"This situation can no longer be handled alone!" – the most pressing issues facing the construction industry were discussed at the Portfolio Conference

The Portfolio Construction Industry Conference was held for the eighth time at the InterContinental Hotel in Budapest, with magyarepitok.hu acting as a media partner. As Gergely Ditróy, Business Development Director at Portfolio Csoport, explained our preview article,

A patriotic outlook is not enough on its own

As the first speaker at the meeting, Nándor Csepreghy, Deputy Minister at Építési és Közlekedési Minisztérium, focusing in particular on patriotic economic policy, highlighted as the most significant achievement of the past 16 years the fact that Hungarian companies now dominate the domestic construction industry: „Seven of the ten largest companies are Hungarian-owned; however, 50 per cent of raw materials are imported.”

He added that, in this contest, a patriotic outlook alone is not enough.

„A company must be both Hungarian and efficient; with the new regulations introduced in recent years, we must move from the era of quantity to the era of quality”

– he explained, adding that the period of abundant funding between 2010 and 2020 will not return.

A modest expansion, but with a strong foreign presence

In the following section, László Koji, President of the National Association of Construction Contractors, analysed the sector’s macroeconomic situation. According to him, starting from a low base last year, the sector achieved modest growth of 2.8 per cent; however, a significant portion of this growth is linked to work carried out by competing firms outside the European Union. „Meanwhile, the Hungarian construction industry continues to account for only 5–6 per cent of exports,” he added.

His comments also revealed that the price surge between 2020 and 2023 had come to an end, with inflation in the construction sector standing at 5–6 per cent last year. „We were expecting the same this year, right up until the outbreak of the Gulf War.”

This situation can no longer be handled on our own

Turning to the situation facing companies, he said that most of them had already optimised their costs in response to the recession. „At the same time, they must also factor in the Gulf War as an unexpected development, given that the manufacture of basic construction materials requires petroleum and natural gas-based products,” he pointed out.

He also drew attention to the findings of a study designated ÉVOSZ:

„At present, companies regard strengthening partnerships as the most important priority. This suggests they have finally realised that they can no longer cope with the market situation on their own,” said the chairman.

The true state of the sector becomes clear in the day-to-day running of projects

One of the most interesting sessions of the morning programme brought together for the first time the three previous winners of the Engineer of the Month award, founded by Magyar Építők in 2019, were brought together for the first time. During the round-table discussion

The discussion confirmed one of the opening remarks made at the round table: in the day-to-day struggles of the construction industry’s largest projects, the buzzwords of major conferences – including BIM, digitalisation and project readiness – take on a completely different perspective.

Experts used real-life examples from projects to demonstrate where we actually stand in terms of achieving the laudable goals set out in theory and regulation.

Our newspaper will also publish a separate report on the discussion, which was moderated by the editor-in-chief of magyarepitok.hu.

A major step forward for the domestic construction industry: air ducts made from recycled steel

Once again, Portfolio played a key role at the Construction Industry Conference. During the morning session, Gellért Vigh, Head of Sales, presented a pioneering domestic example:

He presented the first Hungarian project to use air ducts made from recycled steel: the project previously covered by our newspaper resulted in significant carbon dioxide savings.

Later on, Zoltán Csipszer, Managing Director, took part in a panel discussion entitled „The Latest Trends and Challenges in Mechanical Engineering and Technology”, where he shared his thoughts on how efficiency, quality and sustainability can be achieved simultaneously in modern building services engineering.

The spotlight is on the domestic building services sector

The winner of the „Construction Industry Personality of the Year” award was also announced at the conference. Following the decision of the six-member expert jury, this year’s award was presented to László Németh (pictured left), one of the leading figures in the domestic building services engineering market and founder and managing director of ENSI Kft..

In addition to all this, a number of leading experts shared their experiences and views on the key issues facing the construction industry;

Models including the Szabadics Zrt., Market Csoport, Weinberg Kft., Óbuda Group, Spányi Partners Zrt., SWIETELSKY Magyarország Kft. and Bayer Construct were also featured on various forums.