Investigating the Skills and Knowledge Requirements for IOT implementation in Construction

In line with the exponential rate of advancement in information technologies within industries globally, the construction industry has stepped out of the conventional technologies to embrace smart technologies. Internet of Things (IoT) is one such technological advancement in construction although the improvement is taking place at a glacial pace. Internet of Things (IoT) allows stakeholders in construction to collect real-time data from a construction site and transform them into useful information for better insights. It enables construction industry to become smarter, safer and more efficient. Moreover, for a construction industry increasingly looking at boosting productivity, maximizing efficiencies and making the most whole-life value through added intelligence, it's not too difficult to see the demanding potential of IoT technologies to offer the latter expectations. However, lack of skills and knowledge to match this digital demand has been a prominent issue in construction. Although this skill gap is often dominated by the diminishing supply of manual labour, the lack of digital and non-digital skills is an equally pressing concern. Upskilling existing workforce is a simple yet effective way to combat this skills gap. This paper therefore investigates the Skills and Knowledge Requirements to implement IOT in Construction. An empirical investigation conducted in construction industry, United Kingdom enabled the envisaging of the skill-knowledge requirement not only present but also for future.