Advancing a resilient, green, and digital future for European construction

Europe’s construction sector is one of the largest ecosystems in the EU, employing over 25 million people and accounting for nearly 10% of economic activity. The sector plays a vital role in achieving the EU’s long-term strategic goals. To align the sector with these goals and address (emerging) challenges, the European Commission launched the High Level Construction Forum – bringing stakeholders together to co-create a pathway towards a greener, more digital, and resilient future.

Background

The High Level Construction Forum (HLCF) is an initiative of the European Commission (DG GROW), launched in 2021 and concluding in 2025. Building on the previous Construction 2020 initiative, the HLCF played a central role in the co-creation and monitoring of the Transition Pathway for Construction.

This pathway has shaped policy milestones, including the Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) recast and the revised Construction Products Regulation (CPR). Further efforts focus on digitalisation, the circular economy, industrialised and offsite construction, housing and skilled labour. In 2025, the HLCF is engaging stakeholders to help define priorities of the new Commission, including the potential European Strategy for Housing Construction and contributions to the upcoming Circular Economy Act under the Clean Industrial Deal.

Ecorys was commissioned by DG GROW to manage the Technical Secretariat of the High Level Construction Forum (HLCF) since its inception in 2021, ensuring stakeholder engagement with industry, national authorities, social partners, academia and other actors, as well as policy input, event organisation, and research.

The HLCF informs and consults the construction ecosystem on EU policies, enhancing visibility, collaboration, industry resilience, as well as the green and digital transition across the sector. It guided discussions around the following key themes:

• Resilience: Strengthening the sector’s resilience through skills development, improved regulation, and enhanced global competitiveness.

• Green: Advancing circularity, energy and resource efficiency, and the decarbonisation of the built environment.

• Digital: Fostering a digital and innovative construction sector through technologies such as digital design, planning, and building management.

Key achievements

Since 2021, Ecorys has supported the growth of the High Level Construction Forum (HLCF) into a dynamic platform with over 1,300 members, including companies, industry associations, national authorities, and academia.

We organised multiple plenary meetings and thematic sessions remain open to all stakeholders, fostering broad engagement. We also supported the development of the Construction Transition Pathway and contributed through targeted research.

Co-creation process (2021-2023)

Ecorys played a key role in co-creating the Transition Pathway for Construction, facilitating consultations from the first High-Level Construction Forum (HLCF) plenary in September 2021 through to the third forum in March 2023. We organised cluster meetings, conducted a targeted stakeholder consultation and supported deep-dive thematic sessions, gathering input from hundreds of industry actors. These efforts shaped the final Pathway, outlining six building blocks for the construction ecosystem’s green, digital, and resilient transition.

Monitoring and implementation (2023-2025)

Since 2023, Ecorys has supported monitoring the Transition Pathway for Construction by inviting stakeholder commitments and organising nine webinars on green transition priorities, industry resilience, and innovative construction techniques, including a study on scaling up offsite construction. In 2024, Ecorys hosted the first in-person forum, marking one year since the Pathway’s publication and gathering input on future EU priorities for the construction ecosystem.

By 2025, the first four years of the HLCF culminated in a report showcasing action implementation examples and the organisation of the 5th forum, featuring a workshop on new EU priorities. This workshop contributed to shaping a potential European Strategy for Housing Construction, supporting the Affordable Housing Plan and feeding into the upcoming Circular Economy Act under the Clean Industrial Deal.

Interested in finding out more? Check out the links below.  

Transition Pathway for Construction

Commitments supporting the Transition Pathway for Construction

Research Note on Offsite Construction – High Level Construction Forum