Attila Balázs, President and CEO
The legal predecessor of Bayer Construct Zrt. started in 2002 as a small company with ten employees: at that time they were engaged in the construction of family houses. The wholly Hungarian-owned company doubled its sales rev- enue every year until the economic crisis of the late 2000s, and has grown to become one of Hungary’s leading construction and property development groups.
Active on the international market, the group’s activities include real estate development and general construction of residential and office buildings, from design and permit application to turnkey handover, civil engineering, hydraulic engineering, and earthworks, reinforced concrete construction and reinforcing steel processing, as well as the production of raw materials. Over the past 20 years, Bayer Construct has gradually expanded its activities to cover the entire construc- tion-engineering vertical: mining, construction materials and products, design and general construction are all concentrated in one operation.
According to Attila Balázs, President and CEO of Bayer Construct Zrt., this is the biggest advantage compared to com- petitors, and the fact that they aim to produce 60-70% of the raw materials used in their buildings themselves so that they can complete the development faster than other companies on the market also plays a significant role. The background for the monolithic reinforced concrete construction works is their state-of-the-art reinforcing steel processing and bending plant in Sóskút, and they also have their own plants for the production of ready-mix concrete. The group also owns Europe’s most modern paving block factory, and its precast concrete prefabrication plant will produce tens of thousands of cubic metres of precast concrete elements per year from the second half of 2021.
“In addition to building a full range, technology is another means by which Bayer Construct is dramatically increasing its efficiency, achieving improvements of 50 to 80%”, said the CEO, adding that companies that keep pace with technological advances are the ones that can survive. According to Attila Balázs, it is telling that, in the last three years, the group has spent more on technology development than its annual sales revenue in 2019.
They are also active in the residential property market, offering buyers furnished apartments with fitted kitchens and ready-to- move-in units, which is a market first.
“Customers value long-term responsibility. The long-term operation of the properties we develop is also taken care of by a member of the group”, said Attila Balázs, adding that the group’s member companies include Bayer Construct Zrt., Bayer General Zrt., LIMA Architecture & Interior Design, Barnes Hungary Luxury Homes Kft., Viastein Kft., Bay-Iron Kft. and Bayer Property Zrt. The latter is dedicated to the full preparation and implementation of real estate development projects. István Sokorai, who was previously CEO of Colas Hungária Zrt. for ten years, took over the management of the company in March 2020, and now joins Bayer Construct not only as CEO, but also as an investor.
Labour shortages in construction have been a major problem in recent years. According to Attila Balázs, in addition to wages, it is the benefits provided to workers that retain a good workforce. For those who live far from the project site, accommoda- tion is provided in a workers’ hostel built by the group, where catering, laundry and much more is provided by the company.
The group employs 1,200 physical and 300 white-collar workers, and the CEO, who was born in Remetea, Romania, still holds on to his Szekler roots, and it is no coincidence that 80% of the physical workers come from Szeklerland or from a Hungarian region beyond the border.
According to the CEO, working conditions and tools also play a big role in the employee turnover rate, which is why employees can work with the latest technologies and machines, and the company’s managers and engineers regularly visit foreign construction sites to study and learn from examples of good practice.
Sustainability is of paramount importance to the company, which is why they work with the most modern and least environmentally damaging machines, leaving a smaller ecological footprint. According to the company’s CEO, capital reinvested in technology is the key to a sustainable future.
In addition to sustainable operations, supporting sport is also a priority for the construction group, which has been investing in it since its incorporation, but has become more serious in recent years as its resources have expanded. They support Veszprém’s handball team and are the main sponsors of the Gheorgheni Hockey Club, which is also a contender for the Erste League and the Romanian championship, and sponsor one of the country’s most modern hockey training centres, the Kárpáti Farkasok in Érd. The President of both sports clubs is Attila Balázs, President and CEO of Bayer Construct Group, whose passion for hockey has been with him all his life.