Opinion piece by Sara El Hanfy, Head of Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning at Innovate UK

2023 was a watershed year for artificial intelligence (AI).

Unprecedented attention has led to huge leaps in the public understanding of what it is capable of and how it can benefit industry sectors like construction. Here, AI and machine learning (ML) have the potential to transform and invigorate the industry, heralding the beginning of a new, digitally enabled era in construction — one marked by reduced waste, streamlined processes, and accelerated project timelines. 

Construction is one of the largest sectors in the UK economy, but its growth has lagged, with output 23% below the whole economy average, and significant labour force challenges emerging. 

Whilst AI holds great potential, adoption in the industry is currently low. There are still significant obstacles to harnessing the full potential of AI within a business context and major questions about its adoption — What exactly is AI? Can it be trusted? What impact does it hold for businesses?

To lay the foundations for an AI-enabled construction industry in the UK, it is these questions, and more, that the Innovate UK BridgeAI programme is addressing. Funded by Innovate UK and delivered with partners including consulting firm BSI, the Digital Catapult, The Alan Turing Institute, and the Science and Technology Facilities Council’s Hartree Centre, BridgeAI is literally ‘bridging the gap’ between AI developers and adopters in construction.

So, what is the opportunity for organisations in the construction sector?

1. Increasing accessibility to knowledge and expertise

Traditionally, project progress is tracked manually, often leading to unnoticed issues and costly rework. AI promises continuous monitoring, detecting deviations, and enabling timely corrective actions, potentially reducing project costs by up to 5%.

With projects requiring complex collaborations between tradespeople, who may have limited presence on-site, finding answers to planning and specification questions can take time. In an AI-powered world, real-time answering systems could significantly cut time and budget overruns by providing instant, construction-plan-based solutions.

2. Improving safety and compliance

In construction, lost labour days due to workplace injury and illness total . With heavy machinery, multiple obstacles, and uncertain terrain, it can be difficult to identify and predict all possible hazards. Applying AI, coupled with sensor and camera technology, could pre-emptively flag and mitigate health and safety hazards, potentially curbing the industry’s elevated injury rates.

AI solutions could also support compliance with building regulations, covering everything from materials to fire safety. With failures to comply often resulting in rework or removal of the non-compliant work, AI could speed up and reduce the cost of compliance processes, ultimately reducing the risk of rework and improving safety and quality of projects.

Innovate UK is currently funding projects in this space such as an AI-Enabled Rule Extraction System for BIM-based Fire Performance Diagnostic Platform (AI-FireBIM) which is aimed at producing an intelligent system for evaluating fire safety in buildings. This platform will allow for proposed building designs to be evaluated for compliance with regulations, identifying areas of non-conformance and suggesting required changes, in addition to minimising the risk of large-scale fire disasters.

3. Accelerating sustainable transformation

Complex supply chains, sometimes five suppliers deep, can make forecasting and procuring materials inefficient. AI could be used to optimise this process by analysing multiple factors including project plans, usage data, and market conditions to ensure the correct amount of product is procured at the right time. AI could recommend optimal materials and quantities, reducing costs and helping the industry move away from its title of a leading polluter and instead towards a more sustainable future.

With businesses in the industry at drastically different stages of the AI adoption journey, the BridgeAI programme is providing knowledge and tools of differing levels to help construction harness AI responsibly to unleash their productivity and full potential. BridgeAI offers a variety of support from AI fundamentals, like identifying feasible use cases or collecting the right data, through to expert guidance on technical issues and meeting regulatory standards — as highlighted at last month’s AI Safety Summit.

So far, the programme has committed over £60 million to developing end-user-driven AI solutions and has already provided over 300 organisations with upskilling support in areas like digital transformation and AI ethics.

With the AI landscape evolving rapidly, there will be a continual need for proactive business adjustments as we progress through the new year. Developments like the EU AI Act and the launch of the ISO/IEC 42001 standards signal that companies will also need to grapple with developing policies around the use of pervasive, highly accessible tools like ChatGPT, Microsoft Copilot and Google’s newly released Gemini within their businesses every-day activities.

While the massive potential of AI is incredibly exciting, its rapid transformation comes with risks that must be acknowledged, addressed, and overcome. This makes it ever more important to bring the brightest AI minds together with construction expertise to tackle the adoption journey ahead.

If you’d like to enhance business productivity and competitiveness through the AI revolution, BridgeAI offers a variety of funding and support to foster responsible AI innovation and drive construction towards a safer, more efficient future. Find out more about BridgeAI.