Norbert Fontanel, you succeeded Samuel Minot and recently took up your duties as head of BTP Rhône et Métropole for three years. What are your priorities going to be?
We can talk about construction in all its dimensions, from an economic angle, housing, etc. But what I want in the first place is to talk about the companions, about those who get up early so that at the end of the day there is a wall up, a bathroom finished, or a switch and the light everywhere. It is also the atmosphere of friends that can reign on the site, with solidarity because these are still tougher jobs than many others.
Norbert Fontanel : “The construction industry remains a social elevator”
Communicating about people and professions, can this be effective in recruitment?
Of course, if we don’t talk about trades, people won’t have any reason to come to them. The construction industry remains a social elevator, where one trains throughout life. An employee, as long as he has the intelligence of the head or the hand, can evolve. Work-study training, for example, is an excellent system for training and recruiting.
And the insertion? The construction industry does a lot, right?
As soon as we take on an apprentice, we do integration, whether he fails at school or not. As for the integration clauses in the work sites, that does not always work with all the people we are offered. The building is not necessarily there to recover all the social misery, even if it takes a large part of it compared to other sectors. Building employees are professionals in their own right, each with their own business intelligence at all levels. They all have work value embedded in them.
“50% of our members are outside mainland France”
Do you mention a line of work around the territories?
We are BTP Rhône et Métropole, but the job is not only in the towers of Part Dieu. We want to decentralize to the territories. We represent 900 companies, from VSEs to large groups, 50% of our members are outside mainland France. The entrepreneur who is in Rive-de-Gier or Saint-Symphorien-sur-Coise does not have time to come to Villeurbanne in the evening for a meeting. BTP Rhône is made up of four territories: Rhône-Sud, the West, the Monts du Lyonnais, Beaujolais. Symbolically, we will soon have the first office meeting of the mandate in the southern territory. We will do this at least once a quarter.
The decarbonization of the profession is in the orientations of BTP Rhône…
The building is at the heart of decarbonization actions. This goes through the manufacturers who take out the products. We work very closely with them. We are the applicators of new construction methods. We have proposals every week from manufacturers to test this or that product. Architects and project management are also committed in the same direction.
Can companies offer eco-virtuous materials despite costs that are still a little more expensive?
The company that will not be a driving force in the environmental approach is doomed to disappear today. It is clear that category F and G housing is no longer rented. It is necessary to offer customers an environmental approach as much as possible, the economic argument works because when reselling their property, the customer will find himself there, with housing that consumes little energy.
What are your relations with local authorities and public procurement?
We send the message to smooth out investments and launch projects regularly throughout the mandate of elected officials, and not just over the last three years. This allows companies to better manage employment.
