Weekly highlights

Weekly highlights

Each week the Construction team compiles a round-up of highlights from the world of construction

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Latest Construction News

Construction weekly highlights—18 September 2025

This week's edition of Construction weekly highlights includes insights from the Joint Contracts Tribunal (JCT) on the Target Cost Contract, an Upper Tribunal (Lands Chamber) case on the interpretation of paragraph 8 of Schedule 8 to the Building Safety Act 2022 (BSA 2022) (Almacantar v De Valk), guidelines from the Chartered Institute of Arbitrators (Ciarb) on third-party arbitration funding, the Swiss Arbitration Association (ASA)’s whitepaper on streamlining document production in arbitrations, the Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS)’s consultation on a new global construction professional standard, publication of RICS’s AI in Construction 2025 report and the publication of the construction output for July 2025 by the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

AAA-ICDR to launch AI arbitrator for construction disputes in November 2025

The American Arbitration Association–International Centre for Dispute Resolution (AAA-ICDR) has announced plans to launch an AI arbitrator system for documents-only construction cases in November 2025. The system, developed with QuantumBlack, AI by McKinsey, has been trained on over 1,500 construction awards and incorporates a human-in-the-loop framework for validation. The AI arbitrator will evaluate the merits of claims, generate explainable recommendations and prepare draft awards, with arbitrators reviewing outcomes before a decision is finalised. AAA-ICDR plans to expand the system to additional industries, dispute types and higher value claims in 2026.

RICS launches consultation on global construction professional standard

The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) has launched a consultation on a new global construction professional standard, which incorporates principles of quantity surveying and project management. The standard will consolidate 32 separate Black Book guidance notes covering different aspects of quantity surveying, published between 2009–21, into a single professional standard, along with six accompanying practice information pieces covering construction project lifecycles. It aims to provide a consistent framework for standards and help professionals update and improve their practice more swiftly. The consultation closes on 24 October 2025, with RICS planning to release the final version of the professional standard in Q1 2026.

RICS publishes AI in Construction 2025 report

The Royal Institution of Chartered Surveyors (RICS) has published its AI in Construction 2025 report, drawing on responses from over 2,200 professionals worldwide. The findings reveal that 45% of organisations are not using AI, while only 1% have scaled it across projects. Despite low adoption, 70% of project managers and quantity surveyors expect AI to deliver greater value. The report highlights concerns about a growing gap between AI investment ambitions and organisational readiness in the construction sector, with a quarter of firms planning to increase AI spending in the next 12 months despite widespread skills shortages. While optimism remains high about AI’s potential in scheduling, risk management and cost control, key barriers to adoption include a lack of skilled personnel (46%), system integration challenges (37%) and poor data quality (30%). RICS is calling for collaboration between industry, government and professional bodies to develop implementation roadmaps and upskilling initiatives.