Quality work and human relations - Engineer of the Month believes in live and let live 

The time spent with his architect father was a defining moment in many aspects of his life.
"I have a lot of childhood memories of us tinkering together, or of him taking me with him on jobs. I was born in the early 1970s, so as a small child I watched the construction of the big housing estates in Budapest with wide-open eyes. At the age of fifteen or sixteen, I was able to help him a lot when we built a new home for the family. My father's handiwork is also reflected in the Badacsony holiday home, which was built before I was born and which my wife and I have been running as an apartment house in recent years."

Implementation instead of planning

Given his childhood experiences and his excellent grades in maths and physics, he had no particular problem choosing a career. He had already graduated from the Ybl Miklós College of Civil Engineering, knowing that he did not want to be an engineer, but was attracted by the field of construction.

His first job after graduation was in a small construction company, mainly working on the renovation of the Hungarian Post Office buildings. Here, as a foreman and construction manager, he experienced that the key issue was the rational and professional organisation and management of the work.

Confronting decades of backlogs

Then came a big leap in his professional career. From a small company working for the Hungarian state to a large construction company in an international environment, Ast-Hungaria.

The Austrian-based company was one of the first Western European companies to start working in Hungary in the early 1980s, when it was building hotels. Ast-Hungária has been the general contractor for a number of hotels, commercial establishments such as OBI and Interspar department stores, as well as industrial and office buildings. The scale of the tasks, the documentation processes, the complexity of the projects and the tight deadlines opened up new horizons for the young engineer.

"I was struck by the mentality of the Austrians, their construction work culture and the thoroughness with which the projects were prepared. They were much, much ahead of us, every work process was deeply thought through, they were already using 3D drawings and the need to replace live work with machines was much more advanced than what was typical in Hungary at the time."

A sharp change

The first major work in which he was able to take part as part of Ast-Hungária at the turn of the millennium was the construction of the Csepel power station. This was followed by another project of a very different and unique nature: the construction of the PwC office building in the centre of Budapest. At the turn of the 1990s and 2000s, the project had rather high expectations in terms of both quality and the investor's expectations, which was combined with the Austrian mentality that was ingrained in the contractor. These tasks and the company culture provided the engineer with a wealth of valuable experience in the roles of foreman, site manager, preparatory engineer, project manager and finally technical manager.

The first independent project has become a success story

The same high quality standards were applied to the construction of the Interspar and Family Center in Ózd, which were ordered by the Austrian investor. It was a challenge to take over the project, many elements of which were technically new, due to a colleague's illness. The shopping and leisure centre, which was realised with a lot of struggle and challenges, created such cohesion between the experts of the contractor and the designer Invex Kft. from Sopron, that the next joint contract in 2006, the construction of Interspar and Family Center in Hódmezővásárhely, became a real success story. The value of this success in his professional career is further enhanced not only by the fact that it was a 2.1 billion euro project, but also by the fact that it was the first project independently managed by the Engineer of the Month.

Hungarians at the construction site of the outlet in Parndorf

„In the first half of the 2000s, we worked extensively with Metal Hungaria Holding, whose director, József Kreinbacher, recommended Weinberget as a company capable of meeting the high quality expectations of foreign customers. Prior to the construction of the shopping and entertainment centre in Hódmezővásárhely, we had already completed one of the expansion phases of Outlet Center in Parndorf in collaboration with the company's experts. This gave us an insight into each other's work culture and, as Hungarian construction experts, into how things work in Austria.”

Can friendship exist in business?

The Engineer of the Month has been friends with the founder-owner and managing director of Weinberg, István Derczó, for almost twenty years. The relationship has been enriched by a decade and a half of working together in the same company: after Ast-Hungaria was liquidated together with its Austrian parent company, a job offer came from the head of Weinberg.

"The kind of thinking that prevails at Weinberg, primarily through István Derczó, is one that I can identify with. Relationships are built on mutual trust. The company is characterised by a people-oriented approach, the live and let live principle."

A further similarity in approach is that Weinberg also sees subcontractors and their employees as partners.

"I have respect for the working people, the manual workers. This is not only by saying hello when you enter the work area, but also by talking to those who are your partners in the work. I know that if they don't drive the nail into the tree, there and as it should be, then nothing will come of the construction site. And they are aware that sometimes I ask them to do work that is difficult, that I have to struggle with, but I never ask them to do something that can't be done. There is a mutual respect in the relationship, we work with many subcontractors almost constantly and they come back to us job after job."

Return is the most valuable feedback

The Engineer of the Month is a member of the local entrepreneurial class in Badacsony. He and his wife have been running their small apartment house in the wine region for four years now. He tries to apply his tried and tested approach in the construction industry - you can't get along without each other, without respect for each other - to the thinking of other accommodation providers, winemakers and restaurateurs interested in local tourism.

He is convinced that if the vision is for Lake Balaton to become a four-season tourist destination, it is not enough to provide quality accommodation, but also to keep wineries, restaurants and other attractions open throughout the year, because only by working together can the desired result be achieved. If guests are satisfied and have a good time, they will return at other times of the year. This is the most valuable feedback for the landlord or restaurateur. As the discussion shows, the same is true for the construction industry.

A bumpy road, but in the right direction

"In my day-to-day work, I am also motivated by the need to realise a building in such a way that the investor will commission it again when it expands its capacity or builds a new plant. This depends not only on the quality of our work, but also on the quality of our human relations and how we can deal effectively with problems and conflicts. Weinberg has almost continuous orders from its former partners. This also shows that the road we have chosen is bumpy, but in the right direction. It proves that money alone is not always and not always the deciding factor."

Saying goodbye as a friend

Festo, a leader in industrial automation, has awarded the third extension of its Budapest factory to Weinberg. The investor expected German precision, and its satisfaction is shown by the fact that the cooperation has continued and the greenfield investment in the company's new plant in Sátoraljaújhely was completed in the summer.

The situation is similar with Diehl Aviation, whose third phase expansion of its plant in Nyírbátor was again given to Weinberg. Also in the same category is the toolmaking plant in Miskolc, Spinto, which had to build its production hall on a marshy site. Since then, the parties have maintained a good relationship and the owners consult with the factory's contractor before any technical development.

"That's the real motivation for me, to work in a way that in the end the client is not an enemy and we don't part as lawyers, but as friends."

"Uncle Jossi, we'll deal with it!"

Of all the Weinberg projects so far, the most emotional was the construction of the FémAlk building in Dunavarsány for the October Engineer of the Month.

"About twenty of us were sitting in the meeting room when the owner, József Sándor, came in to sign the contract and negotiate the biggest project in the company's history, worth 3.5-4 billion euros. He shook hands with all present and asked, "Who will be in charge of the construction?" Knowing the answer, he came up to me and said, "Brother Jani, on 15 July the company will be 25 years old, and the house must be ready by then, because we are having a huge party for the opening. I replied: "Uncle Józsi, we'll manage.

We were then less than a year before the scheduled project handover date. A 15,000 square metre production hall was to be built for the aluminium foundry, with a fairly complex machinery, service units and office building on a seven-hectare site. Despite numerous design changes, as the saying goes with tight schedules, we finished with a shoehorn."

This construction also marked a change of dimension in the life of Weinberg, which set the company apart from the mid-sized companies and paved the way for the construction of factories using increasingly complex technology.

For the project leader, this work not only brought professional recognition, but also a great personal relationship with József Sándor, which is still a great personal relationship today. One proof of this is that he was also entrusted with the project management of the company's Erdőhorváti plant.

Europe's fastest-building OSB factory

"Factory construction is the most interesting professional challenge for me, as we always encounter unique and special technological solutions. From an engineering point of view, they are a big challenge for the project management, even if we don't design the factory ourselves."

The 2015 Swiss Krono OSB plant in Vásárosnamény, which was the company's largest project at the time, with a value of EUR 5.6 billion, also fits into this series. As with FémAlk, the task was to build a complex plant, which was made much more difficult by the fact that the construction plans were refined during the construction process to ensure that the buildings were adapted to the production technology. Despite the challenges, the client's German project manager said it was the fastest OSB factory in Europe.

Turning a problem into an advantage

For the recently completed Volvo Truck Center greenfield project in Ecseri, the project manager faced a major challenge in thinking through, coordinating and finally integrating the many small details of the project into a big picture. The investor's expectation was that Truck Center should be climate neutral and also provide the highest level of comfort for its customers and employees.

During the construction of the two-storey office, truck and bus service, test and training centre, customer lounge, truck wash and new and used vehicle dealership, groundwater on the site was a major problem that needed to be solved.

"There is a seven-metre difference in level within the construction area, in some parts we found no trace of groundwater at a depth of 20 metres, and a hundred metres further away there was already a trench at the height of a shovel. The solution was to build a drainage system around the entire area, but the design of this system meant that construction had to be suspended for a whole month."

Groundwater levels were reduced and the system has been working well ever since.

"We tried to minimise the ecological impact during the construction phase. We took advantage of the problem and channelled the water coming through the drainage system into sump tanks. The water collected in five tanks was used during the construction phase to treat the concrete and irrigate the asphalt."

Even rainwater run-off from vehicles is recycled

As an example of the meticulous design and complexity of the construction, the truck wash was built with a separate two-part oil collection system, so that the water used is recycled after desiccation and purification. In addition, a run-off system has been designed for when trucks park at the centre in rainy or snowy weather and leachate runs off the vehicles. This, as well as rainwater collected in the car parks, is channelled through the river and then passed through an oil interceptor to reuse the purified water.

For the comfort of clients and employees, there is an office building and waiting room with large glass areas, a cosy atrium and a relaxation garden. The buildings are energy-efficiently operated by installing 282 KW of solar panels and shading through a shutter system. The Truck Center has almost minimal external energy and mains water requirements. A huge green area of 23,000 square metres has also been created, with 125 trees planted, and the area is maintained by a well-fed irrigation system.

Nesting site built for the gyurgy bands

When construction started, they noticed that the area was full of birds. A man who lived nearby also contacted the contractors saying that he had seen grass strips in the area. He brought a picture with him and they used it to identify the birds they shared the area with.

"One of the special features of the construction is a wall of earth which, in addition to hiding a section of the drainage system, has become a nesting place for the gypsy moths that live in the area. The timing of the project was fortunate in that no work was carried out in the area during the breeding season, and in August, when the earthwork was again being worked on by machinery, the birds were on their migration route. Here again, the live and let live principle has been put into practice."

A new approach could also save investors time and money

Due to his knowledge of multinational corporate culture and extensive professional experience, Weinberg entrusts János Borbély with the preparation of most of the schedules during the project preparation phase.

Nowadays, companies are faced with the strange situation that the decision-making and planning processes prior to construction often take up to a year and a half. However, the time allowed for the implementation of the project is often less than this, which forces the preparation phase to be shortened even further. It has become a common expectation that the signing of a contract should be followed by immediate ground-breaking and the digging of the foundations. This precludes project managers from being deeply involved in the preparation, as they devote all their energies to coordinating the construction workflow.

"We need a change of attitude. Changes could be initiated by the design-contractor-technical inspectorate society, as they are the first to contact investors. It is in their hands to explain to them that if they had 2-3 months between signing the contract and starting the works on site, they could probably save time and money. But under the current system, everyone is in a squeeze", said the Engineer of the Month, who highlighted just one example among many to give food for thought.

Longer preparation, shorter implementation

"We had just started work on the Diehl Aviation factory extension in Nyírbátor when the COVID closure was ordered. Plans were being prepared when the German company investing in the project announced that they were cancelling the contract due to unpredictability. We were still in charge of the permit plans, but we knew nothing about when the parts factory would be built."

A year later, the project was relaunched. During the forced break, plans were refined and refined. When the investors were given a virtual tour of the project using 3D technology when it was relaunched, they expressed their greatest appreciation. First and foremost, it allowed time during the design phase to identify the points of conflict and review most of the possible solutions.

"We were able to start the construction with 100% completion plans and the factory was completed 3 months ahead of schedule."

It was good for the investor and the contractor, because speed is very important in work and in life.