As Ireland strives to meet ambitious housing and infrastructure targets, traditional methods are no longer enough. FERGA KANE, EY Ireland Partner and Infrastructure and Real Estate Sector Lead, examines how the fusion of AI technology with industry expertise can solve the talent shortage, enhance site safety, and redefine construction for a new generation of digital-native professionals.

Earlier this year, a report produced by Property Industry Ireland highlighted the scale of the talent shortage faced by the Irish construction industry. The report predicted a requirement of between 95,000 and 110,000 additional workers in the coming years just to meet government infrastructure and housing targets.

At the same time, 20% of the industry’s 177,000-strong workforce is expected to retire within the next decade.

This challenge is by no means unique to Ireland, and it is estimated that Europe will need over two million additional construction workers by 2030.

The Irish industry, with the support of government agencies, is making significant efforts to bridge the talent gap through a variety of initiatives. However, at a time of near-full employment in the economy, the challenge of expanding the construction workforce by more than 60% in a relatively short period of time will likely be too great to be met by recruitment and training efforts alone.

New thinking and indeed new technology will be required.

Foremost among those technology solutions will be artificial intelligence (AI). However, while there is broad acceptance that AI has a part to play in helping the industry increase output, it must be understood that it is not in any way a replacement for people, it is an enabling tool that can enhance productivity, make processes more efficient, make the sector more attractive to a wider range of workers, and in turn help to mitigate skills and labour shortages.

Moving beyond traditional technology adoption

Traditionally, the construction sector has been slow to adopt new technologies. The capacity of AI and advanced technologies to enhance efficiency in construction, however, is no less than it is in any other sector.

Modern Methods of Construction (MMC) are often referred to as evidence of technological progress in the industry, including modular panels, pre-manufacturing and digital design (BIM). While MMC has existed in various forms for decades, its adoption in Ireland has been far more gradual than in other parts of Europe and Asia.

That must not be the case with AI. The technology must be adopted at pace and its full potential needs to be understood. While it’s easy to say that AI can’t be used to speed up bricklaying or concrete pouring, the advancement in automation technologies has led to an increased use in on-site construction – such as robotic bricklaying and welding robots, but the scope for AI applications in other aspects of construction is vast.

AI can already be used to support project scheduling, resource management and supply chain management to ensure that materials arrive when needed, assisting the planning and design processes, site health and safety management and reporting, and the predictive maintenance of buildings and infrastructure assets post construction, to name but a few applications.

In an industry increasingly characterised by large, complex projects and tight delivery timelines, AI also offers an opportunity to better manage complexity by analysing vast volumes of data, identifying patterns and flagging potential issues earlier in the process. As anyone who works in the industry knows, this can be incredibly valuable from both a time and cost perspective.

This is not about removing people from decision‑making, but about freeing skilled professionals from repetitive tasks so they can focus on higher‑value work that depends on experience, judgment, and collaboration.

Beyond efficiency, AI also has the potential to deliver meaningful benefits for safety and wellbeing across construction sites. Technologies such as computer vision and predictive analytics are already being used internationally to monitor high‑risk activities, identify unsafe conditions and reduce the need for workers to operate in hazardous environments. By lowering exposure to risk and supporting earlier intervention, AI can play a role in making construction a safer, more sustainable career over the long term.

Three pillars: Mindset, skillset, and toolset

Experience from across the sector suggests that successful adoption of AI is not driven by technology alone, but by progress across three interconnected areas: mindset, skillset and toolset. An open and collaborative mindset is essential to build trust and encourage people to engage with new ways of working. At the same time, organisations must invest in the skills required to work effectively alongside AI, while ensuring the right tools and frameworks are in place to support practical implementation. Focusing on one without the others will limit the benefits AI can deliver for both individuals and the wider industry.

While AI obviously has the potential to ease current and future labour shortages, its adoption and utilisation will be critically dependent on people within the industry having the skills to do so. In common with many other industries, the construction sector currently faces a shortage of these skillsets, and organisations must act quickly to close this gap.

Importantly, this is not simply a question of introducing new “AI skills”, nor does it apply only to management roles.

Bridging the skills gap through reskilling

Many roles across construction – from site supervision and technical specialists to planners and project managers – will evolve. As AI takes on more routine, time‑consuming tasks, people at different levels of an organisation will increasingly be required to interpret outputs, apply judgement, validate recommendations and work more collaboratively across disciplines. The future workforce will therefore be defined by hybrid skillsets that combine technical, digital and domain expertise.

In the first instance, the most immediate opportunity lies in reskilling the existing construction workforce. The industry already has deep technical and practical expertise across sites, projects and disciplines. The focus should be on equipping those experts with the skills needed to work effectively alongside AI, enabling them to apply their judgement, experience and knowledge in new ways. This is about building on what already exists, rather than starting from scratch.

If processes and ways of working are changing as a result of AI, it will also be necessary to support people in pivoting towards new or adapted roles. Ultimately, organisations that succeed will be those that invest not only in training, but in clear communication, engagement and trust, ensuring people understand why change is happening and feel supported through it.

Managing the cultural shift

This type of transition requires careful change management and sustained investment in learning, rather than one‑off training initiatives. Entry-level recruits will likely already be familiar with AI and use it instinctively as part of their everyday work approach. However, their effectiveness will still depend on gaining a strong grounding in construction‑specific knowledge, standards and practices. A meeting of minds is required. Existing members of the construction workforce will need to be encouraged to share their industry knowledge and expertise with their younger colleagues, who in turn can pass on their AI capabilities. This combination can be very powerful. The fusion of AI skills with industry-specific knowledge will almost inevitably lead to the development of new and as yet unidentified use cases, which can further enhance efficiency and productivity. When people understand the art of the possible, exciting things tend to happen.

We should not take younger workers’ AI skills for granted. If AI is to become part of the construction workforce skillset of the future, it needs to be intentionally embedded across construction education and training pathways now. This includes not only university courses such as architecture, engineering and quantity surveying, but also apprenticeships and construction trade education, where AI can increasingly support safer working practices, productivity and decision‑making on site.

The need for learning will not end at entry level. As AI continues to develop, continuous upskilling will become a permanent feature of working life in construction. Employers will need to create environments where learning is ongoing and embedded into day‑to‑day activity, ensuring skills remain relevant across entire careers.

There is also a need for the industry to broaden its appeal to potential recruits beyond the traditional construction disciplines. The construction workforce of the future is likely to include people with background and skills in data analysis, digital systems and AI working alongside established construction professionals. The time to start building that workforce is now.

For apprentices and early‑career professionals, this shift also means construction careers are becoming broader and more dynamic, combining technical expertise with digital, analytical and problem‑solving skills, and offering the opportunity to work on complex projects that shape how communities, infrastructure and cities are planned and delivered.

Broadening appeal in a growing economy

Fortunately, the healthy pipeline of projects is such that the industry should be very attractive to ambitious young people with those skills. The National Development Plan will see an investment of €275bn over the next 10 years, while the government has set a target of 300,000 homes to be built within the next few years.

With that level of activity and investment on the way, this could be an opportunity for the industry to take a leap forward by adopting AI and other advanced technologies which will both improve efficiency and help to address labour and skills shortages now and well into the future.