Participants examined how the lessons learned from Ukraine are redefining infrastructure requirements near NATO’s eastern border. The rapid restoration of a railway bridge, a transformer substation or a hospital depends critically on the immediate on-site availability of heavy equipment, compatible structural components and certified response teams, capabilities that cannot be mobilized within days in a crisis scenario.

“Ukraine has shown us that an asset is brought back into service by the capacity that exists before a crisis. Recovery depends on the equipment and crews already present in the territory, and full knowledge of how an asset works and how it fails stays with whoever built it. A state may hold every repair capability and still remain exposed if that knowledge sits under another jurisdiction. This makes the infrastructure industry a security capability, not just an economic one,” said Radu Pițurlea, CEO of Concelex and member of Atlantic Council’s Board of Directors.

Concelex put forward two proposals. The first is to add delivery capacity to the qualification criteria for strategic projects, alongside the existing financial and regulatory criteria. The second is to give priority to long-term, availability-based public-private partnerships along strategic corridors, where the region’s infrastructure companies are prepared to invest their own capital alongside transatlantic investors. So that both proposals can be verified, the company proposed a Strategic Infrastructure Index for NATO’s Eastern Flank, which would record who can build each asset, who can restore it, how quickly, and under which jurisdiction.

One of the event’s conclusions was that American investors see the Eastern Flank as one of the decade’s major investment opportunities, provided that projects come with clearly allocated risks and with local partners able to build and maintain them over the long term. In this context, the region’s infrastructure companies were approached as direct partners of transatlantic capital, and their delivery capacity as a criterion that should be measured and taken into account when strategic projects are assessed.

Alongside President Nicușor Dan, the event was attended by Minister of Finance Alexandru Nazare, Presidential Advisors Marius Lazurca (National Security and Foreign Policy) and Radu Burnete (Economic and Social Policy), and Romania’s Ambassador to the United States, Andrei Muraru. Also at the roundtable were the Washington-based ambassadors of several Central and Eastern European countries, diplomats with experience in the region, representatives of the U.S. International Development Finance Corporation (DFC), investment banks and global funds, and American and Romanian companies in energy, engineering and infrastructure.

The discussion was hosted by Frederick Kempe, Atlantic Council’s President and CEO, and moderated by Landon Derentz, the organization’s Vice President for Energy and Infrastructure.

“The partners the transatlantic relationship relies on matter today more than ever. Developments in the international environment are passed on through energy prices, transport routes, supply chains and the cost of capital, and they reach every project in this region. That is why infrastructure, energy and communications can no longer be planned country by country. They must be prioritized and integrated across borders,” said Frederick Kempe, President and CEO, Atlantic Council.

Concelex’s proposals will be further developed together with Atlantic Council, and participants agreed to continue the discussion at an event to be held in Bucharest.

The two appointments support Concelex’s current phase of accelerated growth and strengthen the company’s capabilities in strategy, organizational transformation, and business development.

“Concelex has reached a stage where the scale of the projects we manage and the company’s accelerated growth prospects require us to continuously strengthen our leadership team. Daniel and Carol bring complementary experience and a valuable perspective on how we build, organize, and prepare for the next stage of growth. They are professionals with a solid track record in their fields, and I am confident they will make a significant contribution to Concelex’s development in the coming years,” said Radu Pițurlea, Chairman and CEO, Concelex.

Daniel Spiridon spent more than 15 years at McKinsey & Company, where he rose through every stage of his career to become Managing Partner of the local office, leading complex strategic projects for top organizations in Romania and the region. He subsequently joined eMAG as VP Business Development and Strategy and, as CEO, led eMAG’s operations in Hungary. A graduate in economics, Daniel also holds a Master’s degree in International Business and Finance from BI Norwegian Business School. As Deputy CEO Strategy, Daniel will oversee the implementation of Concelex’s strategy, develop the Strategy and Transformation function, and be involved in developing and optimizing the company’s business portfolio, with the goal of strengthening its competitiveness and profitability.

Carol Șerban brings a rare combination for the local market: a construction engineering educational background paired with experience in international strategic consulting. A graduate of the Technical University of Civil Engineering Bucharest, he holds a Master’s degree in Structural Engineering from the University of Manchester and an MBA from the University of Oxford. He began his career in the UK, where he spent seven years civil and structural engineering and project management, before joining Kearney’s Romania office. He has also held the position of Commercial Director at Glovo Romania. As Director of Strategy and Transformation at Concelex, Carol will coordinate organizational transformation programs, with a focus on optimizing business processes, accelerating digitalization, and identifying strategic initiatives to support the company’s performance.

The two appointments come in a year in which Concelex has continued to win major projects in areas such as energy, infrastructure, and urban regeneration, and has budgeted a 70% year-on-year growth in revenues.

The project aims to achieve seismic reinforcement as well as improved energy efficiency, with a contract value of 98.6 million lei. Up to 90% of the funding comes from the National Program for the Consolidation of Buildings at High Seismic Risk, financed by the Ministry of Development, Public Works and Administration, and implementation is carried out by the Municipality of Bucharest through the Municipal Administration for the Consolidation of Buildings at Seismic Risk. The intervention seeks not only to secure a building at seismic risk class RsI, but also to preserve its architectural and cultural value and adapt it to current requirements for operation, safety and energy efficiency.

“By signing this contract, we are taking another concrete step forward in the Municipality of Bucharest’s seismic reinforcement program. No. 1 Schitu Măgureanu is a complex project, in which we must strike a balance between three essential objectives: seismic safety, protection of built heritage, and bringing the building up to current standards of operation and energy efficiency. We are not just reinforcing a structure, we are protecting a place that is part of Bucharest’s cultural and academic memory. For AMCCRS, the signing of the contract marks the beginning of a stage in which our responsibility is to ensure the investment is implemented rigorously, respecting quality, deadlines and the building’s architectural value.” — Răzvan Munteanu, Executive Director of the Municipal Administration for the Consolidation of Buildings at Seismic Risk.

“This is a special project, not only because of its technical complexity, but also because of the building’s architectural and cultural significance — for students, professors, actors, theatre lovers and the Bucharest community, as a whole. Our mission is to bring it up to modern standards of safety and energy efficiency while preserving its identity. Concelex’s experience with integrated solutions, as well as with similar projects, gives us the tools we need to manage a project of this scale.” — Cătălin Vișan, Deputy CEO, Concelex.

The project adds to a broad portfolio of reinforcement works; among the historic buildings Concelex has rehabilitated or has under way are the Mihai Eminescu building of the Bucharest University of Economic Studies, the Bacău Administrative Palace, the National Bank of Romania (BNR) branch in Galați, and Buildings A and B of the interwar building at 2 Boteanu Street. The company has also recently won the reinforcement project for the Dacia-România Palace (Pinacoteca).

The building on Schitu Măgureanu has a total floor area of over 11,800 sqm and involves a complex intervention: structural reinforcement, repair and restoration of architectural elements and artistic components, modernization of building systems, and the introduction of fire safety solutions. In addition, the works will cover thermal insulation, waterproofing, window and door replacement, and the installation of energy-efficient equipment, with an impact on energy consumption and greenhouse gas emissions. The project also involves partial demolitions, ground improvement works for the foundation, as well as utility connections and disconnections.

Through an integrated approach to the intervention — structural reinforcement, restoration, modernization of building systems and improved energy performance — the Municipality of Bucharest and AMCCRS aim for the investment to generate long-term benefits, both in terms of user safety and in terms of heritage preservation and reduced building operating costs.

Located at the intersection of Schitu Măgureanu Boulevard and Calea Plevnei, the building is one of the most important architectural landmarks of the Cișmigiu area, with a 100-year history. The complex was built in stages, with construction of the main building beginning in 1926 as the Palace of the League for the Cultural Unity of Romanians. Between 1950 and 1977, it housed the Institute of Theatrical and Cinematographic Art, and today it serves the “Lucia Sturdza Bulandra” Municipal Theatre and the University of Bucharest, with lecture halls, amphitheatre, library, archive and offices.

“Despite a year marked by economic and geopolitical volatility and unfavorable conditions for the construction market, which slowed our momentum, we recorded healthy growth — proving that we can make progress even in challenging environments. We maintain a positive outlook and are confident that, once Romania’s macroeconomic imbalances are corrected, the country’s economy will return to a solid trajectory and take its rightful place among the fastest-growing economies in Europe,” said Radu Pițurlea, Chairman & CEO, Concelex.

The company expects to continue growing at a sustained pace over the medium and long term and has budgeted for 2026 revenues over 70% higher than in 2025. This momentum will be supported by the accelerated implementation of projects in the context of PNRR program completion, as well as by contracts won in the first part of the year, which have consolidated Concelex’s position in sectors such as energy, infrastructure, and urban regeneration. The company was selected by Korea Hydro & Nuclear Power (KHNP) for a RON 253.5 million contract as part of the refurbishment project for Unit 1 of the Cernavodă Nuclear Power Plant. Concelex is part of the consortium designated as the winning bidder in the first quarter of the year for the extension of Metro Line M4 in Bucharest, the Eroii Revoluției — Gara Progresul section, a RON 4.38 billion project. The company also won in 2026 the contract for the rehabilitation and consolidation of the Bucur Obor overpass, valued at RON 109 million, which involves works such as reinforcing existing infrastructure, replacing the superstructure, and rehabilitating both lanes of traffic and the maintenance walkways. The recent portfolio also includes urban regeneration projects, such as the transformation of the Crasna River promenade in Şimleu Silvaniei into a modern, accessible, and sustainable public space, as well as the development of an 11 km mobility corridor integrating cycling lanes, pedestrian paths, and green spaces in the same city.   

Concelex has secured contracts worth EUR 3 billion, while the total pipeline for the next five years amounts to approximately EUR 5 billion. Among Concelex’s most significant ongoing projects are the construction of the Major Burns Care Center within the Grigore Alexandrescu Hospital in Bucharest, the Craiova Regional Emergency Hospital, and the Timişoara Regional Institute of Oncology — all carried out in consortium — as well as a new wing for the Constanța Emergency Clinical Hospital. The company is also carrying out, in consortium, works on the Prelungirea Ghencea boulevard extension, which primarily involves widening the boulevard to four traffic lanes and extending and modernizing the tram line.

“This transition reflects a natural evolution of roles. I will remain close to the team in a consultative and mentoring capacity, supporting the management and helping preserve the coherence and spirit that have defined our success so far. I am confident that, under Radu’s leadership, the company will continue to deliver essential projects for people and communities, building facilities that are necessary and truly useful in everyday life”, said Daniel Pițurlea, Founder President of Concelex.

Under the new leadership, the company continues to rely on the values that have shaped its development: respect, integrity, responsibility, and joy. With a background in economics and solid entrepreneurial experience, Radu Pițurlea aims to accelerate the company’s progress, emphasizing innovation and projects that respond to the transformations driven by emerging technologies.

“We have grown while staying true to the same principles that have guided us from the very beginning. Perhaps the most important of them is this: what we build must work so well that it removes worry for those who depend on it. Over time, we have aimed for our results to become synonymous with excellence in execution. Going forward, our plan is to take this mindset further and position ourselves as a European leader in infrastructure, investment, and construction — an institution recognized for quality, reliability, and character. We are pursuing expansion in areas that are relevant to the future of infrastructure and the evolution of the economy, including those where technology is reshaping how construction is done. These are the types of investments that will support the development in the coming decades and that genuinely change the way people live and work”, said Radu Pițurlea.

Concelex encompasses a team of over 3,000 employees and subcontractors and manages a nationwide portfolio that includes airport and road infrastructure, energy developments, and the construction and rehabilitation of public facilities such as hospitals, educational institutions, and administrative buildings. The company contributes to projects with major community impact, supporting improved quality of life through public-space modernization — from healthcare infrastructure to urban regeneration. Concelex’s current contracted project pipeline amounts to 3.1 billion dollars for the next five years.