🧱 Civil Engineering and Blockchain: A Vision I Shared Two Years Ago

Updated to this day — this is how I see its evolution now:

🔗 Blockchain and civil engineering: still a slow, powerful shift

Civil engineering has historically been one of the key drivers of national development. But unlike other sectors, its adoption of blockchain has been slow and cautious.

There are structural reasons:

• Most public works go through bureaucratic and inflexible public systems

• The industry is dominated by SMEs, often lacking the resources to explore innovation

• Strategic vision takes a backseat to daily execution

Yet, major Spanish construction firms have already explored blockchain-based pilots. Why? Because the potential is enormous once adoption accelerates.

---

⚙️ Smart Contracts = Automation, trust, and speed

The most natural bridge between blockchain and civil engineering is the smart contract:

• Digital, immutable, self-executing agreements

• No need for intermediaries or legal interpretation

• Ideal for public tenders, construction milestones, and asset management

Imagine:

• A contract that activates automatically once a tender decision is issued

• Real-time payment of work certifications upon approval

• Shared ownership of rental assets executed without intermediaries or dispute

It’s not just efficient—it’s transparent and trustless.

---

💰 Financing public works through ICOs?

In a post-COVID economic context, new public-private financing models are emerging.
Could blockchain offer a new framework?

• ICOs (Initial Coin Offerings) to fund public infrastructure

• Smart contracts to manage transparent investment terms between governments and private investors

• Data stored across decentralized nodes = tamper-proof records

---

🛠 Blockchain in the field: from control to maintenance

Blockchain can also revolutionize how we monitor and control work in real time:

• Machinery usage and production

• Materials traceability

• Geolocation and team management

• Payment scheduling upon verified execution

And even after construction ends, smart contracts can power long-term maintenance and operational guarantees.

---

🤝 Blockchain + BIM = Full collaborative traceability

BIM (Building Information Modeling) has changed how we design and collaborate.
Now imagine a BIM model stored and versioned through blockchain.

• Every change is tracked

• The author is cryptographically logged

• No rollback, no deletion

• Shared accountability across disciplines

This opens the door to decentralized storage systems, combining multicloud flexibility with blockchain security.

---

🌱 A new energy model makes blockchain viable

Yes, blockchain has an energy problem.
But Spain’s shift toward solar, wind, and hydroelectric power opens up a new path:

Mixed-use energy plants that supply power and maintain blockchain systems (mining or proof-based networks).

---

🔍 What's next?

When I wrote this article two years ago, I knew the vision would take time.
But the road is already being built. Blockchain, as a foundation for smart, transparent, and collaborative infrastructure, is a matter of when—not if.

There’s more to explore:
Climate monitoring, logistics, smart cities, decentralized cloud for public infrastructure…

And civil engineering, as always, will be there—laying the groundwork.Original publication