A reconciled, strong and global Brazil
José Manuel Fernandes
Bragança: Economic Development and Competitiveness
Hernâni Dias
The construction market in Portugal and the world
Pedro Couto
CEO of Telhabel
We have been living through a «perfect storm» since late 2019, early 2020! In fact, no forecast, however pessimistic, could have predicted such a situation.
In recent years we have been witnessing a worsening of the micro and macroeconomic circumstances, powered by several cumulative factors, such as the sharp rise in fuel, energy and raw material prices, shortage of skilled labour, disruption of global production and distribution chains, among others.
Initially, a pandemic without precedent in our era broke out! At that time, we were forced to rethink, re-programme and adapt to new realities. On the 24th of February 2022, a war broke out in Europe and, at the moment, we know neither when nor how it will end.
Obviously, it has never made so much sense to talk about the «Global Village». Today we are unavoidably and painfully affected by this situation, but we have had to, and must, learn to swim in troubled waters.
We know that the civil construction sector is traditionalist and resistant to change. However, its future will involve investment in digitalisation, enabling a significant improvement in processes and allowing gains in efficiency, which will be essential in the face of current escalating prices of material, technological and human resources. This investment will also allow for performance improvements, such as planning optimisation, cost and time reduction, and environmental and safety improvements, providing a more sustainable sector that is better able to respond quickly and effectively to the difficulties it is currently facing.
The construction market has always proved to be one of the most resilient, as property developers have continued to invest. However, exceptional support measures will be necessary to safeguard construction companies.
In recent years we have been witnessing a worsening of the micro and macroeconomic circumstances, powered by several cumulative factors, such as the sharp rise in fuel, energy and raw material prices, shortage of skilled labour, disruption of global production and distribution chains, among others.
Initially, a pandemic without precedent in our era broke out! At that time, we were forced to rethink, re-programme and adapt to new realities. On the 24th of February 2022, a war broke out in Europe and, at the moment, we know neither when nor how it will end.
Obviously, it has never made so much sense to talk about the «Global Village». Today we are unavoidably and painfully affected by this situation, but we have had to, and must, learn to swim in troubled waters.
We know that the civil construction sector is traditionalist and resistant to change. However, its future will involve investment in digitalisation, enabling a significant improvement in processes and allowing gains in efficiency, which will be essential in the face of current escalating prices of material, technological and human resources. This investment will also allow for performance improvements, such as planning optimisation, cost and time reduction, and environmental and safety improvements, providing a more sustainable sector that is better able to respond quickly and effectively to the difficulties it is currently facing.
The construction market has always proved to be one of the most resilient, as property developers have continued to invest. However, exceptional support measures will be necessary to safeguard construction companies.
