bind materials around them. This results in the concrete filling and repairing cracks it its own structure. The use of these materials continue to grow as awareness grows about these products!
In addition to living materials, remote technologies are also used for increased efficiency in commercial construction jobs. You will find that many commercial jobs use drones in order to find valuable information such as safety issues or the amount of materials needed. It has been found that the use of this technology can produce major savings in this industry.
Last but not least is an increased use of 3-D printing! This technology is being used in many industries such as the healthcare field. 3-D printing is used in commercial construction for several things, including laying concrete and producing custom pieces at a more affordable rate. Designers will likely take advantage of this technology as it becomes more accessible to them.
Let us know in the comments below if you have seen these trends in the construction industry!