Fairs usually show trends that do not always consolidate. In the case of Construmat, the show dedicated to the construction sector organized by Fira de Barcelona that started yesterday, it has been a few editions that expose a new method of building, the industrialized one. In short, it consists of making the parts of a building in a workshop or factory and then assembling them on the ground. This practice started some time ago with single-family homes. But in the area of Gran Via de l’Hospitalet de Llobregat it is shown that it is spreading to high-rise buildings. In other words, industrialized construction no longer only builds houses but also builds blocks of flats.
“Yes, they are making flats with industrialized construction”, confirms the director general of the Institut de Tecnologia dela Construcció de Catalunya (Itec), Francisco Diéguez. “First we started with single-family houses, then we moved on to some constructions of three heights and now we make blocks of five or six heights, even some eight”, he says about the evolution of this method.
“Clearly, this practice will go further soon”, Diéguez considers. “The sector suffers from a lack of qualified labor and industrialized construction offers better working conditions. In the future, robots will appear that will lower the cost of production and, in addition, less time is required”, argues the director general of Itec.
At Construmat you can see various business experiences in this regard. One is that of the PMP group, with different lines of business in industrialized construction, from delivering turnkey homes to collaborating with traditional builders to do only the interiors or the envelopes. “The evolution towards blocks of flats should have started a few years ago, but the covid pandemic delayed it”, explains Júlia Camats, marketing director of the Lleida company, immersed in erecting a residential building in Calella de Palafrugell.
“There has been a chip change. Before, the client perceived that industrialized construction was of lower quality. Now they relate it to the opposite. And also with more sustainability and a lower price”, reaffirms the architecture director of the PMP group, Míriam Sánchez. They are also taking care of the interiors of a large block of flats in the Finestrelles neighborhood of Esplugues de Llobregat. Sánchez describes this construction method graphically: “It’s like assembling an Ikea wardrobe”.
Also present at Construmat, which will last until tomorrow, is the firm Evowall. With Roig, he is embarking on building his first industrialized multi-family development. These are two blocks of seven floors in the Garriga. “It will have positive energy. In other words, it will create more energy than it will consume”, explains Gemma Anguera, from the commercial department of this company.
The promotion of the Garriga is part of the Horizon Europe program, promoted by the European Union to encourage research and innovation in the construction sector, focusing on energy efficiency and sustainability. “Four examples have been chosen throughout Europe. We are one of them”, boasts Anguera.
Beyond this trend, at Construmat you can discover all kinds of innovations related to the world of construction. For example, in the new materials space, it is shown how date or olive nuts can have a second life in this sector. Some of these ideas will have continuity and others will not.