I was reading a Nadine Post article in ENR. She’s my favorite construction writer and so often provides useful info in a compelling manner. She described some prefabrication of hospital construction components in Europe, then stated:

But that’s no surprise: When it comes to innovation, Europe leads and the U.S. follows. However, just because something has been done in Europe doesn’t mean it is easy to accomplish here.

The portion of that statement that I put in bold lettering above just annoyed me. I thought, “That’s not true. How can she make such a sweeping statement? I’m going to send her an email and show her why that’s wrong!” Then I tried to think of examples of construction innovation in the US. Drew a blank. How about examples in my own construction business? Drew mostly another blank.

I considered the change from the old energy hog T12 fluorescent light fixtures a few years ago to the efficient T8, now to the super-efficient T5. But that hardly counts as innovation. The green building approach doesn’t really pass muster as innovation either, being a mix of common sense good design or just trendy ideas. Besides, just specifying an updated product really doesn’t constitute construction innovation. Improvements in the way we actually build or deliver the project would be construction innovation.

With few exceptions, we mostly build things the same way we did 30 years ago when I started as a project engineer on sewage treatment plant projects. Or do we? Do you think we’ve progressed with construction innovation in the past few decades? Can I tell Nadine she’s wrong?