We feel we have strived hard to get what we have, companies and investors have got used to the revenues generated, we have all benefitted from the growth of technology and cheap energy and the offer on the table seems to involve us giving these things up; the ‘OR’ feels oppressive.. What flooded into my mind then were the many examples, some experienced personally and some simply read about, that have demonstrated that we can have our cake AND eat it.

We could design these for a 100-year total life span, while the use of standardised components would make an interior refit possible every five to ten years.In its initial configuration a building might function as an office block, but components could be taken out and the building changed into a residential building or school.

At the end of its life, the various standardised components would be recycled, reused or redeployed, creating a circular economy.As the Internet of Things evolves and built assets become smarter, gathering increasing amounts of data, they could become self-optimising, intelligent buildings – recognising the need for a change in air or lighting levels.Ultimately, this type of data would then feed back into the design process itself, creating an open-ended process of continual improvement, and contributing to the next generation of components.. Our sustainable future.

Of course, the most pressing, current question is: how do we make a planet which sustainably supports 11.5 billion people?Population growth coupled with the required infrastructure will generate massive amounts of carbon.

We must find ways to deliver what we need using much less.

Optimisation of materials, better control of logistics, automation in construction, fewer people on site – all of these factors will help to create an overall lower carbon version of the built environment.Further, standardisation allows us to do a better job of integrating our mechanical and electrical engineering systems, which then has the knock-on effect of reducing the overall volume of a building by 30-40%.

As the building gets smaller, so does the air handling plant.This creates a reduction in running costs - heating and lighting.

In other words, we create a virtuous circle of benefit.. What is the future of the construction industry?.Ultimately, we suspect that over time buildings will become flexible configurations of components, rather than large, fixed assets.