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Laing O'Rourke Centre for Construction Engineering and Technology

 
CEM Annual Debate (2019)

The annual Construction Engineering Masters debate moot for 2019 was: This House believes that the architecture, engineering and construction (AEC) industry of 2050 will be unrecognisable to today.

The topic invited insight, informed comment, passion and humour as the two teams presented their arguments to win the day. Clearly, the sector faces some big challenges to advance.

The proposing team argued the construction industry has the opportunity to create the ultimate disrupters and there is no choice but make dramatic changes to how we build, recycle and demolish materials. The opposing team suggested that in order for the whole sector to be unrecognisable, the majority of industry would need to change radically and the scale of change required is inconceivable given the diversity, fragmentation and scale of the global industry.

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