UK
Ireland
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Costain has revealed that the widespread implementation of Connected and Autonomous Plant (CAP) technology in the construction and infrastructure sectors could significantly enhance economic growth and productivity in the UK.
Commissioned by the Department for Transport, Costain conducted a comprehensive market analysis on the potential benefits of adopting CAP—advanced construction equipment equipped with cutting-edge digital technology designed to optimize construction processes. The findings suggest that integrating these innovations could lead to substantial improvements in efficiency and cost-effectiveness across the industry.
The study found that increasing the production and sale of CAP could significantly benefit the UK economy, adding £61bn by 2050 through a combination of direct, indirect and induced effects across the supply chain. At the same time, the construction sectors using more CAP could, through savings and increased productivity, realise an additional Gross Value Added (GVA) of £356bn by 2050. When these factors are combined, the research found that UK’s wider adoption of CAP could lead to additional GVA of £417bn (as a cumulative total) by 2050.
The study also revealed a number of additional benefits that the increased adoption of CAP through to 2050 would enable, including higher productivity, savings on fuel and energy costs, and safety improvements.
In the road and rail sectors, it is estimated that CAP adoption could reduce the number of safety incidents by 28,000 through to 2050, with the technology potentially removing operators from high-risk environments, in addition to driving improvements to workplace wellbeing.
The report also estimates that the wider adoption of CAP would have significant environmental benefits, based on more efficient work on site and reduced emissions. According to the study, wider CAP adoption in the years to 2050 would reduce carbon emissions in road and rail by approximately 19,300kt of CO2e, equivalent to the annual CO2e absorbed by an area of forest the size of Wales.
