FIEC Newsletter – 10 Δεκεμβρίου 2019

FIEC had the opportunity to discuss and exchange views with Commissioner Mariya Gabriel.

Her responsibilities in the new Commission cover Innovation, Research, Culture, Education and Youth, which are all key drivers for the construction sector in the light of the forthcoming EU Green Deal and of the digital transition.

Commissioner Gabriel encouraged the sector to be more proactive and present with specific projects in the field of innovation, in particular in the framework of the Horizon Europe programme.

(In the picture, from left to right: Commissioner Gabriel; Lubomir Katchamakov, FIEC Vice-President; Kjetil Tonning, FIEC President)

BIM-SPEED is an EU funded research project, which is creating BIM tools for the renovation of residential buildings. The project has been running for just over a year.  FIEC will eventually produce guidelines based on the findings of the project, for the use of BIM in renovation.  This work will be done towards the latter stages of the project. In the meantime, partners met last week to discuss progress. You can join the stakeholder community, or simply find out more by visiting the website below.

Now it’s official: the European Platform tackling undeclared work will launch its first awareness campaign in spring 2020! 
The prevention campaign #EU4FairWork will focus on raising awareness about the benefits of declared work. Its purpose is to sensitise companies and workers about the benefits and obligations to declare work.
An EU-wide social media campaign will run from March to June 2020, with a Week of Action taking place from 16-20 March. These activities will run under the campaign slogans: “Earn. Declare. Benefit.” and “Fair work, fair play.”
FIEC will participate in this campaign through the Social Dialogue project “TUWIC” (Tackling Undeclared Work In Construction”), which will develop specific communication tools targeting the construction sector.
FIEC, together with EFBWW, will also organise a European conference on this issue on 19-20 March in Zagreb, Croatia. 

A delegation from Taiwan met representatives from the European Commission and from the European construction industry yesterday in a seminar, during which the challenges of sustainable construction were discussed. Like the EU, Taiwan has its own plastics strategy and is trying to reduce construction and demolition waste and has introduced building passports and other measures to encourage the use of secondary materials.  In a lively discussion during which many common challenges were discussed, Sue Arundale, Director of Technical and Environmental Affairs at FIEC highlighted some of the common initiatives that have been undertaken by the European Commission and construction stakeholders, such as the Construction and Demolition Waste Protocol and guidelines for circular design, which will be published imminently.