New Chairman of the Czech Green Building Council Karel Fronk: “Value for money” or We are not so rich that we can buy cheap things…

Karel Fronk: The head of sustainable development at SKANSKA, responsible for the company's sustainability activities, particularly in the areas of green business, environmental protection, energy management and community support. He has been working for SKANSKA since 2004. From the beginning he focused on the area of environmental protection, integrated management systems, life and economic cycle evaluation and circular economy. Prior to joining SKANSKA, he worked on Local Agenda 21 and Sustainable Development at the Czech Environmental Institute.

The Czech Green Building Council is now in the process of redefining of its strategic goals and heading for its next period. We’ve discussed plans for further development of the Council with the newly elected Council Chairman Karel Fronek.

What is the priority of the Council's work this year?

The attitude of the public and business towards global climate change and the availability of natural resources have been changing significantly. Digitalization and modern technology are becoming increasingly important in the construction industry. And all this helps to change the market and its demand. Also, the voice of the young generation is louder. The world is simply changing. And the Council must be part of this change. It needs to respond flexibly and be able to influence this change or, say, moderate it towards the demand for sustainable, effective solutions and approaches.

But the Council has been doing this for a long time…

Yes. We have celebrated 10 years on the market, and I feel great satisfaction in this, especially for all those involved in the establishment of the Council, its thematic and professional focus. It is great to say that thanks to the Council, the level of awareness and interest in green construction has risen greatly, not only in the Czech Republic.

So does it seem to you that awareness has been already established and that the Council's efforts should now go in a different direction? Where?

Construction is a field that has been flowing for millennia, it has been changing for centuries. It is now experiencing changes in cycles of decades. It’s not that we are going in a different direction. But we want to dedicate ourselves thoroughly and responsibly to supporting the setting of high-quality legislation and standards in our field. In this project, we successfully cooperate with the Chance for Buildings.

Should the main focus of the Council's strategy be changed in the context of the global changes you are mentioning?

We should embark on more straightforward actions not only related to the promotion of green construction. I wonder what milestone we are at on the road to "Vision Zero" - which we set out years ago. But this is, of course, a question that we will be discussing within the Board of Directors. These discussions will be based on the outputs of the currently ongoing thematic round tables.

Do you expect a new topic to appear this year?

We are entering the new year with a member coming from the financial sector. ČSOB has joined us. This is very good news because we lacked a financial sector representative in the Council. Now "green" funding is becoming a key driver of green sustainable business and is far more common than in the past. The membership of ČSOB is certainly a good impulse for us to raise the issue of green financing with all seriousness.

What topics following from the ongoing round tables will the Council be working on?

Brownfields are one of the main topics and will continue to be one in the future. Here, as already said, the Council should seek to facilitate discussion between local governments and developers, create a platform where these parties can meet and, through moderated discussion, raise demands for the application of environmentally friendly technologies and principles in brownfield construction.

In water management, we aim to promote a comprehensive view of water management in the construction industry. I am convinced that we are bringing relevant proposals for the future to the socially and environmentally important topic, so it’s going well.

The projects of the Healthy Office within the framework of the Art of Space and the Healthy School have been a great success and I believe that the newly emerging project Healthy Home will also be successful in the same way. With an access to a healthy and high-quality indoor environment in buildings, a man returned to the game. We have often forgotten about him, about ourselves actually.

Is there something you miss on the round tables?

I miss a little more focus on climate change. In my view, we need to grasp it as a platform on which to build further goals and development of our sector. Construction is a traditional but rather conservative field and remains cautious in response to climate change.

In your opinion, what is crucial now for the construction industry?

In my view, the circular economy is a challenge for the whole sector. It is also a missing link in thinking about managing climate change. The key topics are innovation in sustainable development, automation, an advent of artificial intelligence which has been forgotten so far.

There is a traditional price pressure in the construction industry, isn’t it in contradiction with these trends?

The construction industry must adopt a new supplier selection model. Competition for the best price will surely remain a natural pillar in the selection of suppliers. An essential criterion, however, must be the durability of technology and products. After all, we are not so rich that we can buy cheap things that will soon cease to function. It is necessary to perceive the assessment of economic profitability throughout the life cycle of projects. The first signs have been already appearing, for example, in the tender for the National Audit Office building, where the economic impacts in the whole life cycle of the building play a 25% role in the competition.

There are still many tasks ahead of us, but there is a lot of work behind us done, and I want to thank everyone for it – member firms and my colleagues. Thanks to them the Council is an influential group in the field of sustainable construction and has natural professional and social authority. Thanks to the executive team, which, in accordance with the Board of Directors, provides events, facilities and promotional activities. You all do a great job!