In March this year, ’MONUM’ joined the public organisation ’Latvian Partnership of Building Contractors’ (Latvijas Būvuzņēmēju partnerība), which in addition to ’MONUM’ already includes Latvia’s nine largest building contractors. The goal of the partnership is to promote sustainability of the construction industry based on safety, quality, long-term development and competitiveness of the industry. To achieve this goal, the ’Latvian Partnership of Building Contractors’ maintains a dialogue between the construction industry and the Latvian state, encouraging positive changes that contribute to achieving the partnership’s goals.

Maris Ozolins (Māris Ozoliņš), ’MONUM’s Chairman of the Board, commented on joining the partnership: “As one of the leading Latvian construction companies with stable performance indicators, we find ’MONUM joining the Latvian Partnership of Building Contractors to be a natural step for us and are very pleased about it. Construction industry leaders must stick together so that we can join forces in addressing and encouraging the correction of some major issues in the industry. Firstly, the reduction of the shadow economy, which creates problems in terms of both construction quality and safety, and secondly, a much needed implementation of a builders classification required for procurement procedures.”

Head of the Latvian Partnership of Building Contractors Baiba Fromane has also welcomed ’MONUM’s decision to join the partnership. “If the industry players are to introduce fundamental changes in the industry, they must be able to work together. The ’Latvian Partnership of Building Contractors’ is also open to other companies that would like to join and work on addressing the issues of the construction industry,” she stated.

The ’Latvian Partnership of Building Contractors’ has identified the following main tasks to help achieve its goals:

– To work towards construction industry-friendly policies that promote sustainable development of the industry and its competitiveness in foreign markets;
– To introduce standards of good practice to promote quality and safety in the field of construction;
– To highlight the industry as a viable environment for career development, encouraging young people to acquire industry-related professions;
– To encourage changes in the education system for young professionals to be trained in accordance with current labour market requirements;
– To take measures to ensure fair competition and reduce the shadow economy.

The ’Latvian Partnership of Building Contractors’ currently comprises ten major construction companies in Latvia – ’Skonto Būve’, ’RE&RE’, ’RBSSKALS’, ’Merks’, ’Latvijas Energoceltnieks’, ’Arčers’, ’LNK Industries’, ’Abora’, ’Moduls Rīga’ and ’MONUM’.