João Moutinho, director of BUILT CoLAB, took part in the panel discussion at the workshop entitled “Building Capacity for Innovation in the AEC Sector: New Trends and Opportunities in Green and Digital Financing”, which took place on 26 March in Porto as part of the DIGITALbuilt project.
At this round-table discussion, João Moutinho, alongside António Tadeu (Itecons), discussed the topic “Sustainability in the AEC sector: trend, necessity or pressure?”, arguing that sustainability has ceased to be a trend and has instead become a structural requirement and a market condition, driven primarily by regulatory pressure but underpinned by a systemic necessity.
On the other hand, João Moutinho also pointed out that, despite the progress made – such as a greater presence in strategic discourse and investment in certifications – the sector has not yet truly transformed its processes, continuing to make decisions based on initial cost and incorporating sustainability at too late a stage. Therefore, the main obstacle is not technical, but structural: a lack of integration, skills and alignment between those who decide, pay and benefit. Furthermore, he argued that sufficient knowledge already exists (such as LCA or circularity strategies), but this is not being applied in practice.
Finally, he argued that sustainability only creates a competitive advantage when it is strategically integrated and backed by measurable data, and that the sector’s future will depend on its ability to measure, demonstrate and incorporate this impact into economic decisions — otherwise, it will continue to compete solely on price.
The event was also attended by experts such as Lurdes Guerra and Maria Macedo, who shared key insights on innovation, emerging trends, and green and digital financing.
The event was organised by PTPC – the Portuguese Construction Technology Platform / AEC Cluster – in partnership with EDIH DIGITALbuilt and FI Group, and with the support of IAPMEI.
