Page 17 - Climate Control News magazine March 2023

Commercial Air Conditioning
Projects stall as contractors are hit on all fronts
ABOVE: TCL headquarters in China. LEFT: TCL Fresh Air Technology.
“AIR CONDITIONERS ARE EXPORTED TO MORE THAN 160 MARKETS AROUND THE GLOBE.”
TCL has been building high-quality air-con- ditioning products for more than 20 years with an established global production network of 10 manufacturing bases spanning across China, Brazil and Indonesia.
The company produces more than 30 million units every year. TCL Air Conditioning models, such as Fresh Air 1.0, Gentle Cool, Elite, Q-Series, have been available in many countries.
Just last month TCL introduced the second generation of TCL Fresh Air AC Technology. Unlike conventional AC that circulates air inside the house, TCL's proprietary FreshIN+ fresh air system transports the fresh air from the outdoors to the indoors with a capacity of up to 60 cubic metres per hour thanks to its power- ful air engine, which helps increase the oxygen and humidity levels.
With the latest upgrade, the TCL Fresh Air Technology is now taking your air quality to the next level. Its proprietary circulation technology not simply inhales fresh air from outdoors, it exhales stale indoor air.
Its built-in sensor detects the total volatile organic compounds TVOC in the air, and the detection results are presented in the "dynamic display of air quality" in real time, on top of the already powerful fresh air functionalities.
AUSTRALIA’S COMMERCIAL AIR condi- tioning industry is being hit on all fronts with contracting issues at the forefront of stalled projects.
High construction costs coupled with rising interest rates, economic uncertainty and wafer thin margins for contractors are all hav- ing an impact on the HVAC market.
Labour shortages are another cause for con- cern as contractors struggle to retain talent.
Overall housing starts sit below the 200,000 per annum needed between 2022 and 2025, dip- ping to its lowest over 2022-23 before rebound- ing in 2026-27, according to the latest forecasts from Master Builders Australia (MBA).
Whilst detached housing and renovations are stable or steadily growing off the back of the COVID stimulus boom, medium to high density remains hardest hit.
MBA CEO, Denita Wawn, said this segment is more sensitive to interest rate fluctuations and is still recovering from the absence of inward migration over the past three years.
“Even before the pandemic, higher density dwellings were in decline,” she said.
“The challenge will be to make sure that we put downward pressure on building and con- struction costs to increase output.
“At present these challenges relate to supply of housing, workforce shortages and bottle- necks in the market for key building materials and products.”
Despite record investment in infrastructure by all levels of government, small to medium sized contractors are struggling to survive.
In an interview on the Competitive Contractor Podcast, the CEO of the Civil Contractors Federation of New South Wales (CCF), David Castledine,
said they are struggling to deliver projects within anticipated timeframes.
“If industry reform doesn't occur, we'll see a fundamental structural shift in how the markets are arranged with mas- sive tier one contractors and labour-hire compa- nies,” he warned.
RIGHT: Medium to
high density housing remains the hardest hit.
“Tier two contractors, that traditionally form the backbone and workforce of the indus- try, may be lost.”
In late 2021, CCF surveyed members and found 30 per cent of respondents (contractors) had lost money.
“About 25 per cent of that group made less than five per cent in profit. We’re seeing wafer- thin margins,” Castledine said.
“In that 2021 survey, 40 per cent of our respondents had a decrease in revenue com- pared to 2018 and 16 per cent of them had cuts in revenue growth. That’s not a picture that’s synonymous with an infrastructure boom.”
As populations grow older and experienced workers reach retirement, organisations are faced with the arduous task of replacing them, particularly among specialised workers in fields such as manufacturing, mechanical engineering and building services.
Australian students should be encouraged to pursue required skills like engineering at university and, secondly, Australia should look to attract migrants who have those skills.
Katya Vladislavleva, CEO of DataStories, a Partners in Performance company, said organ- isations need foresight as they enter 2023.
“This is the perfect time for organisations to use prescriptive analytics to unleash potential and overcome these labour challenges,” she said.
“With industry professionals retiring, prescriptive analytics is the ideal tool to train or retrain new talent so that opera- tions aren’t impacted.
“Organisations who find ways to preserve knowledge in the face of labour challenges will have an edge to help them achieve success in 2023 and beyond.”
CLIMATE CONTROL NEWS
MARCH 2023
17