Developers in Granada see industrialized construction as an opportunity for the necessary “change of model” in the sector.

More comfortable, safe and qualified employment, less waste and CO2 emissions, faster and more efficient construction, among the advantages of a digitized prefabrication system that in Spain represents only 1.5% of the market.

The School of Building Engineering hosted this Friday a conference organized by the LIFE Wood for the Future project in which developers, builders, architects and public administrations participated.

Granada, September 13, 2024

Developers, builders, architects and technical architects participated this Friday, September 13, in the conference Industrialized sustainable construction. A driving industry for Andalusia, which has shown how this building system, which in Spain represents only 1.5% of the market, well below the most advanced countries in Europe, can solve some of the problems afflicting the construction sector, such as lack of labor or high carbon footprint.

The conference, organized by the LIFE Wood for Future/Madera para el Futuro project, was inaugurated at the School of Building Engineering of the University of Granada (UGR) by the vice-rector Montserrat Zamorano, who stressed that industrialized sustainable construction “is not a fad, a passing trend, but a paradigm shift”.

Juan de Dios Molinero, president of the Association of Builders and Developers (ACP) of Granada, stressed that the sector is currently facing new challenges, such as aging workforces and the lack of skilled labor to renew them, and a “distorted” market, with an insufficient supply of new and rental housing, which has driven up prices in many cities. Against this backdrop, Molinero stressed that sustainable industrialized construction, which substantially shortens construction times, reduces waste and water and energy consumption, and improves the quality of buildings, represents an opportunity to address the “change of model” that the sector must face.

In the same sense has expressed the delegate of Development, Articulation of the Territory and Housing of the Junta in Granada, Antonio Ayllón, who has also stressed that, by moving the bulk of the process of the work to the factory, industrialized construction reduces occupational accidents and creates highly skilled jobs. Ayllón, as well as the provincial delegate of Industry, Energy and Mines, Gumersindo Fernández, has underlined the Andalusian Government’s commitment to this construction system that will contribute to put more accessible and sustainable housing on the market. Thus, he recalled the collaboration agreement signed between the Agency for Housing and Rehabilitation of Andalusia (AVRA) and the UGR to support the creation of an industrial ecosystem of poplar and pine products through the construction of a social housing building for young people in the Tile of Granada, currently in the project phase.

The general director of Forestry Policy and Sustainability, José Ramón Pérez, has highlighted the paradox that Andalusia, with 40% of wooded area and a strong rural depopulation due to the abandonment of the work of the forest, imports wood from northern Spain and Europe. Perez has predicted “a revolution” once the regional Forestry Law comes into force, which abandons the “excessive protectionism” to promote sustainable forestry.

Andalusia brand wood

The coordinator of LIFE Wood for the Future, Antolino Gallego, explained that in industrialized construction elements of the work as walls, floors or facades are designed by technical engineering offices and made in the industry with digitized machines, so the assembly is much more accurate, fast and efficient. “Wood is an ideal raw material in this type of construction, not only because of its environmental advantages, but also because of its technical characteristics: it is flexible, resistant and easy to cut and shape according to needs,” he said.

Gallego pointed out that in Spain there are currently three factories producing wood products for building, all of them in northern Spain. However, while the supply of this type of elements has grown by 10%, demand has increased by 300%, largely thanks to the “colossal leap” undertaken by communities such as the Basque Country, Navarre and Catalonia, where wood has been incorporated as a material in public housing developments, as well as in libraries, schools and homes for the elderly.

In this regard, he stressed the need for Andalusia also have factories of these products to provide an outlet for the large amount of raw material that represent the forests, while providing an opportunity for green jobs for young people in rural areas and prevent large fires.

In this sense, the director of the Structural Wood Engineering Platform (Pemade) of the University of Santiago de Compostela, Manuel Guaita, recalled that in Galicia the turning point occurred with the demonstration building Impulso Verde, built with Galician pine by the City of Lugo, which led to the creation of the first industry in the sector in the region, and is confident that in the near future Andalusia also use wood kilometer 0 in construction.

 

Successful cases

Several success stories were presented at the conference, such as the PassivHaus-standard, energy self-sufficient single-family house built in Ogíjares and designed by the Granada firm Bonsái Arquitectos, the first to incorporate, in addition to cross-laminated timber (CLT), a poplar and pine floor slab manufactured as part of the LIFE project.

Fernando Larraza, from the Basque company Precom, presented a development of four blocks of apartments, two of them VPO, built with CLT panels and “without a gram of concrete” in Leiza (Navarra), whose structure was erected in just five weeks. Larraza also highlighted the versatility of wood in the rehabilitation of buildings, and gave as an example a 130-year-old residential building in which the idiosyncrasy of a former workers’ residence of Altos Hornos de Sestao (Vizcaya) was maintained.

José María Quirós, representative of Aedas Homes, explained that wood is a perfect material for industrialized construction due to its lightness – essential to reduce transportation costs – its virtues as a thermal insulator and its versatility in design.
-essential to reduce transportation costs, its virtues as a thermal insulator and its versatility in design. Quirós has emphasized that the cost reduction that this system allows reduces risks and increases profitability. Aedas Homes has built more than 5,000 homes with an industrialized system.

During the debate, the obstacles holding back the development of industrialized sustainable construction in Spain have also been highlighted, including financing problems, as some banks are reluctant to lend money for projects until the manufactured parts are assembled on site, or the lack of training of many architects on wood structures -curricula are outdated-, which makes it difficult for them to prescribe these materials. “There is a lot of misinformation from the public, developers and administrations,” said Francisco Martínez-Cañavate, secretary general of the ACP. As for price, some speakers assured that wood is currently competitive as a substitute for concrete and steel.

Prototype

During the day was presented in an exhibition in the gardens of the school, one of the first structural products of wood and concrete brand Andalusia, developed by Pemade and the Wood Research Unit (UIMA) of the UGR under the LIFE Wood for the Future project, which will be placed on the market through the spinoff of the UGR Iberolam Timber & Technology, germ of the first Andalusian industry in the industry. The MCLamBS slab prototype, measuring 25 square meters, is made up of 6-meter long prefabricated pieces made of laminated pine, poplar and fir wood beams and a concrete slab. Once the exhibition is over, it will be moved to the San Isidro Sugar Factory, where UIMA is headquartered.