A virtual conference held earlier this week by the Construction 2050 Alliance brought together industry representatives, MEPs and government officials from across the EU to discuss post-pandemic plans for the construction sector, including a €672.5 billion recovery package.
Construction in Dublin Docklands
Credit: Salim Virji / Flickr
The meeting was introduced by Riccardo Viaggi, secretary-general of the Committee for European Construction Equipment (CECE), who spoke of the newly-formed Alliance's unprecedented nature, which has support from 47 European organisations.
He said that there had never been a better time for construction stakeholders, member states and EU institutions to come together in solidarity against the twin perils of climate change and Covid-19 recovery.
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Maria Teresa Fabregas, director of the European Commission’s (EC) new Recovery and Resilience Task Force, said the organisation was empowered to allocate €672.5 billion of financial support “to accelerate the recovery and make member states more resilient and better prepared for the future.
"It focuses on reforms and investments that will foster the green and digital transition and reduce economic and social divergence in the Union.
“We are advising member states to bring forward projects that will bring together the renovation of public and private buildings, as well as projects linked to infrastructure,” added Fabregas.
She also spoke of the need to prioritise staff training for climate change reduction and in preparedness for the digital transformation.
Fabregas also stressed that the task force will need to see at least 37% of the plans put forward by the member states relating to climate change projects and at least 20% to digital projects.
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The conference also saw officials from Croatia, France, Germany and Greece make presentations in which they described the actions being taken by their respective countries.
Yannick Pache, of the French Ministry of Ecological Transition & Housing, said his country’s recovery plan included some €4 billion for the renovation and improved energy efficiency of public buildings.
Orestis Kavalakis, of the Greek Ministry of Development & Investments, said his government would focus on releasing private funding by advancing private-public partnership projects.
He said three such projects were approved in November, with 22 further projects, worth a total of around €22 billion, in the pipeline.
Irena Kriz Selendic, from the Croatian Ministry of Economy & Energy, said the priority had to be recovering from recent earthquake damage, so renovation plans would have to be more focused on aiding economic recovery than reducing emissions and saving energy.
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Domenico Campogrande, director-general of the European Construction Industry Federation (FIEC), also spoke about EU recovery packages, saying: “There is a need, not only to find agreement but also to channel this funding on the field because that is where we will feel the recovery.”
Admitting that demands on the industry would be great, he said, “Construction is a sector that reacts with some delay, [due to] its administrative procedures that take time to put in place.
“Training will be key because construction companies have difficulties in finding the right workers and if we want to, for example, double the renovation rate, the only way to do it is with the workforce,” he concluded.
- See the full recording of the event here.
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