Why Construction Sector is Ripe for AI Disruption

It has been a slow burn but momentum is gathering behind an AI push into construction and the sector is ripe for disruption. Australia’s critical labour gap will be a key driver in AI adoption. Current data suggests there is a tradie deficit of up to 130,000 in Australia in 2025, while forecasts suggest the nation’s engineer headcount could fall 200,000 short of requirements by 2040. Disrupting the iron triangle of time, cost and quality will be the key to making projects of all sizes, from big infrastructure to small residential projects, stack up, according to Bentley Systems chief executive Nicholas Cumins. The AI phenomenon is one that the infrastructure engineering software company has hitched its wagon to and Cumins says the company is aiming to “empower infrastructure engineers, not replace them”. Cumins describes it as a “machine in the middle” model where the AI is a collaborator and a project starts and finishes with human intervention. The application of AI enables engineering productivity improvements and transforms workflows across project and asset lifecycles, according to Cumins, who spoke recently at the Year in Infrastructure conference in Amsterdam, Netherlands. “Our world is facing unprecedented demand for better, more resilient infrastructure,” Cumins says. ▲ Bentley chief executive Nicholas Cumins speaking at the Year in Infrastructure 2025 conference in Amsterdam last month. And AI can help to deliver this using digital twin technology and 4D modelling. Adoption has been slow in the construction sector but a global survey of infrastructure professionals shows inroads are being made. The Bentley survey, which was conducted in partnership with Pinsent Masons, Mott MacDonald and Turner &amp; Townsend shows about half of industry respondents are piloting or implementing AI within their ecosystem. Closing the capacity gap The key areas of use include design and productivity but its biggest application is in automating documentation processes, according to survey data. “The greatest challenge to delivering better and more resilient infrastructure is engineering capacity,” Cumins said. “The reality is, there simply aren’t enough engineers in the world to do all the work that needs to be done. AI promises a step change in productivity that can help close this capacity gap. “Everybody should lean in because AI is truly transformative.” About 38 per cent of survey respondents expected that more than half of their projects would incorporate AI in the next few years. Turner &amp; Townsend digital lead for infrastructure Guy Beaumont believes organisations are frequently getting stuck in piloting cycles without progressing to full implementation of AI tools. He says data readiness is a key factor for the successful integration of AI within the construction sector but digital literacy and data reliability remain key hurdles in the AI agenda. ▲ Turner &amp; Townsend digital consulting lead Guy Beaumont says while construction tends to get stuck in the piloting phase, data readiness is crucial for AI adoption. Australia is leading the way when it comes to digital twin technology and implementation, according to Bentley APAC lead Kaushik Chakraborty. Chakraborty says it is accelerating in Australia due to technical resource constraints and the need for greater efficiency, particularly in the capital-intensive megaprojects in road and rail sectors. Policy and planning sandbox Digital twin technology is being used across urban and infrastructure planning, disaster management, resource optimisation, land management and other sectors both privately and in state-led initiatives. There are also calls for a national enhanced digital twin, which would bring together planning and housing agencies, integrate development, land-use and infrastructure data and model the impacts of density, services and environmental resilience. The Digital Twin Victoria project is a four-year undertaking that brings together a development and data consortium to create a digital twin of the southern state. Queensland is also working on a digital twin for the Sunshine State that focuses on infrastructure insights to help co-ordinate and deliver its infrastructure pipeline and inform land-use planning and sequencing of projects. The NSW Government has this week announced a $20-million investment into its Land iQ system to expand its application across the state to expedite land audits and add site-feasibility analysis tools. But it’s the opportunity to compress construction timelines that is probably gaining the strongest foothold in the industry. “The scale of projects is increasing,” Chakraborty says. “The funds are depleting disproportionately. The expectation of the end-user community, be it residents, citizens, public sector officials, or private investors, is increasing exponentially. ▲ Bentley APAC lead Kaushik Chakraborty says Australia’s constrained labour market will drive AI adoption across construction. “Turning AI into what we do is a natural evolution of bringing more automation to make smarter decisions more effectively. It doesn’t replace the engineer. It augments, giving the engineer the ability to have choices and options.” Developing climate resilient infrastructure Australia’s infrastructure pipeline is now valued at $213 billion over a five-year period and continues to absorb significant construction capacity. But as climate-related disasters such as cyclones, heatwaves and bushfires continue to affect Australia’s built environment, the focus has shifted to developing more climate resilient infrastructure. Much of Australia’s infrastructure was designed 20 to 30 years ago without consideration of current climate challenges. It is something that Chakraborty says is crucial in building a smarter future. “That’s where I think AI helps. It can help to bring together intelligence to create smart design of the future and connect the designers and the builders and the operators into one integrated ecosystem,” he says. “I think what I see in the Australian context is they’re taking what they learned and putting it into the next project. A digital twin way, or a model-centric way of working, is becoming pretty much standard in the transportation industry. “You have less people, you have to automate more. Otherwise, you don’t get the output.” AI and digital twins can help engineers incorporate climate resilience into future designs by providing better context for decision-making. The challenge is creating infrastructure that can adapt to unpredictable climate events. There is a rapid acceleration of data in Australia and bringing design, construction, delivery and operation closer together will ensure the nation’s mega projects are feasible and get out of the ground.

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