Christopher Seymour, Managing Director of MEA, Consultancy at MACE Group discusses the latest developments, sustainability efforts, and innovative strides within the Construction sector
Current construction trends focus on resilience, emphasizing sustainability and climate and economic impact resistance. Construction must take accountability and lead genuine solutions, with the sector contributing over 35% of greenhouse gas emissions.
Climate resilience
You only have to look at recent headlines to realise the importance of building infrastructure and developments which will handle future weather events. Climate change means it will only get hotter in the desert, but it will also bring unusual and challenging weather events, like the recent flooding in Dubai.
As an industry, we are trending toward resilient design for our construction projects. This means encouraging and including more green space in development, providing provision for active travel, and even considering how to use natural resources—such as using water to cool and recycle heat to warm spaces.
We also need to consider how infrastructure can handle these new conditions. Pre-empting the need for water runoff solutions around property and transportation will help build resilience against sudden rain events, and including more tall landscaping will provide natural shading to help mitigate excess heat levels.
As a sector, we must continue to respond to the likely increasingly tricky and challenging climate events of the future. It is undoubtedly already a focus, but we should keep a keen interest in developing further.
Resilience through sustainability
As with all industries, construction has taken a deep look at its sustainability practices—and this is an area where we can make a significant impact. As we look to the future, I predict an even greater focus on responsible business practices regarding the physical building of development and infrastructure.
Sustainability focuses on two areas: materials and approach.
An ever-increasing demand from occupiers for buildings to be more sustainable means that the materials being used are scrutinised much more than ever before. Recycled steel and low-carbon materials are now commonplace for development.
MACE Group has already made significant progress in our approach to development. Methods such as off-site manufacturing improve quality while also slashing emissions by reducing site deliveries and waste. There will also be a continuing emphasis on reducing fossil fuel usage and increasing demand for buildings with lower carbon emissions.
The Middle East has always been synonymous with energy from hydrocarbons, but even that is beginning to change with an increased appetite for offshore wind power in parts of Oman and Saudi Arabia, together with some of the world’s largest arrays of solar energy in the UAE.
Delivery Partner Model to help deliver resilience
Fast becoming the model of choice for major projects and programmes, clients worldwide enjoy the benefits of deploying the Delivery Partner Model. The ‘one team’ approach provides an end-to-end service offering to integrate services and boost stakeholder collaboration.
By partnering with clients, delivery partners can provide consistency, value for money, transparency, and a single point of responsibility—this also means that true resilience can be achieved.
Is bigger better?
Building design has long been the most noticeable trend in our industry. You can often determine a building’s age based on its visual appearance and architectural features. Modern construction is less obvious in terms of visual identity than in decades past. However, particularly in the Middle East, a trend has been toward being the most significant or grandest space.
Indeed, this trend continues in KSA, with some of the largest and most ambitious schemes currently being developed globally. In other locations, we
Some developments scale back in size, bulking, and massing, but the ambition and inspirational nature of what is built will remain synonymous with Middle Eastern development. Striking projects like One Za’abeel, which we recently completed and awarded the Guinness World Record for the world’s most extended cantilevered building, will continue to push the boundaries of ambition.
While the size of schemes may be reduced, each unique development has a selling point. The key will always be to provide something that suits the end user’s needs.
Innovation
As an industry, we must keep innovating. This is the only way we can keep up with new or enduring trends in the industry and demands from clients and occupiers.
Innovation always starts with data, as that is the only way to know the intricacies of the challenge we are trying to overcome. It is also the only way we can adjust methods or replicate success. The increasing need – and appetite – to capture information and store it for future use for the benefit of future developments is a critical trend I am thrilled to be a part of.
Safety
As always, building safety is the most critical part of our work. MACE Group does all it can to ensure our colleagues go home safe and well at the end of the working day. MACE Group colleagues’ health, safety, and well-being are essential for job satisfaction, workforce retention and attraction, and the success of the projects we deliver worldwide.
Health and safety were less visible on sites in the past than they are now. As a sector, the drive for a safe and healthy workforce has seen quicker adoption of safer ways of working and significantly reduced workplace accidents. Recently, the focus has included a greater emphasis on mental health, another positive step for the industry.