Friday 31st of March 2023
About the event:
The Specialist Contractors Association recently sponsored the Property Council of Australia Industry Lunch titled the “Cost of Construction” held on Friday the 31st of March 2023 at the Hilton, Adelaide.
This event was a great opportunity for SCA to be recognised as an integral part of the SA building and construction industry and particularly by property sector stakeholders.
The event was an excellent platform for industry experts to comment at length on some of the major issues we currently face in construction, including rising costs, a low skills base, labour shortages, and decreased supply chain reliability. It is pleasing to note the significant contribution to the discussions by Panel Member SCA President Andrew O’Connor.
What was discussed?
We note that the supply chain issues experienced during and post Covid including material price and exchange rate fluctuations has caused significant issues in establishing correct pricing of projects.
Whilst some of these cost increases have eased, there is increased awareness of the need to improve supply chains, invest more in trade skills training and to provide an improved environment to attract more people to our industry particularly in relation to female participation.
To address these issues a number of mitigation strategies were discussed, including:
- Increased government and private investment in training organisations;
- Working to change the poor generational mindsets on trade and design careers, respect and value the need for a strong skills base;
- Changing the workplace and environment to aid in increasing the number of women in construction;
- Utilising technology (i.e. BIM-MEP AUS) and bespoke prefabrication to save time, manage risk and improve safety;
- Anticipating supply chain issues and increasing local stocks and manufacturing to better manage;
- Putting risk management where it is best managed; and
- Investing in modern technologies, including robotics, 3D scanning and cloud co-ordination modelling.
It was also noted that technology is improving at a rapid rate and with it the cloud sharing of information, co-ordination, and links to fabrication are all having a positive impact on time and the work environment.
One area identified of significant importance was the need to increase our skills base particularly given the rapid change in technology affecting all SCA members.
We look forward to further collaboration with the Property Council in such events in the future.
