Owing to the rapid developments of information technology, artificial intelligence and robotics in recent years, the built-environment industry is experiencing drastic changes, which brings extensive challenges but also opens brand-new windows for future civil engineers. The cross-disciplinary civil engineering research teams at Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST), in collaborations with leading design, construction and engineering management firms in China, carried out cutting-edge investigations to address the emerging needs, which cover the areas of digital design, agent-driven design, smart construction, and intelligent maintenance. This talk presents some of the new developments in these researches as well as their trial applications in a number of aspects of the built environment industry. For civil engineering design, it is shown that BIM-based 3D design has become the present norm, and we try to answer the question whether generative and even AI agent-driven designs can be our future; for civil engineering construction, it is known that prefabricated and/or semi-automatic construction has become a common practice, and we look to the future of unmanned construction; for civil engineering maintenance, the talk shows that semi-automatic structural maintenance using digital twin is no longer a story, but structural medical exam is a subject that deserves in-depth investigation. The future trends in these areas are also outlined. In addition, the talk also discusses the reform and practice of civil engineering undergraduate education at HUST. Our curriculum is designed to cultivate the future engineers who will be able to meet the challenges of future civil engineering.