With twelve construction companies going bankrupt in July, the downward spiral in the sector seems to be continuing: some 114 “insolvencies” have been recorded so far in 2023, according to data from Creditreform.

After Cenaro  in January, the bankruptcies kept on coming, peaking (so far) in March with 35.

“Today, the number of construction company bankruptcies has reached  for the years since 1995,” commented the Contractors’ Group in a press on Wednesday 9 August. It announced that it had contacted the OGBL and LCGB trade unions to discuss a possible sectoral job retention plan “and to extend the discussions, if necessary, to the drawing up of a sectoral social plan, given that, for a large number of companies, job retention will no longer be possible.”

Meeting in September

The Contractors’ Group said it had already approached the unions last month, but received no response. “We will be organising a meeting in September,” says Jean-Luc De Matteis, central secretary of the OGBL’s construction union.

Without giving precise figures for the number of employees potentially affected, maintains that “all companies in the sector are suffering from the situation.” Between the in sales of new flats in the first quarter and the , the prevailing mood is one of gloom.

“A sectoral redundancy plan sets deadlines that have to be met, and is a more powerful tool than a job maintenance plan,” he says.

The official also fears a shift in private builder activity towards public contracts, which are less affected. More bidders means more competition and therefore pressure on prices and margins.

“We don’t want to point the finger of blame at anyone in this situation, but the fact is that our sector is going through one crisis after another, with the closure of building sites during Covid-19, the explosion in the price of materials following the war in Ukraine and now the explosion in interest rates,” says Faber.

This article in Paperjam. It has been translated and edited for Delano.