Digitization in the Design and Construction Industry: Comparison
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The digitization of services in various fields is a trend that can be observed over the past decade. The COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically accelerated this trend. Many industries that previously offered services that previously seemed impossible to provide digitally had to try to transform their activities and adapt them to the conditions of the pandemic. Many industries that previously offered services that seemed impossible to provide digitally had try to transform their activities and adapt them to the conditions of the pandemic.

  • achieving sustainable goals
  • remote work sustainability
  • digitization of designing services
  • Industry 4.0
  • digitization and sustainability

1. Digitization in the Design and Construction Industry

In an effort to stay in the market despite the need to temporarily stop providing fixed-line services, companies have been forced to use electronic means of transmission and communication. Some services and business processes had their equivalents in the form of digital goods before the pandemic. This trend is present in design and construction industry. There are also threats that are related to the services and processes in the construction industry. The design and construction industry is a special example of ongoing digitization and the opportunities that arise from it. There are both benefits and difficulties that can affect project offices, their employees, and also owners of these enterprises. This industry is a special case of not so much total transformation, but as the evolution of digital business. Apart from the standard difficulties encountered by many industries and enterprises, it is worth paying attention to the benefits and facilities. This industry is already partially digitized, and the use of information technology makes the design process susceptible to digitization of more and more of its aspects.
The benefits and difficulties with barriers accompanying the digitization of design services are presented in Table 1 [1][2][3][4].
Table 1.
 Benefits and difficulties in design industry digitization.
Benefits Difficulties and Barriers
Accessibility digital strategy

Flexibility and easier adaptation

Strong leadership

Building skills to adapt to new conditions and implementation of changing strategy

Decentralization of digitizing process		 Too many tasks in time to change the structure of enterprise without affecting the usual operation of the enterprise

Lack of ability to change strategy and adapt to new conditions

Lack of personnel’s digital skills

Workers of different ages

Lack of abilities and willingness to learn new digital skills

Lack of technical skills to create new infrastructure inside a company

Integration of the organizational structure between the new digital and old traditional models in the moment of transitioning

Reengineer existing business models
Source: authors’ own work based on [1][2][3][4][5][6][7].
The literature on the preferences of engineering students in the field of design is interesting. Research has shown that the teamwork of these students is rated 4 on a scale of 1–5 (1 = bad, 5 = very good). Students assessed satisfaction with their projects in the same way, and aspects such as team support, adequate work time, and clarity of instructions given by instructors were highly rated [7]. The great advantage of the remote work model for private entrepreneurs, including small companies such as design offices, is that there is no need to buy real estate for offices or rent premises. This becomes very important in an era of a pandemic [8]. There is also a theory that the future of remote work has already started, and will concern future generations, the young, and those already working [8]. Remote work itself has so far been shown in the literature as contributing to greater employee satisfaction due to offering them a flexible work model, giving them trust, etc. Most empirical studies confirm this hypothesis and indicate a higher degree of effectiveness of employees working remotely. There is, however, a study that contradicts it, pointing to a slight decrease in effectiveness in relation to stationary work [8]. It should also point to research that shows certain barriers to the digitization of the design process. Despite the old age of this publication, aspects such as “information being lost” when shared by project team members still seem relevant. Another aspect is the maintenance of “double documentation”, a hybrid form of document circulation, despite digital equivalents. Such behavior can be encountered in many companies operating in the markets of different countries. This is due, among other things, to barriers caused by legal regulations [9]. The design and construction industry itself, in the cited publication, suffered at that time from a lack of coherent systems that supported the entire process, from design, to information exchange and contact with contractors, to construction, and finally, to acceptance of the finished building [9]. In the mid-1900s, research was conducted on the remote work model. The publication [10] presents a simple and still-used model of remote work, in which people who participate in the process and have access to the Internet to exchange information also have access to a user interface consisting of modules such as [10][11]:
  • Project management planning;
  • Design management;
  • Procurement;
  • Cooperation area;
  • Managing the project team.
The information exchanged by team members and contractors, as well as the management, is transferred to the database [10].

2. Environmental Sustainability in the Design and Construction Industry, as Well as Other Industries

Digitization of services and broadly understood digital transformation are often perceived as an effective and efficient way to achieve some of the goals of sustainable development. The transformation process has a different entry threshold for companies operating in different sectors. Depending on the sector and business profile of the companies, different sustainability goals can be achieved [12][13][14][15]. In the design and construction industry analyzed in the publications, it is hard to directly reduce the consumption of natural resources. Therefore, it is possible to influence other elements of the process by trying to compensate for the harmful activity to the environment.
Digital marketing fits in with the idea of achieving sustainable development goals, in particular in environmental aspects. Research using the example of companies operating in the tourism industry has shown that digital marketing is beneficial for sustainability. The hypothesis of the positive impact of digital marketing on the use of natural resources, including the benefits for the local population (employment and development of crafts and handicrafts), has been confirmed [16][17]. The COVID-19 pandemic has caused enormous havoc in industries and economies around the world. However, some studies show the massive use of digital resources and the digitization of services, processes, etc., have led to improvement in some environmental issues [18][19][20]. The COVID-19 pandemic, despite its negative effects, has resulted in [21]:
  • Many countries uniting in the fight against the pandemic;
  • New sustainable development plans being established that take into account threats and crises;
  • Communication and drawing solutions inspired by other countries, both in terms of combating the pandemic and in terms of sustainable development.
Other aspects in the context of sustainable development related to global impacts after almost 2 years of the pandemic consider climate change. Opportunities and threats in building and designing resilience in the context of COVID-19, as well as finding a balance between health and social, economic, and environmental aspects, should also be considered and described [22]. Digitally offering goods that were previously available in a physical manner allows us to realize numerous sustainable development plans and ambitions, as well as the overall maintenance of community functioning [23][24]. Taking into account the aspects of sustainable development in the context of the design and construction industry, the digitization of the design process, including relations and activities between members of the project team, contacts with contractors, etc., is a participation in the pursuit of environmental sustainability through: “healthy built environment through resource efficient and ecologically sound processes, preservation of ecosystems, and maintenance of natural balance between development and carrying capacity of this planet” [25].
During pandemics, a lot of attention in science is paid to environmental issues [26][27][28]. Most studies related to the implementation of the sustainable development goals in the context of COVID-19 have been published in disciplines related to environmental science. There are numerous studies on the following aspects: work environment, hospitality, recreation, sports, tourism, education, and health policy [28].
Similarly to the design and construction industry, education is another sector that was quite easy to digitally transform from an organizational point of view [29][30].
Considering the issues related to the exploitation of marine resources, interference with the natural world, and nature, one can easily notice a change in the approach to tourism described in scientific publications.
COVID-19 has become a kind of catalyst that allowed for a greater understanding of how contradictory tourism can be in terms of achieving the goals of sustainable development. On the one hand is economic growth, and on the other is the absolute need to acquire valuable and limited resources of land and the natural environment [31][32]. The influence of the COVID-19 pandemic on industry and technological development is causing a huge economic crisis, and is leading to change in industries around the world. The situation in these sectors is similar to that of the design and construction industry. On the other hand, the pandemic can be considered the beginning of a large-scale digital transformation in industries (and various areas of life). Nevertheless, serious problems affect the entire global supply chain and value system. [33][34][35][36][37][38]. However, this situation led to an extremely rapid digital transformation of the various industry sectors. The need to omit the risk factors related to direct contact with other people is the main motivator in the development of digitization among enterprises. It can maintain the continuity of its services with partial or complete digitization of the services provided so far [39]. Factors accelerating digitization in industry due to both the cause of pandemic and Industry 4.0 strive to include [40][41][42]:
  • Promoting remote work and striving to reduce the paper form of documentation for environmental reasons;
  • Tendency to completely abandon paper in favor of electronic procedures, processes, and daily duties;
  • Restrictions related to movement within and outside countries;
  • Quarantines, home isolation, and the business impacts are partially mitigated by platforms for remote communication, filling, and signing documents, etc.;
  • A global trend lasting for years consisting of offering more and more goods in digital or hybrid forms;
  • Industry 4.0 assumptions of digitization and automation of production processes.
The pandemic-related crisis has created supply chain problems in the renewable energy sector. Another problem is difficulties in the stock markets regarding the risk of not being able to take advantage of government incentives that end at the end of the year. The behavior of investors is unstable due to uncertainty in the industry [42]. We need a constant analysis of the energy demand while maintaining the balance of the savings application. This also applies to industries and innovative solutions. In the context of the digitization trend and its use, it is worth paying attention to the balance of energy use. Improving energy efficiency in digitization is an engine of economic growth. Unfortunately, it is a source of an increasing demand for energy. One of the major remote work consequences in the construction and design industry is a reduction of energy consumption due to the lack of use of huge office spaces both during the day and in the afternoon. However, a study in India showed that as lockdowns were lifted and social freedom was restored, energy consumption began to increase after a temporary drop due to lockdowns [43]. Electricity will be crucial in the near and long terms to maintain progress and technological development [44][45]. This shows how important it is to take care of the environmental aspects, even in an industry that by its nature is harmful to the environment. It is worth making various attempts to compensate for industrial activities harmful to the environment. The role of the economy and legislative and governing bodies in managing design processes in such a way that they can give optimal results in the context of the allocation of economic resources becomes important as well in connection with rational management of natural resource management [46].
An important issue related to digitization is noise reduction in city centers. The impact of the pandemic on noise reduction is shown by research conducted in Stockholm, Madrid, and Dublin [47][48][49].
The next issue related to pandemic changes in an industry context is waste management. There is an increase in the amount of medical waste as another important area affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. However, there is a decrease in the amount of domestic and industrial waste [50]. Despite a small change in greenhouse gas reduction, it cannot be considered as satisfactory. Unfortunately, serious problems have occurred in renewable energy sector [50][51][52]. In terms of waste management, there is a need to develop and manufacture biodegradable and environmentally friendly disposable personal protective equipment (masks, gloves, and coveralls) so that we can continue to achieve sustainable production while reducing environmental costs [53][54]. The examples given in the literature review should be combined and refer to the design and construction industry, which is characterized by a high consumption of natural resources. By using remote work, it is possible to at least partially reduce its negative effects; e.g., in the fields of natural energy consumption and waste management, and the impact on utilities consumption. This can be achieved on the basis of the aforementioned compensation by influencing one another in the industry. The issues presented in this review of the literature, related to remote work and environmental sustainability not only in the design and construction industry discussed, but also in other sectors that influence and interact with each other, show the importance of the research carried out and the potential contribution to the literature of the presented article. The issues discussed concern both remote work as perceived by employees and its effects and perception. These posts have a background in environmental sustainability. It shows the complexity of the topic and the value of the literature contribution of the presented publication.

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