Bulgarian construction industry experiences shortage of qualified workforce and adequate control - Architect
Source：The Bulgarian News Agency (BTA)
From：Taiwan Trade Center, Sofia
Update Time：2024/04/24
Bulgaria is experiencing a shortage of qualified labour in construction and construction supervision and control are inadequate, according to architect Petkana Bakalova of the non-profit Alliance for High-Quality Baukultur (AHQB). She was among the speakers at a roundtable titled Effects and Defects of Energy Renovation of Buildings in Bulgaria took place in Sofia on Wednesday.
It was organized by the non-profit Alliance for High-Quality Baukultur (AHQB) to present the results of the first stage of a large-scale state-funded national programme for retrofitting of multi-family residential buildings and put forward solution for the second stage, including improvements in the procedures, technical parameters and control in the award and implementation of projects.
Invited to attend the forum were members of the National Assembly’s Committee on Regional Policy, Public Works and Local Self-Government, the Ministry of Regional Development and Public Works (MRDPW), the Financial Supervision Commission, the Commission for Consumer Protection, the Commission on Protection of Competition, the National Association of the Municipalities, NGOs, industry and business organizations.
Addressing the participants in the roundtable, architect Petkana Bakalova said that the lack of quafied labour is a particularly important problem. She added that some of the problems are not limited to the retrofitting programme and apply for the entire construction process in Bulgaria.
"There are no prerequisites for real quality construction control," Bakalova said. She also said that construction insurance is only a formality and the warranty periods of buildings are very short.
"Our conclusion is that the whole process - planning, organization, execution, control and guarantee of the work done - cannot possibly lead to quality results with this system," Bakalova commented.
She pointed out that there are flaws in the execution of the national retrofitting programme and that there are problems in the national legislation in this department in general.
The Director of the Regional Development Ministry Housing Policy Directorate, Dobromir Vasilev, said that the aim of the programme has always been to improve the energy efficiency of buildings and not renovate them completely.
He added that the best thing the programme has achieved is showing that the effect of a complete renovation of a building is much better than that of partial or piecemeal energy efficient renovation, which, he argued, is a widespread practice in Bulgaria.
Vasilev also said that the future of the building stock renovation depends on public funding but the State cannot afford to pay the whole bill, especially for privately owned buildings, and a co-financing model should be adopted.
Source: https://www.bta.bg/en/news/economy/573883-bulgarian-construction-industry-experiences-shortage-of-qualified-workforce-and-