The AIA’s semi-annual Construction Consensus Forecast predicts that construction spending in the non-residential market will increase by 8.3 percent this year and 6.7 percent in 2017. Demand is expected to be especially high for hotels, office space, industrial facilities, and amusement and recreation spaces. This follows on the heels of a better-than-expected year in 2015. “While rising interest rates could pose a challenge to the U.S. economy, lower energy prices, improved employment figures and an enacted federal budget for 2016 are all factoring into a very favorable outlook for the construction industry,” said AIA Chief Economist, Kermit Baker, PhD, Hon. AIA. “And after several years of challenging economic circumstances, the institutional project sector is finally on very solid footing.”
The AIA Construction Consensus Forecast is conducted semi-annually with the leading nonresidential construction forecasters in the United States, including Dodge & Data Analytics, Wells Fargo Securities, HIS-Global Insight, Moody’s Economy.com, CMD Group, Associated Builders and Contractors, and FMI.
In addition, the AIA asked panelists of the AIA’s Architecture Billings Index to predict the most prevalent design trends of the coming decade. According to Baker, “Buildings in their own right are becoming far more energy efficient, and certain technologies are increasing both the efficiency of the people using the buildings and the project delivery methods in which buildings are being designed and constructed.” To whit, the top design trends forecast for the next ten years include the use of:
- Water conservation, solar and wind power generation;
- More innovative building materials such as composites and new glass / glazing technologies;
- Natural daylighting techniques and lighting technology systems, including automation controls and motion-sensor activated lights; and
- Building Information Modeling software, along with alternative project delivery methods and lean construction practices that will increase the efficiency of the building design process and the lifecycle of the building.