Global firms are looking to strike a delicate balance in the unsteady vertical building market. Some regions are recovering from the global recession, while many parts of the world continue to struggle. Although public spending has helped prop up some markets, governments are now reining in expenditures, leaving designers and contractors fighting for limited opportunities in the private sector to help fill the void.
Johan Karlström, president and CEO of Sweden-based Skanska AB, sees some signs of recovery in the company’s main regions. On the positive side, much of the Scandinavian market has resurged, especially in the residential sector, he says. “Prices on homes are back to where they were before the economic crisis,” he says. “All of the residential builders are pushing hard to start as many projects as possible to take advantage of the market.”