State of Design and Make 2025 – Filling the Skills Gap

With the release of the 3rd annual State of Desk and Make Report, we have seen the continual digital trends which shape the way in which the construction industry and associated technologies evolve. This report addresses some of the key factors which are affecting a variety of functions and processes employed by businesses within our Architectural, Engineering, Construction and Operational spaces.

Whilst addressing both the AECO and Manufacturing industries, some of the key elements from this report address the economic pressure and skills gap in what is currently an uncertain industry environments.

Digital Maturity in organisations which have embraced the changes happening in Construction and acknowledging the expectations for long term data, including operational management, has proved beneficial to most. These businesses are now seeing advantages in the market versus those who have continued with what they know in not addressing the changing need around digital delivery. Innovation is allowing for business resilience and attracting talent into businesses, with a new wave of construction professionals adding new skills and experiences to an organisation.

The cost of digital transformation and upskilling is a growing challenge for many organisations, with 44% of leader saying it’s their main barrier, up from 35% in 2024 and reflecting a global increase in concern about cost control.

Concerns about cost are followed by the persistent challenge of time and talent, tied for second this year as the most-cited obstacles as organisations struggle to meet implementation goals while also trying to do more with fewer resources.

It’s not the willingness of staff to be trained – it’s the availability of staff in relation to the demands of projects and time constraints to the business.

Coupling the effect of an aging workforce with the inability to find new talented individuals with suitable skills and experience, has always been a struggle with many individuals seeking new challenges in digitally developed businesses. Recruitment versus internal talent management must be a balanced process and developing new skills within teams is beneficial to retain and nurture personnel development ensures a better long term plan.

The search for skilled talent is especially difficult, with nearly two-thirds of leaders saying they struggle to find the skills they need. Intensifying the talent crunch is the growing number of organisations that are letting people go because they lack the right technical skills, further widening their talent gap. It is often not cost effective in the long term to just buy in these skills to deliver a short term goal.

When it comes to bridging and filling the skills gap, digitally mature companies are at a distinct advantage. Digitally mature companies will invest more in digital training, compared to less digitally mature companies. They are also more likely to implement continuous learning which aids with research, development and keeping on top of digital improvements and alignment with strategic approaches and standard changes.

There is still a large focus on new technologies such as Artificial Intelligence and the integration of these tools into other more commonly used technologies. However, we must not lose sight of the fact that they are just tools and are there to help and supplement our current processes and management of data. If those processes are already poor, then you are only adding to a poorly managed output.

Supporting a general and wide understanding of the digital needs of any business, means that the load can be spread and the upskilling of the wider team and workforces is equally balanced between the skills of different team members. Everyone deserves to have access to training and development, irrelevant of what knowledge they currently have and as I always say.. There is always something new to learn in the industry!