Call to action

Where can engineering and construction companies begin overcoming current challenges and work toward increasing the successful implementation of sustainable buildings?

• Define a vision, strategy, and roadmap for sustainable construction with particular attention to alternative-material and energy-efficiency incentives.
• Survey, select, and procure the technologies that will make the greatest and most cost-effective impact on emissions. Develop an implementation plan, and distribute technical guidelines to key partners, creating an ecosystem that magnifies benefits.
• Support and drive sustainability-targeted projects through policies, regulations, penalties, or carbon taxes. Seek collaborative efforts involving developers, real estate companies, and technology providers to incent green building.
• Promote data sharing standards to make information more valuable and useful. The European Commission’s Digital Agenda promoting integrated information and communication technology in sustainable construction is an example.¹⁹

Achieving the vision for sustainable buildings and creating a zero-carbon built environment will likely require engineering and construction companies to adopt transformational approaches, collaborate through global platforms, and work with governments for incentives that can take new solutions to a commercial scale.

Fortunately, virtually everyone wants to move in this direction. The architecture, engineering, and construction industries are perfectly positioned to lead. However, before making any decision or taking any action that may affect the business, it is important to consult a qualified professional advisor.

Authors

Misha Nikulin is a managing director in the Industrial Products & Construction practice, focusing on technology strategy, data and analytics, emerging technologies, and innovation—primarily serving in engineering and construction. He helps clients by leveraging his more than 20 years of engineering, procurement, construction (EPC) experience across different sectors to improve productivity, profitability, and enable new growth. Nikulin has led large strategic initiatives, enterprise-level global IT transformations, and intrapreneurial innovation programs. Nikulin’s construction emerging technology experience includes smart jobsite solutions, digital twin, Internet of Things (IoT), visual intelligence, artificial intelligence (AI-enabled) generative design, and business intelligence.

Michelle Meisels is a principal in Deloitte Consulting’s technology practice and leads the engineering and construction practice. She brings more than 27 years of consulting experience, with a focus on leading large, often global, finance, and IT transformation programs by leveraging technology. Meisels helps clients integrate digital technologies with organizational and process standard practices to achieve both qualitative and quantitative benefits. She specializes in JDE, EBS, and Cloud. While Meisels has served clients across many industries, her primary focus has been serving engineering and construction (E&C) companies. She has served many global E&C, EPC, and construction companies throughout her career. Meisels was born and raised in Southern California and graduated from UCLA. For more about Deloitte, please see www.deloitte.com/about.