The AEC business will see an increase in consolidated, super-firms with heightened focus on differentiating themselves in a competitive market. It will become important for firms to move beyond traditional offerings to include energy and water analyses as part of their conventional business. To this end, more large firms will acquire specialty firms and conduct mandatory training to expand the breadth of capabilities across their workforce

In 2012, building projects will become more complex, driven by performance requirements, particularly sustainable performance objectives. As a result, this will create a need for more multi-faceted construction systems, including an increase in fabricated building components based on digital processes. To accommodate this change, a new generation of “smart” building managers will emerge to take responsibility for handling these demanding, complex assets. These building managers will be accompanied by a new generation of digital-enabled fabricators who will be the intellectual engine of this change.

The rise in mobile devices and digital information cannot be ignored in 2012. This trend, which has asserted itself in every industry, will become increasingly important for the construction industry – specifically, project management and team communication.  The rise in digital information will drive demands for better access and management of project information across the lifecycle and construction firms – and their subcontractors – will expect to access that information from anywhere, on any platform.

The owner-operator relationship will continue to evolve in the coming year, as success parameters for a project are expanded beyond “on-time” and “on-budget.” First-year operating costs (i.e. energy and water) as well as predicted performance characteristics, such as hours of traffic congestion (for transit) or percentage daylight penetration (for buildings and factories) will be important factors to measure future success.

– Autodesk AEC Executive Team