Digitalisation and sustainable solutions to take the construction industry to the next level in 2024

What year has KÉSZ Csoport had, what would you highlight for 2023?

2023 proved to be more challenging than expected for the entire industry, including KÉSZ Csoport. We started the year with ambitious goals, and although we fell short of our plans overall, thanks to our diversified industry portfolio, certain business areas and acquisitions made over the past 2-3 years proved particularly successful, helping us to offset the larger fluctuations.

Last year we had many memorable projects, working on real prestige projects across the country. Examples include, but are not limited to, the LEGO, BMW and Mercedes factory construction and expansion projects, the general construction of the Grand Hotel in Hévíz, and the Rheinmetall combat vehicle manufacturing plant, which we implemented in a consortium. In addition to these, I could also mention the special roof structure of the renovated wing of the Jedlik Ányos Gymnasium, the design, production and construction of the facade cladding of the Flow Hotel in Inárcs, or our work on the sports hall of the Hungarian University of Physical Education and Sports Sciences, from the design to the installation of the second fibre-cement cladding, or even the cladding of the M3 metro stations with our metal cladding. And, of course, I can't forget the pride we felt when world records were set for the floating steel roof of the Athletics Centre.

We also celebrated significant Group anniversaries in 2023. The K-ARTS Art Foundation, which manages our contemporary art collection, celebrated its 20th anniversary, and the Four Points by Sheraton Kecskemét Hotel and Conference Centre, which was a Group investment, celebrated its 10th anniversary. It is a great feeling that the hotel, which has been awarded the Architectural Award of Excellence, is a success and fulfils the regional role it was intended to play when it was first built.

The venue for the World Athletics Championships has also been changed. How challenging was the steel and cable structure of the building?

Our involvement in the construction of the Athletics Centre was certainly not a routine task, but we love complex engineering challenges like this. Especially since we were able to contribute once again to the realisation of another masterful vision by Marcel Ferencz, winner of the Prima Primissima award. KÉSZ Metaltech Kft. and KÉSZ Ipari Gyártó Kft. carried out the implementation of the steel and cable roof structure from design through manufacturing to installation, in cooperation with our strategic partner bim.GROUP Kft.. The complexity of the task is well illustrated by the fact that the structure is one of the 10 most complex steel structures in Europe. It is the result of thousands of tonnes of steel, nearly 50 diamond-shaped elements, millimetre precision and 14 months of hard work. The steel support structure of the stadium also functions as a facade, which we assembled from a number of special tubular elements that are rarely used in the Hungarian construction industry. In terms of the complexity of the investment, our work was made easier by the fact that KÉSZ Csoport was able to perform many tasks in-house, using its own resources and exploiting group synergies.

In addition to Hungarian projects, how strong is the Group's presence in foreign markets and what are the plans for the future?

The KÉSZ Csoport currently has subsidiaries in four countries (Romania, Germany, Serbia, Ukraine) in addition to Hungary. Despite the war situation, our colleagues in Ukraine are doing extremely well and achieving great success. Currently, the team is working on the expansion of the Bayer seed plant, an important step to boost Ukraine and support Ukrainian farmers. Another important project recently handed over by KÉSZ Ukraine was the expansion of the KWS seed plant. Despite the fact that the construction works were carried out during the military invasion of the country, the general construction team showed resilience, professionalism and adaptability and successfully completed the construction.

Our aim is to further strengthen our international presence, including our own investments abroad. In Romania, we are currently working on our own development of a 220-apartment residential project in Bucharest, and KÉSZ Romania is building its own plant for the production of pumping stations and air handling equipment in the Torda Industrial Park, as part of a greenfield investment. In addition to our own developments, our Cluj-based subsidiary has worked as a general contractor for clients such as Knauf, Hirschmann and Hella, to name but a few projects. In addition to all these, we are also very proud that KÉSZ Electric, a company specialised in electrical engineering and equipment manufacturing, has also been able to make a step forward in the Romanian market over the past year. I would also like to mention our engineering software development company Consteel Solutionst, which has set up a branch in Cluj-Napoca, the IT hub of the region.

It was an important step in the life of our company to further expand and diversify the already broad portfolio of our Group through acquisitions in recent years, for example in the fields of aluminium-glass façade technology and energy, targeting also foreign markets. In fact, KÉSZ Csoport has already made its mark on all continents in its 42 years of operation, through our various projects and export activities. An exciting challenge is to be involved in the near future in the reconstruction of the Azerbaijani town of Soltanli, for which design work has already started.

The dynamic transformation of the construction industry and advances in technology have brought significant changes to the industry. How are you responding and what do you see as the most important issues for the industry in the period ahead?

We have long stressed that digitalisation is the present, not the future, of the construction industry. Data-driven operations are more important than ever and we now have the tools to collect, capture and use data in a sufficiently efficient way. In this context, it is important to highlight that the energy crisis is also having a negative impact on the industry and our customers are increasingly demanding environmentally conscious solutions that put sustainability first. This has led to a noticeable transformation of the whole sector, which is supported by the applicable BIM methodologies.

The KÉSZ Csoport aims to use this methodology as a pioneer in the domestic industry, as a group of companies, to strengthen the efficiency and transparency of our operations and the trust of our partners, which will significantly increase our competitiveness. We are working to develop an operational system based on BIM that can be adapted by all our member companies and strategic partners. We are communicating our good practices to the whole industry to share knowledge, as our ultimate goal is to support the development of the whole sector.

The first sustainability report of KÉSZ Csoport was published today. What are their plans in the area of sustainability and what concrete commitments have they made?

KÉSZ Csoport is one of the first in the industry to launch a sustainability programme that is ESG-compliant. The scale of the challenge is demonstrated by the fact that the Group's sustainability strategy to 2030, which goes well beyond the mandatory requirements, encompasses the ambitions of 30 member companies and strategic partners. Our Sustainability Report includes the Group's achievements and data in the areas of environment, society and corporate governance, meeting the requirements of the GRI, the most widely accepted international sustainability standard. Sustainability is now a business and competitiveness issue that determines our financing conditions and our role in the supply chain. We know that there is a lot of work to be done, and we have presented the first steps of this long journey in our first Sustainability Report 2023 KÉSZ Csoport.

In concrete terms, our sustainability strategy includes reducing carbon emissions by 501T$1835T, increasing energy efficiency by 251T$1835T and using renewable energy by 1001T$1835T by 2030. We have made significant investments in this area: renewable energy from the Group's wind farm will cover half of our electricity consumption from 2023, and we made significant savings last year through investments in heating and lighting upgrades and other building energy efficiency.

We are also investing a lot of energy in educating our colleagues and other stakeholders on the issue, which is why we launched an awareness-raising campaign in 2022 called KÉSZ Next, which we have been running ever since. In small steps, but I think we are making good progress in this area too. We are confident that our sustainability efforts can inspire many within the industry and beyond.

In addition to the digital transformation and the importance of sustainability, the lack of skilled labour is a major problem in the construction industry. What does KÉSZ Csoport experience from this?

The shortage of skilled labour has been a serious problem in the industry for years, and the construction industry is undergoing major and significant changes in both the use of materials and technology. That is why it is extremely important for education to keep pace with the latest trends and technological developments. I believe that we are at the forefront of vocational training and education in the industry, as in addition to participating in numerous vocational and university training programmes, our group of companies has its own sectoral training centres in Kecskemét and Szeged. With the help of the instructors and experts at Edupark Nonprofit Kft. instructors and experts, we are able to make a significant contribution to reducing the shortage of skilled labour in the construction industry through both dual training and adult education. We currently educate a total of 320 young people and 250 adult students at our two sites.

We employ numerous students in our own projects or plants at KÉSZ Csoport, and after completing their studies, a significant number of graduates find employment at one of the group's member companies or strategic partners. In this way, we help them to find employment in their profession as soon as possible and gain real-world experience, even on prestigious projects. In addition, we are working to combat the shortage of skilled workers within the framework of an industry collaboration. Together with Market Építő Zrt. and Bayer Construct Zrt., we have established the Knowledge Building Team Sector Training Centre, where young people interested in the industry can learn 12 construction trades. The 200 young people currently participating in the training programme can master their chosen profession in the most modern conditions.

What are your plans for this year? Do you expect a recovery this year?

I think that in the current situation, as I said earlier, the focus remains on sustainable, efficient and cost-effective methods and digital transformation. Confident, precise project management, ensuring predictability of investments and keeping costs under control, as well as energy saving aspects, have become even more important.

In 2024, we will continue to face many great professional challenges and be proud of the achievements of many of our talented colleagues. We believe that together, Building on knowledge, we can do it all.