Constructing the future conference ahead

Construction is becoming more technology-rich and innovation focused, Hamish McNicol reports.

There needs to be a way for construction to become quicker and less expensive, or the industry faces ‘‘strangling off its demand’’, New Zealand Institute of Building chief executive Malcolm Fleming says.

To try to solve this problem, next month a construction conference called ‘‘Constructing Our World’’ will be attended by hundreds in Auckland.

The conference would be hosted by NZIOB in collaboration with its Australian and Singaporean equivalents, before further international conferences in 2019 and 2021.

Fleming said there had been recent stories about apartment projects falling over because of escalating costs, but another major reason was because of funding changes.

As such, the industry needed to address making construction quicker and less expensive, so it did not cut off the demand.

‘‘There is a global groundswell underway that is rapidly changing the construction industry.

‘‘Across the supply chain, construction is becoming increasingly technology-rich and innovation focused.’’

The conference in Auckland would feature speakers at the forefront of these changes he said, to talk about how it could transform the sector here.

Speakers would come from Australia, Hong Kong, Sweden, the United Kingdom, Singapore and the USA, as well as leading New Zealand representatives.

The Ministry of Business, Innovation and Employment’s 2016 National Construction Pipeline Report, said the national value of all building and construction was going through a sustained rate of growth not seen in the last 40 years.

Forecasts predicted it would peak this year at $6.2 billion, 20 per cent more than at the end of 2015 and 28 per cent higher than the previous peak in 2007.

‘‘New Zealand continues to construct more by value than ever before, with current levels of recorded activity reaching $31b for 2015 and continuing to climb.’’

The report said residential building in Auckland accounted for more than half of the national growth in construction value, increasing $3.3b in 2017.

‘‘Constructing our World is an exciting opportunity for the NZIOB and our Asia Pacific partners,’’ Fleming said.

‘‘We are aiming to provide access to global construction trends enabling our members to innovate and build better, faster, cheaper and so deliver an affordable, sustainable and quality built environment.’’