We have entered unusual times. As households stay full, cars stay parked, and roads begin clearing - an opportunity has arisen in the construction and road maintenance sector. 

What was once a bustling mesh of commuters, congestion and constraints, has suddenly opened up to the untapped potential of empty roads. One that we’ve already seen a range of organisations leverage to fast-track projects.

Many of our clients have been reaching out for assistance in how to utilise these extraneous circumstances to maximise daily project hours. The potential outcome of projects completing days, weeks or months early is multifaceted, ranging from reduced impacts on local communities and increased stimulus for our economies, to a high quality finished product and improved efficiency for contractors.

Navigating a path forward

So, how do you discover if there’s an opportunity on your project? How do you prove that working hours can be extended? How do you bring your stakeholders along on the journey?

These are just some of the questions we will be exploring over the coming weeks and months, pulling together useful information and resources.

Eating an elephant one bite at a time 

It is easy to make some quick changes but driving wider system change requires a more deliberate and focused plan.

There are some key problems faced here: 

1. Data available is struggling to keep up within a COVID-19 world.

2. Current methodology is built around standard behaviour and is not capable of handling this type of situation.

3. Planning ahead is near impossible with the uncertainty of delivery around changing lockdown levels.

Breaking this problem down has been invaluable for our customers as we have discovered just how different life on the road has become with the new coronavirus lockdowns in place, and how big the delivery gains can be. 

A Golden Age

Straight away, the opportunity sticks out like a traffic cone. We can see a clear reduction in the daily commute dual-peaks, which are strong inhibitors for extended working hours. 

As much uncertainty as there is around the current conditions, we will have even greater unpredictability of conditions once restrictions are eased, and traffic begins flowing freely back onto our roads.

It will be imperative to gain clarity on new traffic conditions and continually refine our approach based on actual behaviour.

We’re entering a golden age, where you define how your team works, not by old assumptions and by cookie-cutter guidelines, but in harmony with the real world. Are you ready?

Over the coming weeks, we will be exploring and uncovering exactly what this means for us all. Subscribe and stay tuned to follow along and learn how this plays out.