Shanghai 2023: Accelerating China's construction productivity
Two-thirds of China's regions have announced spending of more than $1.8 trillion on major infrastructure investments this year, and in March 2023, an index measuring China's construction activity surged to its highest level since 2012.To get more
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Cost and supply chain efficiencies have been key drivers of success for Chinese construction companies delivering domestic projects. However, these advantages have not been consistently observed when delivering international projects. To expand China's construction capabilities to reach global markets, local leaders will need to make significant progress in adopting digital and AI, integrating design standards, and embracing modular industrialisation, customer centricity and quality consistency.
On 10 April 2023, the Global Infrastructure Initiative (GII) hosted a roundtable discussion with more than 40 senior leaders from China's construction and real estate industries. The event provided a summary of leading insights from the 8th GII Summit, as well as a dedicated discussion on the latest global trends, China's current strengths and opportunities in construction, and levers for scaling China's construction capabilities internationally.
The industry needs to develop its enduring strengths to meet disruptive challenges. China's construction industry has outperformed the world in terms of schedule control, cost control and supply chain management, resulting in some of the world's largest engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) projects. However, the industry now faces low productivity, labour shortages and rising construction costs. Frequently cited challenges include a lack of project management skills when working on international projects and insufficient use of digital tools.
Take a long-term, holistic view of the benefits of digital / AI. Adoption of digital and AI in construction lags far behind manufacturing, not because the technology isn't available, but because traditional construction leaders haven't fully embraced the innovations and lack the patience and commercial incentives to invest in digital / AI transformation. When asked, 62 per cent of roundtable participants said they were in the 'early stages' of adopting key data and analytics innovations, with the remainder partially adopted. When budgets are allocated on a project-by-project basis, the ROI of digital innovation cannot be viewed holistically. As economic conditions change and market growth slows, leaders must shift from a "one-time cash flow" model to a long-term portfolio view when investing in digital / AI innovation.
Producing and exporting Chinese modular / prefabricated units, leveraging China's local cost and supply chain advantages to increase global competitiveness. The global construction industry is already exploring a more standardised approach to design, procurement, materials and equipment manufacturing, supply chain and logistics, and on-site assembly. China's high level of industrialisation and manufacturing maturity lends itself well to this approach. One executive said: "Industrialisation is not done just for the sake of it; the ultimate goal is to provide better products and services that customers are willing to pay for." There is an opportunity to partner with overseas customers earlier in the design process to align standards and construction methods, and to integrate Chinese ecosystems.
