Inmaculada Peiró (Agremia): “Construction is taking the installations segment back to pre-pandemic levels”
The positive trend in the construction sector, both in new construction and renovation, has brought the installations and energy segment back to pre-pandemic levels, as Inmaculada Peiró, Managing Director of Agremia, explains in the following interview. In addition, the gradual introduction of new technologies in building is contributing to the success of this industry.
Inmaculada Peiró, General Manager of the Association of Installations and Energy Sector Companies (Agremia), explains the trends in the air-conditioning and refrigeration sector, as well as the main challenges, in addition to assessing some of the actions promoted by public authorities for the renovation of installations.
In your opinion, how is the air-conditioning and refrigeration sector progressing after the pandemic?
The pandemic has been a turning point in all sectors. However, the positive trends in the construction sector, both in new construction and renovation, especially in the latter where a major boost is expected thanks to the NextGenerationEU Funds, have brought the energy and installations segment back to pre-pandemic levels.
The gradual introduction of new technologies (aerothermal, solar thermal and photovoltaic, geothermal, renewable gases, etc.) in buildings to achieve the decarbonisation targets for 2050 is helping with the positive progress of our sector, which is at the heart of the energy transition.
What are the main challenges for companies in the installations and energy sector?
The main challenges currently facing the sector are to attract young talent to ensure generational change and to boost the digitalisation of companies. On the one hand, we want to recover the concept of the apprentice and, on the other, to make progress in the digital transformation of SMEs and the self-employed.
How do you rate the actions promoted by public authorities, such as the Madrid City Council's Cambia 360 Plan for the renovation of heating and air-conditioning installations?
Although there is now a lot of talk about public-private collaboration, this is in Agremia's very nature. The Cambia 360 Plan, for which our association was designated as a collaborating entity by public tender, has enabled homeowners' associations to replace more than 125 coal-fired boilers still in operation in the city of Madrid by 2021 with other more efficient and less polluting equipment.
This type of initiative, which should be followed by all cities, not only mobilises millions of Euro in the green economy, but also reduces the environmental footprint and CO2 emissions.