EVERY NEW PROJECT IS A CHALLENGE

For the past 15 years, Konstruktor has been involved in the construction of more than 250 buildings and up to million square metres. Although the company was predominantly focused on complex projects for foreign Investors, working with local clients resulted in equally good experiences

OGNJEN KISIN CEO of Konstruktor Group

Ognjen Kisin, CEO of Konstruktor Group, a construction group which is engaged in the construction of high-rise facilities for domestic and foreign Investors as a general contractor, speaks about many years of experience working with renowned clients across Europe and the world, who invested in the Republic of Serbia in the past few years.

Mr Kisin, which collaboration with foreign Investors, from the last 15 years, would you like to highlight? Is the company's cooperation with domestic developers in Serbia different? — For the past 15 years, Konstruktor has been involved in the construction of more than 250 facilities and up to million square metres. Of this, more than 70% is foreign investments and slightly less than 30% is domestic.

The reason for this is the situation in the market and the large inflow of foreign investments, especially in industrial complexes where Konstruktor has a respectable reference list of industrial buildings since, from the very beginning, the company has been focusing the most on this segment of construction, even before the inflow of foreign investments. In terms of performing construction activities for domestic developers, even though the percentage is much smaller, our experience with them is very good and equally important; especially when it comes to successful private domestic companies where the developer is fully committed to the project like they are building „their own house“. On the other hand, in terms of foreign investments, one of the special characteristics that I could single out is the new, highest global standards that are applied in construction which have elevated the construction industry in Serbia.

STANDARDS

The new, highest global standards that are applied in construction have elevated the construction industry in Serbia

Which facilities that you have built you would like to mention here? — First and foremost, there is a production complex of Denmark's Grundfos in Indjija, spanning 27,000 square metres, which was the biggest greenfield investment in Serbia in 2012. Continuing with the same theme of 'environmental awareness and quality', I would like to mention the office business of the German supermarket chain Lidl in Nova Pazova, spanning 15,000 square metres, which is the first building in Serbia that recieved platinum LEED certificate, highest environmental quality standards applied in the construction and in the way the facility was built. Soon, we are going to soon finish the construction of a large complex of the Chinese company Minth in Loznica (67,000 square metres). In terms of domestic developers, I have to mention a fantastic residential & business complex ‘Zelena Avenija’ (‘The Green Avenue’) in Zemun, spanning 40,000 square metres. Then there is the state-of-theart logistics centre KLP in Šimanovci (50,000 sqm) and another project that is dear to us, the Čemerno Bridge in the Republic of Srpska. Of course, there are many other fantastic facilities that we have built and that we are going to build.

How can we resolve the problem of the lack of workforce in the Serbian construction sector? — Restoring the reputation of construction trades and educating qualified young workers is crucial to the survival of the domestic construction sector. The whole situation should be viewed as a challenge, but there is a ground for optimism, which is precisely the growing scope of work in this industry and better commercial conditions for all workers.