Lessons learned from the impact of COVID-19 on the global construction industry

Abstract

The construction industry represents most of every country's savings and vital to continued economic growth and activities, especially in developing countries. The impact of the severe acute respiratory syndrome-2 disease (COVID -19) on the government’s income resulted in the expectation of many public projects being cancelled or delayed providing little opportunity for the emergence of new public projects. This paper aims to collate a global qualitative perspective (survey interviews) on the lessons learned during the COVID-19 pandemic and the positive and negative impacts for future-proofing the construction sector. Design/Methodology - In total, seventy-six (76) respondents from 5 continents excluding South America responded to the online open-ended structured questionnaire. Data collected were analysed through AI analytics tool – Zoho analytics. Findings - The themes indicating the positive impact obtained from the interview were overhead cost reduction, remote working environment, focus on health and safety, improved productivity and sustainability goals while the themes signifying the negative impact were low business turnover, delays in construction payment and output, difficulties working from home and job losses. Supply chain management, construction project management improvement, concentration on health and safety and effective virtual working environment were collated as themes on lessons learned. Social implications – The major finding of this study emphasis on the need to improve the occupational health and safety and onsite safety measures for futureproofing of the construction industry. Originality/value - The findings from the analyses made clear the imperativeness of the built environment research focusing on novel framework and strategies for future proofing the construction industry.

Rights

This file is under embargo due to copyright reasons.

Cite as

Downloadable citations

Identifiers

DOI

https://doi.org/10.1108/JEDT-05-2021-0286

Repository URI

https://rgu-repository.worktribe.com/output/1428272