The commitment to industrialized construction with poplar wood would contribute to decarbonization and stable and qualified employment.

The coordinator of the project, Antolino Gallego, emphasizes that it fits into the green revolution of the Strategic Alliance for Recovery, the so-called Martyrs’ Pact.

The Social Council of Granada organized this Thursday the presentation of ‘Benefits of poplar bioeconomy in Granada. Poplar wood for quality structural laminates: an industry of the future for the green revolution of Granada and its province’, by Antolino Gallego, professor of Applied Physics at the ETS of Building Engineering (ETSIE) of the University of Granada (UGR) and coordinator of LIFE Wood for Future/Madera para el Futuro, a project for the recovery of poplar groves in Granada and to promote a sustainable construction industry funded by the European Union’s LIFE program against climate change.

The president of the Social Council of Granada, Javier de Teresa, explained that the LIFE Wood for the Future proposal, which is already under development, is a good start for a cycle on “great projects that bring value to Granada”, which will continue with other informative meetings in the coming weeks.

Professor Gallego explained that the construction sector is currently facing major challenges, such as decarbonization, reducing its ecological footprint – energy, water, pollution, recycling, etc – in all its phases, digitalization, staff training and the shortage of skilled workers. According to the Provincial Builders Association, the sector has a shortage of 2,500 skilled workers in the province. In addition, it is a highly masculinized and not very inclusive sector.

In this context, he pointed out, the new paradigm of industrialized construction, in which all the elements of the work -walls, slabs or entire houses- are designed by engineering and architecture technical offices and are millimetrically elaborated in the industry with digitized machines assisted by numerical control, is opening the way. In this way, most of the process takes place in an industrial environment and the actual work itself is very fast and efficient, since it is reduced to assembling previously manufactured parts.

The advantages are economic -costs are reduced by manufacturing identical parts for different structures-, technical -quality control is very high- and labor-related, since industrial employment is more stable, comfortable and inclusive. In this sense, Gallego recalled, this model favors the incorporation into the labor market of people regardless of their gender or functional diversity.

The ETSIE professor pointed out that wood is an ideal raw material in industrialized construction, not only because of its environmental advantages – its production has a negative carbon footprint, compared to concrete or steel – but also because of its technical characteristics: it is flexible, resistant and easy to cut and mold according to needs.

To promote sustainable construction based on zero kilometer poplar wood, he stressed, it is necessary to create an ecosystem with the participation of all the agents involved -foresters, plantation management companies, sawmills, the laminate industry, operator and technician training, developers and builders- with the essential support of public administrations.

“LIFE Wood for Future will foster cooperation between actors along the entire value chain,” Gallego stressed. Some milestones in this process, such as the union of forest owners, are underway, with the constitution of a Group of Poplar Owners that already brings together more than 70 foresters and more than a thousand hectares of plots to produce quality certified wood. The next steps are the training of architects and engineers for the design and execution of buildings with wood and the transfer of knowledge from the universities of Granada and Santiago de Compostela (partners of LIFE Wood for the Future) and the Institute of Agricultural and Fisheries Research of the Andalusian Government (IFAPA, project partner) to industrialists and investors interested in this local business opportunity.

Gallego concluded that the poplar bioeconomy perfectly meets the aims of the Strategic Alliance for the Recovery of Granada (Pacto de los Mártires), which pursues among other objectives to work for a green Granada with the challenge of facing the ecological transition; develop a productive model based on the knowledge industry; modernize the most traditional sectors of the productive fabric; and work for the achievement of stable and quality employment in all economic sectors of the province, paying special attention to the most vulnerable people.

The event at the Escuela Técnica Superior de Ingeniería de Edificación, presented by its director, Juan Manuel Santiago, and open to the public, was attended by members of the advisory group and the various working groups of the Social Council of Granada, a forum for dialogue and a consultative and participatory body for the social agents of the municipality, including representatives of the municipal corporation, social entities, trade unions, business organizations, professional associations and neighborhood groups.

LIFE Wood for Future/Madera para el Futuro, which has obtained funding from the LIFE Program of the European Union [LIFE 20 CCA/ES/001656] for the environment and climate action, is integrated by the University of Granada, the Provincial Council, the Confederation of Organizations of Foresters of Spain, the University of Santiago de Compostela and the spinoff 3edata.