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BUSINESS NEWS GLOBAL CONSTRUCTION MARKET TO GROW $8 TRILLION BY 2030: DRIVEN BY CHINA, US AND IN- DIA Global Construction 2030 , a new report by Global Construction Perspectives and Oxford Economics, forecasts the volume of construc- tion output will grow by 85 percent to $15.5 trillion worldwide by 2030, with three countries – China, US and India – leading the way and accounting for 57 percent of all global growth. The benchmark global study – the fourth in a series – shows average global construction growth of 3.9 percent to 2030, outpacing that of global GDP by over one percentage point, driven by developed countries recovering from economic instability and emerging countries continuing to industrialize. “China’s share of the world construction mar- ket will increase only marginally as growth slows in the world’s largest construction mar- ket to 2030. In comparison, US construction will grow faster than China over the next 15 years – growing by an average of five percent per annum. Meanwhile, we’re due to see a surge in construction rates in India as it over-

takes Japan to become world’s third largest construction market by 2021,” says Graham Robinson, executive director of Global Con- struction Perspectives. China construction growth is to slow consid- erably with a slump in housing and the first ever decline in housing output for China will be registered this year. But, its transition to a consumer and services driven economy pro- vides opportunity for growth in new types of construction in healthcare, education and so- cial infrastructure, in addition to retail and other consumer end-markets. The construction market in India will grow al- most twice as fast as China to 2030, provid- ing a new engine of global growth in emerging markets. India’s urban population is expected to grow by a staggering 165 million by 2030, swelling Delhi by 10.4 million people to be- come the world’s second largest city. “Although globally we see construction grow- ing more rapidly than the overall economy, with developed markets forecast to rebound from their depressed levels, many will not be

back to their previous peak levels even by 2030. The current weakness in most emerging countries is likely to be temporary, with higher growth rates soon returning,” says Mike Betts, Global Construction Perspectives. In the US construction growth will tilt towards the southern states, reflecting the region’s greater catch-up potential and higher popula- tion growth. “Fed lift-off, expected as early as December, could mean a risk for construction growth in key emerging markets – Brazil, Russia, Turkey and India – that could all suffer from significant short-term reductions in growth for construc- tion, with some of these countries potentially halving growth,” says Jeremy Leonard, direc- tor of industry services at Oxford Economics. When it comes to Europe, whilst it won’t re- cover to reach pre-crisis levels until 2025, the UK is a stand-out growth market, overtaking Germany to become the largest in Europe and the world’s sixth largest construction market by 2030.

COMPLEMENTARY COMMUNICATION. Peggy Amor, marketing manager at Affinis Corp. (Overland Park, KS), a 30-person transporta- tion planning and design firm, says that their blog supports their overall communications plan goals: To expand the company’s reach To establish a reputation as a trusted resource To illustrate their competitive advantage They post technical posts about new engineering concepts, highlights about different work groups, project details, co-worker news, and more. “A variety of topics makes the editorial calendar easier to fill up,” Amor says. “Ideas regularly get added to the calen- dar and we are already scheduled through March of 2016.” PROVIDING EDUCATION. At TerraTherm (Gardner, MA), a 75-per- son firm specializing in the development and imple- mentation of in situ thermal remediation of organic contaminants in subsurface source zones, Nate Bier- schenk, sales and marketing associate, says that their niche is a unique one and because of that, many po- tential clients, consultants, and end-users of their technologies may not know much (or anything) about the products and services they provide. As a result, their goal is to educate. “In our posts, we attempt to answer the most common ques- tions about technologies and processes to create a space where we can refer potential clients if that question arises again,” he says. Soil scientists, process engineers, construction profession- als, environmental chemists, site operators, and other pro- fessionals contribute to their blog, “Think Thermal.” They also use the blog to promote events such as webinars, work- shops, and conferences.

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ers) and track our website analytics in terms of post views and path to our blog,” she says. “We analyze post perfor- mance based on topic and make necessary adjustments to keep our open rate high (nearly 40 percent, consistently).” Laursen says they work to keep their blog relevant by sur- veying subscribers to gauge whether or not people continue to find the content useful, if there are other things they’d like to read about, and how often they’re reading and inter- acting with posts. EXPANDING THE MESSAGE. At A. Morton Thomas & Associates Inc. (Rockville, MD) – a 450-person civil engineering, land- scape architecture, surveying, planning, construction in- spection, and subsurface utility engineering firm – Mary J. Stiff, marketing communication specialist, says the firm’s monthly blog is designed to give the firm an extra voice, an extra tool to get the firm’s message across, particularly when that message is longer than something that might do well on other social media platforms. It also brings users to the firm’s website. AMT is a diverse company, so team members post items across all business lines. They write about everything from what their surveyors find to posts about living shorelines. They also post about employees, events, and general busi- ness items that may be of interest to the community. AMT utilizes an editorial calendar that works around events and holidays, but Stiff says it’s im- portant to remain flexible in case a staff member has something interesting to say, or they come across an in- teresting internal email that would make a good post. “Any editorial calendar that you set up must be flexible enough to accommodate individuals within the organiza- tion who want to contribute. They are your gold,” she says.

THE ZWEIG LETTER NOVEMBER 30, 2015, ISSUE 1129

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