Miguel Florez de la Colina, ESTA’s new policy officer who starts work for us this week, has international construction – and related industries – in his blood.
Many of Miguel’s mother’s family were architects – from his great grandfather onwards – and his father was a senior director and project manager for Dragados, one of the world’s leading infrastructure contractors which today is part of the global construction and engineering group ACS (whose CEO, Florentino Pérez, is also President of the Real Madrid football club, incidentally).
Born in Madrid himself, Miguel followed in the family tradition. His father imbued him with an international outlook from his early days, enrolling him in a French school in the city – which explains why he is fluent in French as well as English.
Like his father, he subsequently graduated in civil engineering and Miguels’ early career also included a spell working overseas, in Hong Kong for the Spanish engineering company Acciona on the new Kowloon Station in the period immediately before the handover of the territory back to China.
Speaking to ESTA, he said: “When I was born in 1971, it was a difficult time but my father decided that he wanted us to be international in outlook.
“During his time as a civil engineer, he often worked overseas. He was always studying languages, and he wanted the same for his children which is why I attended the French school.”
Today, Miguel teaches construction and lifting to civil engineering students at the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid where he himself studied, and also business to students that are studying for the master of mechanical engineering at the Universidad Europea, both roles that he enjoys and that he will retain part-time after he joins ESTA.
His career journey towards heavy lifting and abnormal transport – and ESTA – began when he was recruited to join Mammoet’s Spanish operation in 1998, a company he stayed with for over 15 years.
From 2014, he worked for heavy lifting and exceptional transport company Siladen Solutions who have acted as agents for Wagenborg Nedlift, Roll-Lift and Hareket, amongst others.
Miguel says he is delighted to be joining ESTA, not just because he strongly supports its core values of European cooperation and harmonisation of standards, but because he is arriving at a key moment in ESTA’s development.
He said: “ESTA is committed to an international viewpoint from a strictly practical level and is also in the process of transforming itself into a bigger and more influential organisation.
“Industry and society are in a huge moment of change, both in terms of technology and politics, and ESTA will need to have the resources and expertise to respond to those challenges on behalf of our members.”
Two key issues are the problems of obtaining permits caused by unnecessary and often ill-informed local bureaucracy and training – both subjects that impact the industry’s efficiency and safety.
“An efficient, professional and common European system for issuing permits would have a huge impact on companies, clients and the general public, driving down costs and boosting safety.”
In addition, he is a big fan of ESTA’s attempts to establish the European Crane Operators Licence (ECOL) and the recently announced European Transport Operators Licence (ETOL).
“I think they are fantastic initiatives, and I have been very supportive of this work for many years. They are a route to ensure that we have a safe and attractive industry with common requirements across the European Union – which despite the word union does not always operate as if it is united.
“I believe that such widely supported qualifications will help us recruit the young men and women we will need in the future.”
Miguel is also clear that ESTA and the industry it serves need to resist any moves towards protectionism.
“Of course one has to be aware of the problems facing different sectors and companies.
“But when national organisations say that they do not want common regulations because they make it easier for outsiders to enter their markets, this is a typical protectionist approach, and it does not solve the problem they are trying to address.
“I firmly believe that protectionism does not help anyone at the end of the day as experience tells us that it slows the flow of new ideas, lowers standards, raises costs and ultimately the market and industry become weaker as a result.”
Looking forward to his work for ESTA, he concludes: “I am acutely aware of the great work that ESTA is already doing. I am continually surprised at the number of projects that ESTA has underway, given the limited resources available.
“But obviously, I am joining in the belief that I can contribute to, and speed up, that work and ESTA’s development and can make a significant difference.
“I am looking forward to it immensely.”