NBS Digital Construction Report 2025 – Key Themes for the Built Environment

Various industry reports on AI use were published last year, the last of which was the NBS Digital Construction Report 2025 (the Report). Now in its 15th year¹, the Report is a useful temperature check on where the built environment is on digital transformation in its day-to-day application. Based on survey responses from 559 construction professionals, the Report presents a sector that has largely normalised the adoption of core digital tools (such as Building Information Modelling (BIM) and cloud collaboration) and is now accelerating into the next wave of new technologies and AI-enabled delivery, product data transparency, and measurement-led sustainability.

Given that 66.5% of respondents were from the design and specification side of the industry, the findings should be interpreted with this context in mind.

AI adoption is crossing into day-to-day delivery

If BIM and cloud represent the foundations, AI is the catalyst for future development. The Report describes an increase in uptake since 2020. Where AI was once niche, more than two in five respondents now report integrating AI into daily work. This aligns with the RIBA AI Report 2025 findings that architect practices using AI had reached approximately 59%, with the profession helping to drive technical innovation in the construction industry (read more about the RIBA AI Report 2025 here and about AI readiness across the professions and insurer considerations here).

Crucially, AI use is practical rather than speculative. The most common applications cited are searching for technical information, drafting and reviewing text and analysing project data. These are often time intensive but repeatable tasks where AI can add a degree of speed and consistency, while still requiring professional judgement, verification and accountability.

Industry sentiment shows confidence alongside anxiety

Alongside increased uptake, there is a noticeable change in sentiment. For the first time, more than half of professionals believe construction is no longer lagging behind other industries in digital adoption and seeing productivity gains. This is a meaningful shift in self-perception and signals growing confidence in the sector’s digital maturity.

However, this confidence runs in parallel with a sharper fear of being left behind, as well as an inherent tension surrounding its implications and impact on traditional professional roles. Almost three in five respondents now express anxiety about their organisation falling behind without digital adoption, up materially from 2023. For clients, funders and insurers, this matters. Digital capability is increasingly seen as a proxy for delivery competence, organisational resilience, and the ability to evidence decisions.

ACE reinforces the need for governance and capability

ACE’s recent paper AI and the New Era of Engineering Innovation echoes the NBS narrative. AI is moving from experimentation to integration, but the organisations that benefit most will be those that pair adoption of such tools with governance and upskilling. The recommendations for the industry are clear; establish ethical leadership and governance, create agile pathways for safe experimentation, and invest in workforce training and internal champions.

From a risk and assurance perspective, ACE emphasises that organisations are increasingly expected to disclose how AI is being used and to manage the associated legal and commercial risks around confidentiality, data protection, intellectual property, liability and audit trails, particularly as tools become more autonomous. This aligns with wider industry signals that adoption must be matched with appropriate controls/governance processes, competence and clear lines of responsibility and accountability.

Practical steps for businesses and project teams

Four short-term priorities stand out for organisations looking to convert this digital transition moment into a competitive and commercial advantage, including:

• defining digital deliverables clearly and ensuring they are contractually coherent with other documents;
• putting appropriate AI controls into operational reality using approved tools and review processes, record-keeping and audit trails;
• treating product data as a strategic asset by investing in Product Information Management readiness and tracking Digital Product Passport developments early; and
• upskilling deliberately, recognising that industry confidence is rising but so is the fear of falling behind, making training and skills development, governance and cultural adoption leadership issues rather than simply “digital team” delivery issues.

What emerges from the Report is not only the growing adoption of digital technologies and tools, but changing expectations around their effective use. The differentiator is how effectively organisations govern them, consider the associated contractual and commercial position, integrate them into delivery, and convert better data into better outcomes.

If you have any questions regarding the information discussed in this article and how it applies to your business, contract drafting/negotiation or projects, please contact Andrew Croft and Anna Benz.

Commentary and contributions supported by Kayleigh Rhodes.

¹Note that this time period includes the predecessor publication, the NBS National BIM Report.