I couldn’t contain my excitement the moment I received an invitation to speak at the 17th Worldbex Conference, which will be kicking off next week.
I’m so thrilled and honored to be joining a stellar cast of resource speakers, and I look forward to gaining a lot of fresh ideas from individuals who remain very passionate with their respective crafts.
As the Worldbex celebrates a thriving building and construction industry, I’d like to point out that there seems to be a great number of buildings racing to dot the Metro Manila skyline, as we speak. Interestingly, it’s starting to look like we’re seeing a new generation of high-rise buildings and infrastructure—the elaborately designed ones—that are emerging as icons in various parts of the metropolis.
We know for a fact that these edifices require some specialized, advanced machinery and the adoption of modern architecture ideologies, which prompt me to pose this question: “Is the Philippines on the cusp of building the next wave of modern cities?”
I spoke to a few industry players about their take on the future of modern architecture and how today’s real-estate developers are adapting to global standards of infrastructure and property development.
Adaptation is key to innovation
With the rapid pace of urbanization, the technologies and methodologies involved in the design and building of today’s cities are also becoming more complex to adapt to the needs of the modern times.
“In real-estate development, the construction of high-rise buildings in cities and mixed land use, among a few others, have provided developers a cost-efficient way to utilize parcels of land,” said Enrico Micu, national sales manager of Allgemeine Bau-Chemie Philippines. “With the onset of high-rise developments, cities have become more capable of accommodating its expanding population, while lowering infrastructure costs. Mixed-use developments, meanwhile, help enhance the quality of living. As offices, leisure and commercial areas have now become more accessible within the neighborhood, travel time in between places are decreased, thus ensuring a more efficient lifestyle for the inhabitants within the area.”
Another key initiative developers and industry players have championed is the move toward the use of energy-efficient building designs and materials. “Notice that major infrastructure nowadays appreciate and incorporate the use of organic and sustainable materials, all the while actively seeking LEED-certifications or in some cases, the local version, Berde,” shared Billy Arrienda, marketing director of Matimco Inc., one of the Philippines’s leading providers of architectural wood products.
“With the opening of world markets, a rise in number of developments with foreign designer alliances can also be seen, thus, raising demand for complementing building products with understated aesthetics—minimalist designs that effectively combine different materials and efficient use of space contributing to the overall impact of the design.”
Despite this kind of dynamism, the industry has also become used to a certain level of cost and efficiency, as well as market practices that potentially undermine quality. “Here lies the opportunity for willing industry players to infuse innovation into these traditional construction practices by bringing in technologies and expertise that provide advantages to the current systems in cost, efficiency and quality,” Cemex Asia Director for Business Development Arturo Rodriguez added. “The good thing is that some are already being employed in other developing and more developed countries worldwide.”
Global to local
Building the next generation of cities here in the Philippines is no easy task; it requires a great deal of commitment to innovation and embracing a more sustainable approach to enhancing the landscape—a vision that translates to concrete solutions for the needs of the modern world.
“Here in the Philippines, we have already embraced the use of better materials, like concrete for roads, and now taking the next step by adopting the use of roller-compacted concrete [RCC] pavements,” Rodriguez explained. “This entails the laying of a dry concrete mix placed using an asphalt paver and compacted using a static or vibratory roller. The road is built without forms, dowels or reinforcing steel, while being strong, dense and durable. The RCC pavement is used for select highways with moderate speeds, local streets, parking lots, industrial yards, bus lanes, rural roads and sometimes, as a base for top layers.” The advantage, he adds, includes better cost and a shorter construction time than asphalt and concrete pavements, higher durability than asphalt, and a smoother and more reliable surface than other solutions.
For Matimco, meanwhile, planning for new products goes beyond just coming up with new designs. “We consider factors like the current market demand, anticipated future aspirations, wood supply and sources—whether they are sustainable in supply or sourced responsibly—and whether they reinforce our commitment to delivering superior quality and maximum value to our market,” Arrienda added.
Becoming ‘game changers’
For companies to really champion the idea of innovation, one must be able to understand the opportunities that are readily present and come up with strategies to maximize their resources toward this objective.
“The key to becoming game changers is by understanding the challenges and needs that the country is facing and the need to respond to them,” Rodriguez explained. “Companies should also be able to promote local research and development, while importing successfully proven products and systems coming from similar markets. Understand that investing in the country and shaking things out of the comfort zone, even though others will eventually adopt the same technologies, will result the growth of the pie for your business and put you in a better position in terms of agility and innovation against our peers.”
Agility and flexibility has also been one of the pillars of success of Matimco. “We strive to constantly listen to our customers, keep an eye on local or global trends, and be highly responsive to change because one cannot afford to be stagnant,” Arrienda said. We, likewise, place a premium on integrity and strive to be a trustworthy name in how we conduct business to our market, our stakeholders and the environment. We firmly believe it is a prerequisite for business sustainability.”
For the Philippines to really sustain its momentum of building a solid foundation toward the future, industry players must adopt the same mindset that propelled the world’s most successful businesses to the top. As I’ve said in the past, making constant progress, no matter how small or seemingly insignificant it is, will still take you one step closer to reaching your goal. And I’m confident to say that, with industry players committed to shaking up things, it seems like we’re on our way toward achieving sustainable progress.