A friend and I recently laughed about how far off the movie “2001: A Space Odyssey” and the sequel “2010” were when trying to predict the future. Note to moviemakers: When predicting the future, don’t include a date.
I expected to be constructing space stations by now, maybe even a hotel on the moon. But alas, governments are still the only contractors in space. This may explain why construction schedules for space stations are measured in decades.
By 2010, we might have expected to travel to the office in a flying car, powered by renewable fuel and fitting inside our briefcase, right? How naive we were back then!
What I didn’t predict was the amount of interdependence between the industries we serve. What happens when phone service is interrupted, for example? How much does a stock brokerage house depend on their communications system? What about Internet Service Providers or a hospital? Simply stated, these firms cannot tolerate a mistake made by a contractor working in a telephone switch room. Businesses depend on services, such as the communication network, and our customers provide those services. That’s Critical Environment Construction.
Looking forward, I see more of the same. The healthcare industry needs contractors who won’t spread airborne contaminates in their buildings. Fear of bioterrorism requires us to pay attention to similar issues when building animal research facilities.
The future for us is in knowing how to successfully work in these environments. I guess for now we will leave space construction for the government to handle. We have our hands full keeping buildings safe and operational here on Earth.
I’d love to hear your take on it. What will be business’s most critical building needs in the decade to come?
Joe Bramlage
Director of Marketing
