Conclusions: cross-cutting themes, challenges and recommendations

Abstract

This concluding chapter summarises the key insights presented throughout this book, connecting individual contributions to a broader discourse on blockchain's role in addressing inefficiencies in the architecture, engineering, construction and operations (AECO) industry. It highlights blockchain's foundational principles, socio-technical dimensions and applications such as supply chain management, construction contract administration (CCA), property tokenisation and integration with digital twins and IoT systems.

Cross-cutting themes are identified, including blockchain's potential to enhance transparency, decentralise governance, support lifecycle management and enable tokenisation for inclusive and sustainable practices. This chapter also examines key challenges to adoption, such as legal and regulatory hurdles, scalability and performance limitations, integration with legacy systems and stakeholder resistance. These challenges are contextualised within the fragmented and complex nature of the built environment. Additionally, the chapter explores the dynamics of innovation ecosystems, analysing how open, closed and hybrid models influence the scalability and diffusion of blockchain in the AECO sector.

This chapter adapts recommendations from the World Economic Forum's (WEF) blockchain framework, tailoring them to support blockchain adoption within the AECO sector. These include strategies for stakeholder engagement, regulatory alignment, pilot projects and the development of interoperable and scalable systems.

Finally, the chapter calls for a collective effort among academia, industry and policymakers to position blockchain not as a standalone solution but as a catalyst for innovation, inclusivity and resilience, extending its impact beyond the built environment.