Consera aims to grow by 30 percent in 2025
Consera, one of the pioneers of "off-site construction" in Turkey, aims to grow by 30 percent in 2025. Melih Şimşek, Founder of Consera and Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Turkish Structural Steel Association, said, "One of our most important goals in the coming period is to expand our housing production volume. Our goal is to produce at least 10 thousand houses per year."
Steel buildings, which can be defined as "off-site construction", i.e. prefabricated construction, are one of the most prominent methods in the construction sector in the world. Steel buildings, which are built with an industrial approach, attract attention with their cost advantages as well as their advantages such as being resistant to earthquakes, being built quickly and being sustainable.
Consera, which operates in the field of "off-site construction" in Turkey, aims to grow by 30 percent in 2025.
The company is preparing to complete Kuzeybükü, the first urban transformation project in the Zekeriyaköy region with steel structure assurance, in 2025 and aims to increase its housing production volume.
Our target is to produce 10 thousand houses per year
Melih Şimşek, Founder of Consera and Vice Chairman of the Board of Directors of the Turkish Structural Steel Association, underlined that they draw strength from their unique background and 2.5 million square meters of experience in the steel construction sector and said, "2024 has been quite good for us. In 2025, we will complete our Kuzeybükü Zekeriyaköy project, which we have completed most of last year, in a safe and peaceful environment next to all the amenities of the city. Our project, which has a land area of approximately 9,500 square meters, a construction area of more than 12 thousand square meters, consisting of 7 blocks of 42 detached row houses and designed by Teğet Architecture, is a project that will be shown as an example with its proximity to important locations, sea and forest as well as being in one of the safest regions in terms of earthquake."
Melih Şimşek said, "Our 2025 targets include expanding our housing production volume, while we also plan to increase the number of cities in which we operate. Today, we have an annual production volume of 3 thousand houses, our goal is to produce at least 10 thousand houses per year. As of 2026, we aim for regional growth. We are especially targeting Izmir and Mersin. We think that the volume of the sector will start to expand rapidly with the start of housing finance in the coming period. In addition, we have recently started the production of kindergartens in various districts of Istanbul such as Ataşehir, Pendik, Sarıyer and Beykoz, where we apply the modular construction method. We complete the production of kindergartens ranging between 200-400 square meters, consisting of single-storey modular structures with 2-3 and 4 classrooms, in an average of 90 days. In 2025, we will also realize social housing and various urban transformation projects using steel and modular steel systems."
Off-site construction should become an industry
According to the World Steel Association (WSA) data, Turkey is the seventh largest steel producer in the world and the first largest steel producer in Europe in 2020, Melih Şimşek said, "It is seen that the use of steel in industrial buildings in our country has increased from 1 percent to 5 percent in 20 years. However, unfortunately, there has not been a sufficient increase for residences. The ratio of steel structures to total buildings has reached 1.5 percent with an increase of approximately 0.5 percent in residences. All our cities, especially Istanbul, need to be prepared for possible earthquakes. The formula put forward in the world for this is 'Urban Transformation', which aims to demolish unqualified structures and build earthquake-resistant structures in their place. At every opportunity, we emphasize that off-site construction should become widespread and turn into an industry. The main reason for this is to create safe spaces for everyone, especially the citizens of our country. We aim to spread a sustainable building and construction system throughout the country and to further increase the share and power of the Turkish construction sector in the world market. Modular steel housing construction, which will pave the way for meeting the housing need in the short term if the economic conditions improve next year as predicted, is a very important issue that construction builders and steel structure manufacturers will bring vitality to the sector by working hand in hand."
300 thousand earthquake resistant modular steel houses can be produced annually
Stating that the structural steel sector has the infrastructure to produce at least 300 thousand houses per year, Şimşek said, "In order to produce 300 thousand earthquake-resistant modular steel houses per year, approximately 3 million tons of steel flat products, steel profiles and rolled profiles are needed. I would like to underline that our country has the steel material production to meet all these needs. In addition, we need approximately 72 thousand blue-collar human resources to realize this amount of production, which means creating a large amount of employment. The public sector also has a big role to play in the development and widespread use of steel structures. The public can support this issue by encouraging the development and use of steel structures."
Steel structures are not expensive
Underlining that the view that steel structures are expensive while reinforced concrete structures are cheaper is an erroneous approach, Şimşek said, "It is absolutely not true that steel structures are 'expensive', it is not possible to call a structure that is 3 times faster, lighter, more efficient, and has a share of only 20 percent of the structural system of a building expensive. Many prejudices far from science and facts such as 'Steel structures are expensive', 'We do not have enough human resources and facilities to build steel structures' still exist. With the widespread use of steel structures, we can have earthquake-resistant houses, while at least 50 percent advantage can be achieved in operating costs. Since these types of structures are produced faster, they provide an advantage in terms of return on investment. These structures, which have easier inspection and cost control compared to traditional construction methods, offer a longer service life and can be used over and over again as they are recyclable."
