Insights

Cost and carbon are measured in two different worlds. Clients want lower carbon. But decisions are based on cost. Not because they don’t care. Not because they lack ambition. But because the information rarely arrives aligned. At KOSMOS, we align cost and carbon. This leads to confident, fast, and fact-based decision-making on our projects. In today’s new podcast episode Elia and Anders (from KOSMOS) discuss how you can align cost and carbon on your projects – using an integrated digital quantity surveying approach.

7 out of 9 planetary boundaries have already been crossed. Planetary boundaries introduce something systemic. They redefine the limits within which humanity, and therefore our industry can safely operate. In our latest episode of Inventing Construction, we sat down with Karl-Martin, senior advisor in architecture, strategic planning and innovation, to explore a difficult but necessary idea: What if planetary boundaries are not just an environmental framework, but the new building code of Earth?

If you read the headlines, you might think data centres are the problem. They use energy. They take up space. They create “just a few jobs.” They’re described as grey, windowless boxes that quietly sit in industrial zones, consuming power and giving little back. But here’s the uncomfortable truth: If you switched them off tomorrow, modern society would end.

The construction industry is moving faster than ever. Digital twins. Information management frameworks. AI-assisted workflows. Data-driven decision-making. Asset-focused delivery. Clients demanding structured data, not just drawings. Meanwhile, universities operate in three- to five-year curriculum cycles, shaped by accreditation requirements, professional standards, and institutional governance. So the question isn’t provocative for the sake of it. It’s necessary: Can academia keep up with a rapidly changing construction industry?

The construction industry has a people problem. Across markets, firms are struggling to hire and retain building surveyors, quantity surveyors, project managers, and estimators. The demand for construction is growing, regulation is increasing, risk is rising, and yet more people are leaving the industry than entering. And no amount of wishful thinking will fix that.