Philip Goforth of Missouri is a construction and real estate development professional. Philip Goforth is currently active in small, multi-family re-developments as well as other innovative real estate investments. In the article below, Philip Goforth discusses the current trends in the construction industry for 2022, and the outlook for the future
On the heels of a global pandemic, the construction industry fights to keep itself afloat amid worldwide economic struggles. To complicate matters further, growing concerns about climate change force the industry to consider new tactics for addressing conservation and sustainability.
As of 2022, current trends in the construction industry work to address all of these issues and more explains Philip Goforth of Missouri. Researchers now strive to find new ways of reducing carbon emissions and conserving resources. Meanwhile, trends toward offsite construction help to limit costs while additional studies aim to improve worker safety considerations.
No cookie-cutter solution can address such a wide array of concerns at once says Philip Goforth of Missouri. Industry trends must focus on each problem individually, beginning with those that affect the greatest number.
Reducing Carbon Emissions in Construction
Many nations once sought to safeguard the world from climate change by imposing rigorous carbon neutrality protocols across the board. In China, where the construction industry most prominently contributes to the nation’s carbon emissions, they now realize the folly of this approach.
Philip Goforth of Missouri explains that after hard hits from COVID-19 changed the face of the nation’s economy, new studies led to the reclassification of carbon emissions as a provincial concern rather than a national one. Current decarbonization protocols proved effective in some provinces, whereas concentrated areas began seeing a resurgence in growing levels of carbon output.
New trends aim to diversify protocols according to province, in the hopes of creating a more efficient set of carbon neutrality guidelines that account for locational variables. If this proves effective, other developed nations should expect to see their own carbon reduction strategies begin to diversify in the years to come reports Philip Goforth of Missouri.
Trends in Conservation and Sustainability
Other current trends in the construction industry aim to address both environmental safety and economic concerns simultaneously. Two especially prominent focal points in 2022 are circular economy and blockchain technology, which aim to address resource conservation and environmental sustainability explains Philip Goforth of Missouri.
Circular Economy and Resource Conservation
In a world of finite resources, the importance of eliminating waste extends beyond the simple aim of cutting down on pollution. Waste management and resource conservation also prove effective methods of saving production costs. For all of these reasons, the construction industry has begun adopting a circular economy model of production.
Philip Goforth of Missouri explains that this model reduces waste while increasing the production value of material resources through recycling and reuse. Circular economy not only limits unnecessary loss of viable materials, but also incorporates renewable energy sources to allow for cleaner production.
While still in the early adoption stages, industry researchers expect circular economy models to gain momentum as wasteful linear production models become increasingly unsustainable.
Blockchain Technology and Sustainability
Many sustainability issues facing the construction industry boil down to simple communication failures. Miscommunications lead to errors, which can result in economic losses and wasted resources explains Philip Goforth of Missouri.
Implementing something as simple as a decentralized ledger would allow multiple professionals access to the same data, shared across a peer-to-peer network. Blockchain technology enables the creation of just such a solution.
While trends toward the use of blockchain technology initially began in the cryptocurrency market, many construction industry professionals believe it prudent to consider adopting these technologies to resolve their own problems. If adopted, this simple solution to basic communication issues may yield vital economic and environmental benefits in turn.
Cutting Costs through Offsite Construction
Offsite construction yields numerous advantages says Philip Goforth of Missouri. Two of these, waste management and labor reduction, typically allow for the completion of projects on a lower budget. Even so, just under 34% of the industry currently takes advantage of offsite construction methods.
A recent survey suggests this may change drastically in the future, with nearly 55% of the industry posed to begin utilizing offsite construction. While it remains unclear precisely how long these changes will take to occur, explains Philip Goforth, researchers remain hopeful that we may soon witness the creation of a much more economically efficient industry over the next several years.
Current Trends in Construction Safety
Despite the ever-present need for worker safety in the construction industry, special focus on this concern only truly began as recently as fifteen years ago. Since 2007, developed nations such as the United States and Australia have pushed for greater research into safety designs and technology, particularly concerning the benefits of building information modeling.
Unfortunately, developing nations only joined this trend more recently, in 2017. Nonetheless, any improvement in this field can be viewed as a good one. As research intensifies, the use of digital construction models to prevent accidents and safety threats before they occur will hopefully spread more widely throughout not only first-world countries, but others as well says Philip Goforth of Missouri.
Outlook for the Future
While results remain to be seen, current trends in the construction industry point toward a brighter future for all. Due to the central position of the building industry in developed society, ongoing research into these numerous economic and environmental improvements may benefit not only the industry itself, but potentially the world at large.
