On Thursday, 15 June, you would have looked in vain for some of your colleagues in the Prague and Liberec offices. We spent the whole day at the Respect for People conference, which took place in the representative premises of the Spojka Karlín complex. As the conference’s main partner, Liftrock had its “iron in the fire” in one of the discussion panels. 

Václav Větrovský represented us in the discussion session entitled “Professional Culture, Ethics and Honour – A Builder’s Heart”. He shared many interesting insights he has gathered during his career. What was all the talking about?

Ethics and Culture in the Construction Industry 

The first session dealt with issues of culture in the construction industry and its direction. It included a discussion on ethical rules and their implementation not only in normal company processes, but also, for example, in tenders and contracts. “It’s obvious that we have come a long way since the 1990s. And I believe that at Liftrock we have managed to set many ethical rules and values that contribute to the cultivation of our industry,” said Větrovský. 

A representative of the Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs, Adam Gromnica, focused on taking into account the setting of various soft aspects of procurement procedures and their inclusion in the evaluation of public procurement. Leona Gergelová Šteigrová, Deputy Director of the Housing, Construction and Public Investment Section at the Ministry for Regional Development, also offered her view. 

The discussion participants agreed that they perceived and positively evaluated the shift in the consideration of issues related to responsibility and ethical principles not only in the awarding of public contracts. At the same time, everyone hoped that soft aspects would play a greater role in decision-making in years to come. This objective was confirmed by a ministry representative.

Level Playing Field, Equal Opportunities?

If responsibility and ethics in the construction industry are addressed, the issue of gender equality in employment and the gender pay gap cannot be overlooked. Unfortunately, the construction industry is a sector where companies often do not even have the opportunity to take this issue into account. However, there was a consensus on equal treatment in the case of gender diversity of candidates for a particular vacancy. 

“I can say for us that the gender issue does not play the slightest role concerning candidates. For example, a candidate for one of our positions had just become pregnant, which she also mentioned in the interview. We appreciated such openness. In addition, she brought with her a great deal of knowledge and experience that we were seeking for the position That’s why we didn’t hesitate to hire her,” said Větrovský, describing one of his personal experiences.

Dispute Resolution and Cooperation

The second discussion session at the conference was devoted to an equally important topic called “Cooperation in the Construction Industry – Relationship Agreements and Dispute Resolution”. Here, we heard interesting insights from experts from Germany, the Netherlands and France about contractual cooperation and practical examples of alternative dispute resolution in the construction industry. 

Public procurement and construction law expert Joost Merema outlined the new approaches to tender evaluation, which are also being addressed by contractor and construction management teams. Specifically, he mentioned, for example, the ability of team members to accomplish tasks and meet individuals’ ambitions with respect to a project’s goals. Teams should thus be able to capitalise on potential constructive conflicts. Such a conflict is usually welcome when set up correctly, as the subsequent solution can optimise a project and eliminate shortcomings.

Similar Situation in Liftrock Projects

During the networking break, we did not forget to ask about the experiences and opinions of some of the participants. “We see a shift in many areas every year. Our industry has come a long way since the 1990s,” commented Aleš Bednář of Quality Management on the topics of the first discussion session. 

“Of course, there are areas where gender equality cannot be implemented at least in the near future because of the structure of people in general. But if we take the company as a whole, I think that the representation of women in our company is not negligible,” said Tomáš Opelka from Proconom on the conference’s topic.

Finally, we would like to thank the organisers for a pleasant meeting and many interesting insights that are beneficial not only for the construction industry and its future, but are also inspiration, for example, for the corporate culture at Liftrock.

The last Friday in April was marked by a new beginning and from the morning it was clear that something was happening at the Forum shopping and administration centre in Liberec. Many more people than usual started to gather outside the cinema entrance. So what was the premiere performance that everyone present was eager to see? You can read it in the following lines. However, we can reveal that the lead role this time was played by Liftrock! 

All together 

Around 10 o’clock, the attendees entered the cinema. Who could you meet here? Pretty much everyone who makes up Liftrock. From the CEO Václav Větrovský to our guru for construction industry digitisation Martin Sklenář and Michal Hlavnička, who handles operations and economics. The group companies were then represented by individual directors and managers, and we also learned about the Liftrock group’s marketing communications and their scope. But we’re getting ahead of ourselves. Shortly before the start, the cinema was filled with employees from all the companies, so there was nothing to stop us from getting started. 

The Pendelum Has Moved

This was the subtitle of the presentation in the cinema. The welcome and introduction was then taken over by Liftrock CEO Václav Větrovský. He also mentioned the reasons for the movement, which had intensified that day. In addition, his words were focused on the idea of a holding organisation, as a strong group of companies that help each other achieve common goals and offer a wide portfolio of services. Liftrock respects the sovereignty and functioning of individual companies managing their own work and wants to maintain this model in the future.[MJ1]  How to summarise such an arrangement? Václav Větrovský compared Liftrock to the legend of Svatopluk’s wands. That is, there is strength in unity, a fact that also applies to our holding organisation.

In Such Strenght …

A lot has changed since 2016. Instead of one company, Liftrock now has five projects, we have grown from 10 employees to over 100, and our turnover has multiplied more than 40-fold in the past 7 years. This is just a short list of the numbers that were the focus of the next speaker, Chief Financial Officer Michal Hlavnička.

And what is the magic of Liftrock’s success? In addition to great people and their commitment, we also have a great approach to digitisation in conjunction with consulting engineering.

Chief Technical Officer Martin Sklenář also discussed this connection in his part. He presented the current state of digitisation in the construction industry and the prospects for the near future, which is favourable to this trend, although the same cannot be said of all companies that should implement digitisation processes in their ordinary work. This is where Sklenář sees Liftrock’s power and potential. Thanks to a proactive approach and participation in the development of standards, the holding organisation is one step ahead and opens up access to other markets with large orders in addition to new service opportunities. Large contractors working on major projects are looking for partners who will not let this train get away.

Five Projects Full of News

In order not to delay in connecting the companies, we continued with presentations by individual company representatives who shared news from their segment with their colleagues. Martina Veselá, chairwoman of the board of directors at Contract Management Česko, spoke about management changes and visions, which include the participation of “Contract Management knights” in international projects and penetration into new areas of construction in general.

Contract Management Slovensko as represented at the opening ceremony by its CEO, Ondřej Vaněček, who presented, for example, a successful implementation at the Slovak National Gallery. The biggest news, however, was the beginning of extensive cooperation with Budimex on the D1/D4 motorway intersection, where Contract Management Slovakia is providing complete contract management for the contractor.

News in the field of digitisation and innovation in the construction industry was presented by Tomáš Opelka, CEO of Proconom Software. He mentioned fulfilled goals in the form of the possibility of launching PROCONOM software in desktop, mobile and web versions and outlined the values that must be present in the company’s vision for the future. Specifically, this includes human support, speeding up reaction times, setting up adaptation, methodical activities and strengthening compatibility with other systems.

Quality Management CEO Aleš Bednář summarised the successful fiscal year 2022/2023, completed and ongoing projects, the company’s expanding scope and expertise and, last but not least, the priorities for the coming years. Specifically, greater diversification of investors and industries, a shift in digitisation in cooperation with Proconom, and more.

The audience’s attention was also attracted by a brand new project in the form of TechPro Management, a joint initiative being implemented by Contract Management Czech Republic and Technoprojekt. The cooperation between the companies was presented by executive officer Adam Černoch. He also mentioned the future plans and scope of the project, focusing on the preparation and management of industrial construction, energy construction as well as public and civil engineering projects.

In the Heart of Liberec

After the presentation of our joint efforts over the past years, all attendees moved to the top floors of the Forum shopping and administration centre, where, after a joint toast, the front doors of our new offices were opened for the first time. A connection is also provided by the layout of the offices themselves. All Liftrock companies will be located on one floor with an internal corridor forming a ring around all the offices, meeting rooms and common facilities. We believe that everyone will quickly settle in and enjoy working in their new environment. As we mentioned in the cinema: The revolution in the construction industry will not happen on its own.

We would like to invite you to this year’s Respect for People conference, which will take place on Thursday, 15 June at Spojka Karlín in Prague 8. We will be very visible there, because the event’s main partner is the Liftrock holding organisation and the conference’s partners are our companies Contract Management, Quality Management and Proconom Software. But that’s not all! One of the speakers will be Václav Větrovský, CEO of Liftrock. Moreover, his appearance will be the first public presentation of Liftrock! And it’s worth seeing!

And what conference topics can you look forward to?    

The conference’s morning session, entitled Professional Culture, Ethics and Honour – The Builder’s Heart, will address the debate that is taking place in different segments of Czech society about ethics, responsibility and culture of the environment. Topics that are part of our everyday life will be discussed and the construction industry will not be left out. The conference will show how to define and improve it in the construction industry.    

There will be a total of 8 speakers in this session. One of them will be Václav Větrovský.    

The second, afternoon session, entitled Cooperation in Construction – Relationship Contracts and Dispute Resolution, will deal with contracts motivating the parties to cooperate and alternative dispute resolution in construction. This international session will feature a total of 5 speakers from France, Germany and the Netherlands.    

If you are interested, do not hesitate to register at the conference website.   

We will be happy to meet you at this interesting event.   

Contract Management has a new chartered engineer. Ing. Katarína Chovancová successfully passed the ČKAIT charter exam in the field of transport construction in February. What is preparing for the exam like, how does it work and what results does passing it bring? Read on.

Hi Katarína, why did you decide to take the exam? What does this mean for your professional career?

Katarína Chovancová: In the building world, being chartered is something like a test of maturity. The stamp is a kind of synonym for responsibility and independence, no one has to confirm that your work is good enough. After being chartered I can basically design, perform technical supervision, but it also opens doors in the field of construction management, where we can apply as a company for more interesting contracts, especially those run by the Road and Motorway Directorate.

So that is one of the reasons to become an “adult” builder and be a useful member of CM. It was also a bit of a personal challenge, to find out if I had what it takes. Of course, being chartered stands out on a CV. And, last but not least, I must say that the benefits and bonus offered by CM – salary increase, contribution to exam fees and study leave for preparation – were also motivating.  

What were your preparations for the exam like?

KCH: The preparations were carried out in stages. The first step was the ČKAIT preparatory course, which was paid for by my employer. It is a sort of brief summary of the basic topics and areas covered in the exam. Before Christmas, I sat down with my university notes and sorted out the essentials, i.e. about 50% of the courses I had taken in 5.5 years of study. I added several laws and standards related to design and construction to it. Several years of experience from a design office was an advantage in this respect. Well, I tried to read, repeat and remember all this several times.

And how did the exam go? Did it make you sweat or was it a piece of cake?  

KCH: The exam itself was actually easy for me compared to the preparation. Of course, I was nervous, I was sweating a bit, but at the same time I was glad that it would soon be over.

The first part of the exam is a test on legislation, laws and standards. There’s not much room for error, so I was a little worried that I wouldn’t pass this part. A successful test is followed by an oral exam. I would compare it to a state exam.

Each candidate first presents one of his/her work projects in front of a five-member committee, essentially in the form of a dialogue over the issues addressed in the project. The examiners had additional questions about the design and the construction process, and they were also interested in what I would do differently in hindsight. Finally, each of the committee members asked a question from the area they represent, i.e. railway construction, implementation of transport structures, design of transport structures and legislation. Well, after a few minutes of closed-door deliberation, they finally gave me the verdict – I passed!

What was the company’s attitude towards you applying for the exam?

KCH: Absolutely brilliant! My colleagues and our project director were actually one of the reasons I decided not to postpone it any longer. When we sat down together early last year to plan how to go about preparing for chartering, I decided to just submit the application. One reason was that I wanted to inspire other colleagues who would surely pass the exam.

At the same time, as I have already mentioned, my employer allowed me to attend the preparatory course, contributed to the exam fees and allowed me to take study leave to prepare without any problems. The conditions were therefore A+.

What advice do you have for others? Should they go for it or not? If so, what should they prepare for?

KCH: Go for it, there’s nothing to lose! If a person has a few years in the construction world and doesn’t completely underestimate the preparation, I think there’s nothing to worry about. It takes a little knowledge and a little insight into the area, but the committee is to-the-point and doesn’t give you blows below the belt. As the examiners themselves say, they want to expand the ranks of chartered engineers.

And how did your colleagues react to your success? Was there a party?

KCH: My colleagues are sweethearts, so I got lots of congratulations, everyone was excited and wanted to see the famous stamp. I got flowers, too. And there was a celebration too, of course, in stages. A modest one on the day of the exam and another, more exuberant one, including the inspection and testing of the chartering stamp, took place after the oath, which is the last step for getting chartered.

Which congratulations made you the most happy or amused?

KCH: All the congratulations made me happy, whether from family, friends or colleagues. But what amused me the most was my mum. Being an eternal pessimist, she didn’t want to believe me at first, but eventually she cried on the phone without saying a word, and this obviously made me cry too.

Are you preparing for anything else now?

KCH: Now I would like to devote my time to educating and improving myself in other areas related to our work. For example, I would like to try out the position of a construction manager. I don’t have any other exams in my sights at the moment, which doesn’t mean I won’t take on some other challenge in the future.

As is evident from the interview, there is no need to fear the chartering exam. Especially if you are already working in the field and therefore have practical experience. In addition, the chartering exam will open up new opportunities in the construction industry and, of course, will also be reflected in your earnings.

Here we go! The Liftrock holding structure, which comprises five companies – Contract Management Czech Republic, Contract Management Slovakia, Quality Management, Proconom Software and Techpro management – has entered the construction market. We will be told about its origins, goals and philosophy by the people who know the most – its three main managers: the holding organisation’s CEO Václav Větrovský, the holding organisation’s chief economist Michal Hlavnička and Martin Sklenář, who is primarily responsible for digitalisation in the holding organisation.

Gentlemen, all three of you have been in the construction industry for a long time. How would you briefly describe the Czech construction industry?

VV: In general, the construction industry is one of the fundamental pillars of every economy in developed Western countries. This is, of course, no different in the case of the Czech Republic. The construction industry in the Czech Republic is a very traditional industry where, unfortunately, not much has changed in the last 30 years. The procedures and processes for both the preparation and the implementation of construction are de facto the same. But now we are on the threshold of a revolution, a huge opportunity. Meaning digitalisation.

What is the current level of digitalisation in the Czech construction industry?

MS: Although digitalisation is a topic that is important in the world today, the construction industry remains, in my experience, somewhat in the analogue era. Digitalisation is entering the construction industry very slowly. And it is striking that this is the state of the industry even at a time when the preparation of the BIM (Building Information Management) Act is in full swing.

What do you think are the barriers and reasons the construction industry is still not digitised?

MS: It’s clearly fear of everything new; unfortunately, that’s how it works in the construction industry.

Digitalisation, however, also brings opportunities. What are the biggest ones? 

MS: A digitalised construction industry provides us with huge opportunities. The most fundamental is the availability of current information about the construction industry, which is a necessary condition for high-quality project management. This is clearly an improvement in the effectiveness of preparation and realisation of construction work.

What do you perceive as the biggest problem in the Czech construction industry?

VV: The biggest problem in the construction industry in the Czech Republic, as a field, is its absolute lack of attractiveness for the “new” generation. At the current time, we are witnesses to this absolute absence of incoming people, workers and students in the field. This makes impossible the natural generational changeover, natural monitoring and implementation of the latest trends in the field. This is one of the reasons the field is behind the times – which is a problem.

MH: From my viewpoint I see a problem primarily in the appetite to change things. Because the construction industry is very traditional, the aversion to change is quite high. But gradually that approach is changing and the need to work with data, digitisation and new practices is increasing across the industry.   

On the contrary, what are the positives in the Czech construction industry?    

MH: The construction industry has a long-standing advantage in stability. Trends on the market are upward, despite the significantly influencing factors (e.g. increasing inputs due to the war in Ukraine, a higher base interest rate and resulting more expensive financing). So I would say that healthy companies manage to grow despite adverse market influences.

You say that there is a lack of digitalisation in the Czech construction industry and a decline in the sector’s attractiveness. The mission of the newly established holding organisation is to cultivate the entire construction market. How do you want to cultivate the Czech construction industry?   

VV: Clear support for the introduction of systematisation, new trends, digitisation, FIDIC contract templates for the management of construction projects. All these steps will clearly contribute to the transparency of our sector, increase its attractiveness and ultimately improve the construction industry’s reputation in the Czech Republic.

The mission of the oldest company in the holding structure, Contract Management, a.s., is to implement standards of consulting engineering and construction project management, which are complex operations. What are the most complex activities in terms of construction work?   

VV: We are trying to introduce new trends and modern methods into the process of managing construction orders and project management. The most complicated thing is to convince our partners to change their established procedures, with the help of the new rules. The second complicated topic is digitalisation of construction projects, which is currently not something wanted by public clients – although it will paradoxically be mandatory in a couple of years.    

MH: Our mission to change the construction market has one very clear need, which is human capital. To make a difference, we need quality and motivated people with good professional credentials. This costs effort and time, which is a very expensive commodity today. Through this lens, it is obvious that the best tool or system cannot work without the right person.

Cost management is one of the services offered by the company. What does this term mean and what processes does it include?    

MH: It means fundamental activities concerning prices and valuations. A cost manager can pay attention to checking and controlling costs incurred during the performance of a contract. In addition, he deals with their correct valuation in accordance with valid methodologies. His job includes managing alterations to prices (index-linking).

There is a new entity on the Czech construction market – the Liftrock holding structure. How was the idea to set it up born?

VV: I’m the owner of several companies doing business in various sectors in two European countries (the Czech Republic and Slovakia). They employ a total of 110 people. The aim of the Liftrock holding structure is to deepen cooperation between individual companies, as well as between people in the individual companies. In addition, when one of our watchwords is “transparency”, we have to be transparent. The holding organisation makes the whole asset structure and focuses of the companies, as well as the processes in them, much more transparent.

In what way is this holding structure beneficial for all four companies?

VV: There is strength in unity and cooperation. The holding structure’s main aim is to strengthen cooperation between the individual companies. Although every company has a unique product, know-how and identity, close and effective cooperation between the companies gives us an advantage over the competition.

MH: In general, this step prepares a platform that should create synergies between individual projects to help construction in all its stages. We are doing everything we can to make sure that the individual companies are healthy, motivated, and want to move forward and change the construction market. The Liftrock holding structure has a very pleasant internal culture in which we emphasise open communication and sharing experience.

So you are not afraid your activities and know-how will be copied?    

MH: On the contrary, we welcome it. We have never made any secret of our openness and sharing in any of our projects, so we share our experiences wherever possible. We are, of course, saddened by the possible transfer of colleagues to competitors, but we also welcome it, because we are getting experts on the market with whom we want to work.

The newly formed Liftrock holding structure wants to act as an authority for other companies on the market. What does this term mean?

VV: We want to be an innovator – or an authority that the competition looks up to, looks at, is inspired by, if you like. We want to create a healthy market environment and have around us a group of modern, innovative companies with which we will both cooperate and compete. Our medium-term aims include expansion of activities into railway construction, strengthening our position in civil engineering, additional care and development of our position in transport construction, which is the basis of our business. We also expect clear development in the field of digitalisation and BIM.

We have mentioned the BIM method several times. Preparatory work is ongoing on the new Act on Information Model, Information and Digital Modelling (Act on BIM). What will this primarily mean for Liftrock?

MS: The forthcoming act will clearly be a positive impulse for the digitalisation of the construction industry. The digitalisation of the construction industry will therefore become part of national legislation. And because digitalisation is an integral part of services and tools provided by all companies in the holding structure, the new Act on BIM will be a very important document.

Liftrock has set as an aim that is is perceived as a leader in the digitalisation of the construction industry. How do you want to achieve this?

MS: The Czech construction industry is a very traditional sector. The acceptance of new ideas as one’s own is a complicated and long process. That’s why for a long time we have been involved in education, explaining what digitalisation of the construction industry means, what the BIM method is, we lecture at conferences, contribute to the creation of methodologies and directives for investor organisations. Today we can see in the field the first projects realised using the BIM method and a whole number of terms such as CDE, Building Information Model and data standard are not completely strange to us. And I’m really pleased that the sector already perceives us as an entity that is contributing to this process.

You mentioned that the Czech construction industry is seeing a fall in the number of young people. Do you think that the introduction of digitalisation could draw them back and obtain new, young experts?

MS: The construction industry is not a sector that ever boasted lots of young people. The tempo is set by the older generation of managers and professionals. That’s why today we have a unique opportunity, thanks to the new Act on BIM and related digitalisation, to change this state, make the construction industry a sexy sector that finally attracts young people.

What skills, obtained a universities, did you make most use of and appreciate in your later work?

VV: I studied economics, immediately after university I started as a budgetary specialist and calculator in a leading design office in the Czech Republic, I later moved up the company’s hierarchy until I got to a managerial position. I studied for an MBA while being employed. Professional day-to-day work on large infrastructure projects in the Czech Republic and Slovakia gave me the most skills and contacts that I later used in my current job.

MH: In addition to studying at two universities at the same time, I was also working full time. So it was all the more challenging. But after Neisse University it was another great life experience. However, there was pressure to get results. The MBA was very much about practical experience, specific projects and making new contacts across different disciplines.

In your professional career, Mr. Hlavnička, I discovered that you have also been the manager of a vineyard in Václavice near Hrádek nad Nisou for two years. Is it an investment or more of a recreational activity for you?

MH: (Laughs) It’s a purely recreational activity, in life and in my “professional” CV. Life is supposed to be fun, and if my love of wine becomes a profession, then that’s a bonus.

To follow on. Your work during the preparation of the holding organisation and in other areas is certainly full of deadlines and stressful activities. How do you prefer to relax and acquire new energy?

VV: The main release valve and anti-stress activity for me is clearly sport. At the current time as a part of maintaining my physical and mental health I am involved in martial arts, fitness and relaxing in the countryside.

MH: I would say that an executive position does not necessarily mean that it is stressful work. Obviously, the pressure for performance is markedly different. It can be combined with activities that charge the “batteries”. I am always pleased when we can help charitable associations or non-profit organisations, for which it is harder and harder to obtain the necessary finance. And when we can’t help others, I like to top up my energy levels actively in the garden and in my private vineyard.

MS: I have lots of ways to relax. For me, the biggest pleasure is working with wood. Making, for example, a fitted kitchen from wooden boards, that’s something that really makes me happy, where I can clear my head and get ready for additional challenges at work.

Thank you for the interview.