The holidays are the perfect time to catch up on the reading you've been meaning to get to all year. Whether you're at the airport, waiting for relatives to arrive, or just enjoying some quiet time between projects, we've pulled together the reads that shaped how we think about the industry this year.
It's been a year of change. Regulatory requirements are tightening. Disputes remain stubbornly expensive. And AI went from "interesting" to "unavoidable" faster than anyone expected.
We've picked out a mix of reports, guides and articles that we keep coming back to. Some are strategic, some are practical and a few might just change how you think about project information entirely.
Grab a coffee (or something stronger) and dig in.
Tech worth paying attention to
Microsoft Ignite 2025: what AEC IT leaders need to know
Microsoft's annual showcase, with the highlights that actually matter for AEC. Agent 365 lets you manage AI agents at scale, Windows 365 for Agents is worth understanding and Copilot's new Agent Mode across Word, Excel, and PowerPoint is genuinely useful. 68% of businesses are now using AI, but the firms leading the charge are seeing returns three times higher than slow adopters.
10 Innovations that will change construction
Autodesk's rundown of the technologies actually being deployed on sites right now. AI for predictive analytics, 3D printing, Extended Reality for design reviews, digital twins, robotics. BAM Ireland's case study is worth the read alone: 20% improvement in on-site quality using AI-powered Construction IQ. Firms rated "digitally savvy" outperform competitors by 48% on revenue.
The guides your competitors haven't read yet
Email management ROI: the business case for smarter project communication
If you've ever tried to justify email management spend to your CFO, this is the document you forward them. Customer data, productivity calculations, risk mitigation case studies. 51% of Mail Manager users have used the platform to help resolve disputes, with savings ranging from $400 to over $10 million.
The project management problem all-in-one systems won't solve
Why Procore and Newforma don't fix your email problem, and why your team still lives in Outlook. AEC professionals spend 5.5 hours per week searching for project information. Manual email filing costs 12 hours per week per employee. This guide makes the case for purpose-built tools.
If it's not filed, you're not covered
The principle is simple: if you can't prove it happened, it didn't happen. Whether you're dealing with the Building Safety Act in the UK or documentation requirements in North America, regulators want complete correspondence trails. The firms that can produce them win disputes. The firms that can't, don't.
A step-by-step guide to improving your email management
A practical toolkit for getting started. 376 billion emails are sent daily worldwide, and 1 in 3 employees spend at least an hour each day managing their inbox. For a 1,000-employee organisation, that's over $200,000 monthly in lost productivity. This guide walks you through fixing it.
The compliance reading you can't afford to skip
Building safety compliance starts with email management
A feature from PBC Today on how evolving regulations have changed the game for project information. UK-focused, but the principle applies everywhere: when building safety incidents occur, investigators demand complete email trails. Treat email as a compliance asset, not transient communication.
Where the market's actually heading
Arcadis global construction disputes report 2025
Arcadis has tracked construction disputes globally for 15 years. This year's report covers North America, Europe, and the Middle East. North American disputes averaged $42.8 million in 2024. The top cause for six of the last nine years? Errors and omissions in contract documents. The pattern is clear.
Glenigan UK construction industry forecast 2025-2027
Finally, some good news. Glenigan is predicting a 24% surge in UK project starts by 2027. Private housebuilding up 18%, water sector planning £104 billion in investment. The sector-by-sector breakdown is useful for figuring out where to focus.
Delivering on construction productivity is no longer optional
McKinsey's take on construction's productivity problem. Global spending is projected to grow from $13 trillion to $22 trillion by 2040, but productivity has only improved 10% in two decades while manufacturing improved 90%. The report outlines five approaches that might actually work.
Looking ahead to 2026
If there's a theme running through this reading list, it's accountability. Disputes aren't going away. Documentation requirements are tightening on both sides of the Atlantic. And regulatory challenges will continue to shape the market well into next year.
The firms that thrive in 2026 will be the ones that treat project information as a strategic asset rather than an administrative burden. That means having systems in place to capture, organise and retrieve critical correspondence when it matters most: during audits, disputes or simply when a colleague needs to pick up where someone else left off.
We hope this reading list helps you head into the new year informed, prepared and ready to move.
Access our ebook 'The project management problem all-in-one systems won't solve' to discover more.
