Building an AI-Ready Workforce

Tuesday 28 July 2026

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Senior Account Manager

As part of our ongoing partnership – the NLA and the GLA jointly hosted a roundtable discussion as part of the Mayor of London’s AI and Jobs Taskforce, which is chaired by Baroness Martha Lane-Fox. The Taskforce was established to develop a practical, evidence-based response to the growing impact of artificial intelligence on the Capital's labour market.

In order to assess how organisations are implementing and utilising AI, the roundtable brought together voices from across the built environment sector who had a working knowledge on how the technology directly affected both their individual roles, and workflows across their organisations.

The group tackled some pressing issues, ranging from practical applications of AI across the workforce to grappling with more existential questions around how the technology would shape the future of the jobs that make up the built environment.

As the discussion unfolded, a few key themes stood out, echoing NLA's One Built Environment campaign’s focus on collaboration across disciplines. One thing was made clear: rigour, cooperation and communication skills are what will distinguish both individuals and employers’ ability to implement AI effectively across the workforce.

The taskforce has recently published its final report, presenting the findings the group gathered after facilitating a series of roundtables with external consultants from the GLA’s wider network.

I was happy to help curate the Taskforce’s Built Environment Stakeholders Roundtable, which culminated in a few key takeaways examining how AI is shaping the future of work in London’s built environment.

Download the report

AI is reshaping how work gets done

The technology’s adoption is accelerating across the professions that make up the built environment, with a clear use case for productivity on administrative and repetitive tasks. Whilst some participants noted how employees are able to complete certain tasks faster, confidence and maturity with AI tools varies widely between organisations. Specialist roles (e.g. CGI/visualisation) and less digitally confident workers face the greatest risk if they are left without proper support.

Data quality, government and AI literacy are the real bottlenecks - not the technology itself

Poor data governance, unclear accountability, inconsistent procurement standards, and a lack of practical training are among the biggest barriers to scaling successful AI pilots. These challenges widen the capability gap between the public and private sectors, with some specialist professions at particular risk of falling behind due to limited resources. In this context, agility is essential, especially for under-resourced organisations that need to close an increasingly widening gap.

Success depends on collaboration, leadership and positioning London as a global hub

In a rapidly changing landscape, participants were largely optimistic, framing AI as an opportunity to strengthen London’s built environment as both a domestic strength and global export - but only if government and other industry bodies coordinate on shared governance frameworks, invest in workforce capability and keep the focus on better outcomes for people and places, as opposed to focusing solely on efficiency. This can also build a stronger case for London as an AI hub, ultimately drawing interest and investment to the capital.

So, where can we go from here?

As AI continues to dominate public discourse - it is becoming more evident that both employers and employees need to embrace the more human elements of their work in order to truly adapt and shape the future of our cities. Some participants noted the potential of AI to drive more human-led design, thinking and collaboration.

AI is prompting the sector to reckon not just with our value as individuals, but with the more fundamental question of why the built environment exists in the first place - to create places and homes for people.

These broad themes link back to the message behind NLA’s One Built Environment campaign, which champions collaboration across the sector’s disciplines in service of that shared purpose. Keeping this purpose front and centre can act as a compass, helping organisations make sense of where AI genuinely adds value and where human judgement, creativity an

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Fiona Gibson

Senior Account Manager