Board Meeting Update

5-6 December 2024

Buenos Aires, Argentina

The following highlights the main discussions and decisions made during the meeting.

Opening remarks from the President

Yasar Giregiz, IPLOCA Board of Directors President, conveyed his thanks and appreciation to Regional Director for Latin America Pablo Brottier of SACDE and IPLOCA Executive Secretary Georges Hage for leading the organisation of an outstanding Regional Meeting for Latin America the previous day.

Safety moment

Giovanni Muriana, HSE & CSR Committee Chair, who took over this role from Bruno Pomaré in September 2024, gave a presentation about the importance of reporting near misses in our organisations. A near miss is an unplanned event that did not result in injury, hazard, or damage but had the potential to do so. A near miss often identifies a system weakness which, if not addressed, could lead to an injury in the future.

He emphasised that near misses should be viewed as opportunities to improve safety programmes and practices on job sites and in the workplace. According to the Heinrich Triangle, for every 300 near misses, there are 29 minor accidents and one serious accident. Near miss recognition and reporting is an essential component of any good safety programme. The Committee Chair concluded by saying that staff should be encouraged to report near miss incidents.

Annual Convention

The first morning’s discussions were focused on the 2025 Annual Convention. Georges Hage gave a presentation about the convention programme. The Board chose the following theme for the 2025 Convention: “Delivering Sustainable Energy Infrastructure.” The Board decided to have the same format as in 2024, which includes three days of tours and two days of business meetings. The fee for a tour ticket will remain the same as last year, EUR 30 per ticket.

Conventions in 2026 and 2027

David Lukas gave a presentation about Convention and Board meeting locations. The Board decided to hold the 2026 IPLOCA Annual Convention in Athens, Greece. Boston, U.S.A. was chosen as the location for the 2027 Convention.

Minutes of the Sorrento Board Meeting

The minutes of the previous Board meeting were reviewed and approved.

HSE & CSR Committee

Giovanni Muriana, HSE & CSR Committee Chair, presented his report. The committee met on 21 October 2024 in Lisbon. Committee meetings will take place on 15 April 2025 in Palermo, 12 June in Geneva, and in Budapest in October 2025.

The annual HSE & CSR Workshop held on 22 October 2024 was run by Caterpillar’s Diana Anghel. More than 60 people were registered, however only 42 attended the meeting. Participants had the option to register for both events, the Novel Session and the HSE Workshop, by filling out one form on the IPLOCA website. In the future, registrants will be requested to fill out two different forms for the two events to avoid having no-shows at one of the events.

Giovanni Muriana encouraged Board members to ask their HSE staff to share best practices on the IPLOCA Shared Experiences Platform.

Energy Transition Committee

Andrew Ball, the Energy Transition Committee Chair, provided the report of the committee. He mentioned that the Energy Transition Committee believed there was some overlap between their work and that of the Innovation Committee, especially in terms of their objectives and purposes.

Therefore, the committee asked the Board to evaluate the future and purpose of the Energy Transition Committee. One option was to break up the Energy Transition Committee, and the other was to have the committee take over the energy transition theme within the new Novel Construction Initiative and work closely with the Innovation Committee

Andrew Ball briefed the Board about the Global Hydrogen Review, which is published annually by the International Energy Agency. The report tracks hydrogen production and demand worldwide, and monitors progress in critical areas such as infrastructure development, trade, policy, regulation, investment and innovation.

Innovation Committee

The Committee Chair, Somaieh Salehpour, presented the report. The Novel Construction Fall Session took place in Lisbon and attracted 80 people. The next event will be held on 16-17 April in Palermo, Italy.

The workshop was divided into two sessions. A lead and a Board member supported the five groups working on five themes that included AI Transformation, Skills & Resources, Standards & Compliance Regulatory – Material Codes, Energy Transition, and Net Zero Construction. The committee planned to set up a hub on the IPLOCA website as a resource for innovation activities. The Board decided to name the new centre “IPLOCA NEST – The Knowledge Hub.”

The Board decided to maintain the separation between the Energy Transition Committee and the Innovation Committee. The Energy Transition Committee will take over the 'energy transition' theme and report their findings to the Innovation Committee. The Innovation Committee will continue to work on the other four themes.

Scholarship Programme

The Project Lead, Saji Khoury, gave an update on the IPLOCA Scholarship Programme. Following the committee’s review of the questionnaire, applications were scheduled to open on 15 January and close on 15 March 2025. The criteria for eligibility and the application form are available on our website.

The Board approved to finance 12 scholarships in 2025. IPLOCA awards scholarships annually, valuing USD 4,500 each, to help the next generation pursue their chosen field of study.

NextGen Network

The Project Lead, Saji Khoury, presented the report. He was proud to advise that the network gained seven new members since the last Board meeting, bringing the total number of members to 30.

Saji Khoury aimed to schedule an online NextGen Network meeting once a month. The first meeting, attended by 20 participants, was characterized by a very positive atmosphere. These meetings allow young professionals to discuss challenges - whether technical or leadership-related - and seek advice from peers. The network also aims to leverage the wealth of knowledge and experience within IPLOCA. The plan is to invite industry veterans to join the online meetings and share their career stories, offer guidance, and provide insights into the future of our industry.

Roberto Castelli, IPLOCA Past President, Commercial and Business Development Director and Senior Advisor to the CEO at Bonatti, was invited as guest speaker in December. The network invited Herwig Peschl, Senior Vice President of Caterpillar responsible for Global Construction & Infrastructure, to share his experiences and answer any questions during an online meeting in January 2025.

Speakers Project

The Speakers Project Lead, Hakan Göral, presented his report. The aim of the Speakers Project is to find excellent speakers diving into engaging subjects during the 2025 IPLOCA Convention. Eight potential topics and subtopics were proposed to the Board as follows: global trends, industry innovations, sustainability and climate, safety and risk management, leadership and workforce, project management and operations, technology and digitalisation, community and stakeholder engagement.

Board members were asked to vote on the topics they felt were most relevant in 2025. The topics that received the most votes included global trends - energy transition, sustainability and climate - hydrogen pipelines, leadership - future leadership skills, and community & stakeholder engagement - building trust.

Membership & Communication Committee

The Committee Chair, Marcin Przywara, presented the report. The committee aims to find ways to expand IPLOCA’s membership. Board Director Michael Fakhoury carried out a detailed analysis of the current membership. One of the findings indicated that membership in certain geographical regions, such as Latin America and the Middle East, was rather low. Certain equipment and service providers were missing.

Andrew Stuart gave an update on IPLOCA’s social media activities, while Somaieh Salehpour briefed the Board about the “Women in IPLOCA” initiative.

Treasurer’s Report

The Treasurer, Bruno Pomaré, presented his first report. He briefed the Board about the positive forecast for the

year-end results and the positive result for the convention in Sorrento. The budget prepared for the 2025 Convention was based on 190 paid registrations, and the same level of sponsorships as in 2024.

Buno Pomaré proposed to increase the convention registration fee by 5% in 2025. The Board approved to increase the registration fee to EUR 2520 in 2025.

Membership

Eszter Czirjak, IPLOCA Membership Manager, presented the Membership Status Report. At the time of the Board meeting, the IPLOCA membership status was 79 Regular Members, 105 Associate Members and 34 Corresponding Members

The following membership applications were approved:

- Construtora Elevação Ltda . – Regular Member

- ENKA İnşaat ve Sanayi A.Ş. – Regular Member

- Manna S.p.A. – Regular Member

She thanked all Board members for promoting the Association and encouraging new companies to apply for membership.

Media Partner Agreement Renewals

An extension of the Media Partner Agreements for the next three years was approved by the Board. IPLOCA Media Partners include Benjamin Media, Gulf Energy Information, Mediapoint & Exhibitions Srl, and Palladian Publications.

Next Board Meetings

IPLOCA Board meetings will take place as follows:

- 27-28 March 2025: Tokyo, Japan

- 5-6 June 2025: Krakow, Poland

- 14 and 18-19 September 2025: Izmir, Türkiye

Regional Meetings

A Regional Meeting for Central Europe is planned for 4 June 2025 in Krakow, Poland.