Green, Digital, Resilient –
The future of the construction sector?

Dear European Colleagues,

in the name of BIBM, the Federation of the European Precast Concrete Industry, I welcome all of you at the 67. BetonTage congress.

In these times of turmoil and fast changes, it is more important than ever to look at the future. In our industrial environment, the choices that we make (investments, marketing, research and development) need to be based on a clear long-term strategy which takes into account the world we live in, today and tomorrow.

The path towards decarbonisation and the shift towards a circular economy are set in the future of the construction ecosystem. The precast concrete sector has many competitive advantages (material efficiency, design flexibility, the possibility to reuse products, an industrial environment for implementing decarbonisation technologies), but we need to further explore the viable strategies and to further communicate about our strengths.

We experience the digitalisation of our world all around us. Even if the Construction sector is lagging behind many others, it is catching up quickly in some specific applications. Whether using BIM from cradle to grave or moving towards a further automatization of the production process, the possibilities are multiple within our sector.

Resilience, the capacity to withstand or to recover quickly from (extreme) climate and accidental events, is embedded in concrete buildings and infrastructures. We need to promote this aspect, to make the link with the Green Deal objectives of a sustainable, decarbonised economy and to keep on working together for proposing solutions to adapt to the upcoming climate changes.

Within BIBM, we work daily at the European level to shape a legislative and standardisation framework that allows the precast concrete sector to profitably develop. But it is finally each of us, precast concrete manufacturers, to take profit of the opportunities of the future ahead of us.

Congresses like this BetonTage or the upcoming BIBM Congress in Amsterdam on 27 to 29 September 2023 (www.bibmcongress.eu) give the opportunity to explore the future and confront with other realities with different approaches to the same issues.

Enjoy the 67. BetonTage and see you in Amsterdam!