A new report from Autodesk, Inc. suggests that Singapore’s Design and Make industries – including construction, architecture and engineering – may be shifting growth strategies away from technology adoption, instead prioritising data consolidation to address persistent productivity declines and tight project timelines.
Autodesk’s State of Digital Adoption in the Construction Industry 2026 report, authored in partnership with Deloitte Access Economics, is a study of 954 businesses across Singapore, Australia, Hong Kong, Japan, India and Vietnam to assess the gap between digital ambition and digital capabilities. Businesses surveyed included those in architecture, engineering, construction, real estate development and specialty trade contractors.
The research data reveals a maturing construction industry in Singapore. In 2025, Singapore construction firms ranked among the top adopters of construction technologies in the region, using an average of 7.3 technologies. While 2026 data found a reduction among local firms to 6.5 technologies, broader industry trends suggest that this is a move to streamline data and technology ecosystems rather than slowing digitalisation.
Technology still plays a major role in Singapore’s construction sector, with nearly half (47 percent) of local sector employees using construction specific technology weekly. This ranks Singapore third in the region among all countries included in the report just behind Vietnam (52 per cent) and Australia (48 percent), a position it shares with Japan (47 percent). However, industry players in Asia Pacific have reduced their median number of data environments and point solutions from 11 to 6 to reduce data inaccuracies and fragmentation, creating a stronger data foundation for higher-value tools like AI.
“In a more volatile world, digital capability becomes construction’s competitive edge – turning project data into decisions, and decisions into predictable delivery,” said Sumit Oberoi, Senior Manager, Construction Strategy and Partnerships at Autodesk. “The winners won’t be the firms with the most tools, but the ones that connect workflows, trust their data, and scale what works across every project.”
The top three technologies used by Singapore construction firms are data analytics (55 percent), construction management cloud software (55 percent), and mobile apps (48 percent). But barriers to digital adoption have also evolved over the last 12 months. In 2025, technology adoption was primarily hindered by a general uncertainty around required technical skills and capabilities. This year, that ambiguity is also accompanied by a lack of digital skills among employees, which alongside decreased budgets have become one of Singapore’s leading constraints to digital adoption.
“For industry leaders, these challenges have made it more difficult to predict delivery timelines. It’s not surprising, therefore, that construction management cloud software is the most widely adopted technology in the sector, being able to help ease project pressures by providing a single platform for data sharing, real-time cost updates and model coordination,” added Oberoi.
The Productivity Potential and Regulatory Push
This digital pivot comes at a critical juncture for the local built environment industry. While other sectors of Singapore’s economy have achieved robust growth, the construction sector’s value-added per actual hour worked decreased by 3.8 percent from 2009 to 2023 according to SingStat.
Compounding this productivity crunch is a looming regulatory deadline. The Building and Construction Authority (BCA), which has championed common data standards and Building Information Modelling (BIM) via the Built Environment Industry Transformation Map, is expanding its mandates. By late 2026, the use of BIM will be required for all new developments across the city-state.
Local market leaders are already demonstrating how to navigate this transition by prioritising data interoperability over sheer software volume. For instance, Straits Construction Singapore has established communication channels between isolated point platforms and its central Common Data Environment (CDE) to keep project updates entirely centralised.
“In practice, it’s rarely feasible to have only one platform that supports all aspects of a project,” said Edmund Leong, Head of ICT, BIM (Building Information Modelling) and VDC (Virtual Design and Construction), at Straits Construction Singapore. “It’s probably an amalgamation of different platforms, but the most important thing is that the information can move around effectively across these platforms. We are certainly already seeing these technologies reimagining processes and streamlining the way we work.”
Firms are also actively augmenting their workforce with advanced automation to boost productivity. Woh Hup Pte Ltd partnered with robotics startup Fabrica AI to deploy an autonomous tile-grouting robot. By automating a traditionally manual, time-intensive workflow, the system has successfully yielded a five-fold productivity gain while ensuring consistent quality, demonstrating how the integration of robotics into construction workflows can significantly enhance efficiency and workforce sustainability in the built environment sector.
“Singapore doesn’t have a technology adoption problem but a value realisation problem. The opportunity now is to move from digitising tasks to digitising the delivery system: by having one connected data backbone, sharper collaboration, and a workforce that can use these tools confidently to lift productivity at scale,” said Oberoi.
Geopolitical Disruption Adding to Economic Pressures
Capturing future growth requires industry players to navigate a highly sensitive economic climate. While Singapore has maintained robust macroeconomic momentum, with a 2 to 4 percent GDP growth forecast for 2026 following a robust 5 per cent expansion in 2025, the construction sector remains highly exposed to external disruptions.
Geopolitical uncertainties have triggered severe energy shocks, directly escalating regional transport logistics and wholesale trade costs. Across all surveyed APAC markets, the cost of raw materials (29 percent) and higher labour costs (26 percent) remain the most common barriers to growth.
“Rising input and material costs are placing the region’s construction industry under intense pressure, squeezing margins on contracts,” said David Rumbens, Partner at Deloitte Access Economics. “Lifting productivity through technology is critical – not just for individual businesses, but for the industry’s capacity to deliver Singapore’s pipeline of public housing and major infrastructure developments. Getting data foundations right is a strategic necessity to control costs, prevent delays, and sustain financial stability.”
The Digital Skills Shortage
While 95 percent of regional businesses are actively taking steps to combat digital skills gaps, upskilling existing workers internally has emerged as the most common solution (64 percent) compared to outsourcing or external recruitment. This is also the most effective approach, with 67 percent of firms upskilling existing workers reporting positive results.
“Organisational readiness will dictate the pace of digital maturity in Singapore,” said Oberoi. “While the focus in 2025 may have been investing and adopting technology, the battle in 2026 is cultivating a workforce that can confidently use these tools. Role-specific training, on-the-job learning, and partnerships with technology providers supported by industry-led training pathways that embed digital capability into the workforce will be the catalyst to convert high digital ambitions into productivity dividends. Local firms should also leverage the expanded SkillsFuture Level-Up Programme and its AI learning pathways to rapidly reskill mid-career workers for advanced digital workflows.”
