Congress

The European requirement for the decarbonisation of the building stock by 2050 is a requirement that entails a transformation of the industry and, in general, the construction and maintenance of habitability. The conference intends to map out the main lines of force for industry's transformation to face this challenge.

The Madrid Río Project, covering an area of more than 150 hectares, includes the reorganisation, urban design and landscaping of the new public park; 6 hectares of public, sports, social and artistic facilities; an urban beach; children's playgrounds; the restoring of the river's water heritage; and 12 new pedestrian walkways. With this intervention, the city of Madrid is once again an integral part of the river's landscape.

A 27,600 m2 Saltoki Group building designed in accordance with the most demanding energy efficiency criteria, as reflected in the installation of 1,863 photovoltaic solar panels, the monitoring of the energy distribution and storage, the zero consumption of fossil fuels, the integration of construction solutions based on energy use (surrounding façade with solar panels), the incorporation of electric vehicle charging, the air conditioning/ACS system powered by the building’s renewable energies and the HCL lighting.

Selected by El País' Babelia magazine as one of the 5 best buildings in the world in 2022, the Trinitat Community Life Centre complements the space needs of the neighbourhood's small homes. A wooden building where people feel at home. The interior is organised around a central stairwell and two courtyards that act as large air ducts, providing light and ventilation.

Wood is a warm material in a hostile urban environment. It sequesters CO₂ throughout its lifetime, resulting in a very low carbon footprint. With the exception of the foundations, the entire structure was assembled dry. A steel skeleton was erected in conjunction with the CLT structure to optimise the overall weight of the structure. The result is a building with a very low environmental impact in terms of carbon footprint and virtually zero energy consumption.

Companies in the construction industry are developing a range of environmental sustainability strategies and projects, applied to both their products and production processes, to minimise their impact on the use of materials, reduce their water and energy footprints, and apply waste recovery strategies in new products. This also requires new methods to certify and transparently communicate this information throughout the value chain. This round table will analyse the different ways to establish clear sustainability parameters through Life Cycle Assessment, Environmental Product Declarations (EPDs) and eco-design measures to reduce the environmental footprint of materials and construction processes.

The Next Generation Fund is a €3.4 billion opportunity for the construction industry to boost building renovation and energy efficiency projects in the country's 26 million existing homes. While new construction (100,000 homes per year) already incorporates the best standards of energy efficiency and sustainability, the country's ageing housing stock has great potential for improvement and is the transformative improvement lever for sustainable industry impact. As a result of the work of the industry's professional associations in the Ministry's working group, various websites, guides and building renovation offices have been developed to facilitate the presentation of projects and the transfer of these European funds to building renovation projects that can be rapidly scaled up in the short term, if all the necessary mechanisms are activated and a joint effort is made to seize this opportunity.

Energy rehabilitation, at the forefront of today and in recent years on the lips of all of us in the rehabilitation industry, is one of the great pending matters in this country. More than 80% of the building stock in Spain is in deficient conditions in terms of energy efficiency, being responsible for more than 30% of CO₂ emissions into the atmosphere. In addition, the rise in the price of energy suffered in the last year increases the urgency of society to catch up on this matter. This conference will present the real case of a community of owners of 51 homes in the municipality of Tarrega that has made the decision to address the problem of their homes globally, launching a comprehensive rehabilitation project for the building.

The platform offers an inter-sectoral look at the different scales of the reality of housing and opens up opportunities to promote public-private partnerships.

Developed by the 300,000 Km/s consultancy firm for the UIA 2022 International Forum - Affordable Housing Activation: Removing Barriers - it’s now amplifying its potential with data from Mitma initiatives and statistics, including the Housing and Land Observatory, the State Rental Price Reference System and the Urban Areas atlases.

It collects data from official sources and others that have been dispersed and non-standardised until now, allowing them to be crossed and visualised on the basis of the six barriers to access to decent, adequate and affordable housing:

- Misalignments of policies and regulations

- Financing of urban design and development

- Promotion and production

- Prosperity and trend

At Telefónica Tech we provide a wide range of solutions in the field of Smart Cities for different sectors. Thanks to the Heritage Conservation solution, it is possible to monitor all the parameters that affect the preservation of heritage assets, pivoting towards preventive conservation that minimizes deterioration by monitoring the risks that affect a cultural asset. The Walls of Ávila benefit from this type of conservation thanks to the project carried out by Telefónica together with the Santa María la Real Historical Heritage Foundation.

ALOKABIDE is a state-owned company that is accountable to the Basque Government for the performance of the social function of housing through rental policy, and TECNALIA is a research and technological development centre that is part of the BRTA (Basque Research and Technology Alliance). BIKIA was created with the aim of defining the strategic lines for the digitalisation of the social housing management model, focusing on creating the methodology and architecture for the development of the social housing digital twin. Bikia focuses on three fundamental pillars: BIM Social, BMS Social and the architecture of the digital twin itself. Its main aim is to promote sustainability through more intelligent use of resources, to improve users' quality of life and to provide management with an integral and holistic view of the building stock.

The Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia (IAAC) presents the first building in Spain made from clay and a 3D printer. The project is the result of IAAC's ongoing research into new ways of addressing the social and environmental challenges of the future through its various education and research programmes. The prototype, built at the Valldaura Labs facility, represents a bridge between the past - vernacular earthen architecture - and the future - large-scale 3D printing technology - that will not only serve to transform the architecture of the future, but will also be of great use in addressing the current climate and housing crises around the world.

EXISTING BUILDING BOOK/BUILDING PASSPORT: Current state of conservation. Maintenance management. Plan, programme and monitoring. Analysis of the potential for improvement of the building’s performance. Organisation of actions to achieve the building’s potential for improvement. Innovative diagnostic strategies for the building stock to facilitate measures for rehabilitation, regeneration and urban renewal. The 3R strategies encompass all the disciplines required to guarantee conservation, accessibility and maintenance geared towards sustainability from 2030-2050.

Coordinated by TECNALIA, the Hephaestus initiative "Highly automatEd PHysical Achievements and PerformancES using cable roboTs Unique Systems" aims to create new solutions in the construction industry, particularly in relation to façades and the work that needs to be carried out when installing or maintaining this part of the building. The aim of Hephaestus is to improve the automation of the construction process for the installation and maintenance of façades, as well as to introduce robotics into the world of construction in order to improve the quality of the final products, increase the speed of installation and reduce the risks associated with the installation of this type of system.

The challenges posed to companies by the criteria of the European Taxonomy and standardised evaluation systems such as Level(s) are met by the application of the methodology, tools and databases developed by ITeC.

The current digitalisation of the industry requires each operator to assume part of its responsibility in calculating the impact of works, both in the building and civil engineering industries. Various examples of the application of the digitisation of these data are presented in order to respond to the objectives to be achieved with regard to the regulations in force.

A good use of reference databases throughout the value chain of the design and execution of a project and a work significantly improves its development.

The main objective of POWERTWIN is to improve the performance of buildings by creating an intelligent cyber-physical ecosystem with low human intervention (largely automated) to transform them into energy efficient, sustainable and wellness-friendly buildings, while ensuring compliance with European nZEB and Level(s) standards. The model will be suitable for adaptation and replication in other buildings.

ASHVIN is a project that aims to deliver a digital platform that is fully prepared for digital twin coordination and interoperable with a wide range of engineering designs and applications in the construction industry. At the same time, the IoT integration of a wide range of sensors (including photogrammetric sensors) will enable effective synchronisation between physical and virtual models with a range of decision support tools. This digital twin aims to significantly improve the productivity of the European construction industry, which has been growing at just 1% per year for the past two decades, and reduce associated costs.

The STC makes it possible to calculate the construction process of the structure in 3D, not only "a posteriori" during the construction, but also during the design phase. In particular, there is an increasing trend to increase the thickness of the floor to carry the same design loads as before, and to replace lightweight floor types with other solid slab types with higher dead weights, without considering the implications of this.

This round table aims to address the labour shortage in the construction industry from a perspective that focuses on innovative solutions that take into account the whole market. The shortage of workers, technicians and managers is a structural problem that has already been clearly diagnosed (loss of trades, lack of generational replacement, lack of young people and women, loss of talent to other industries or abroad, etc.). However, the challenge ahead is to find imaginative and innovative solutions to respond to this problem.

Since the end of the 20th century, the construction industry has begun to lean towards industrialized systems, forgotten in the past decades, due to the need to achieve fast-construction and highly energy-efficient homes, adding to the growing concern for the environment and sustainability. These systems have been part of the global construction tradition for more than a century. To find its origins we have to go back to the first documented cases, from before the middle of the 19th century. Spain is currently heading towards a greener path and buildings built with wood are beginning to stand out, with the LA MOLA project, built in Barcelona, ​​the first home in Europe to achieve the double Passivhaus Premium and GBCe 5 GREEN sheets certification.

Evowall has been selected to be part of the European Consortium Ren+Homes (horizon Europe), in collaboration with ITEC, with the aim of comparing Positive Consumption pilot buildings in different parts of Europe, i.e. buildings with very low energy demand, with a reduction in the consumption of raw materials and water, and with all needs met by clean energy in the building itself.

The Evowall and ITEC Project is a multi-family building of 1,500 m2 and 3 storeys, to be built in La Garriga (Vallès Occidental) between 2023 and 2024, with the aim of creating a Passive House (N-zero) and PEB (Positive Energy Building) that will allow the implementation of sustainable industrialisation in the market, thus achieving the objectives of climate neutrality.

Guided by the principles of speed of execution and low environmental impact, the 974 Stadium for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar was created using elements, including 974 containers, that can be dismantled and reused in other sports facilities. Every element used in the construction followed a rigorous standardisation process and was coded and identified by industry, level or orientation to streamline transport, storage and assembly. The structure is designed as a large-scale "Meccano" system, following the principles of serialisation with prefabricated slabs and metal supports, reversibility with bolted or dry joints, and sustainability with the use of recycled steel.

Industrialised high-rise prefabricated concrete building with a construction system of load-bearing panels, slabs, façades, basements and integrated communication cores. Built area of 26000 m2 and 6 building heights. Its volume and construction system make it a milestone in Spain, at a time when all the players in the residential industry are moving towards industrialised systems for their efficiency, quality, digitalisation and sustainability.

Located in the Poblenou industrial area, the current strategic innovation hub in the city of Barcelona, on a lozenge-shaped plot between the streets of Badajoz and Ávila, the BADAVILA project is born from the fascination of "Taylorisation", which allows us to change the paradigm and move from traditional construction to a new Industry 4.0 of construction, while honouring the industrial memory of the site and seeking to bring out the poetics behind industrialised off-site construction.

The main innovation in this project, at the structural level, is the development of an off-site system, designed by GCA Architects in collaboration with BIS Structures, of pre-stressed 'T' slabs which, when subjected to compressive stresses after the concrete has been poured and cured, allow us to achieve quality at source and a reduction in assembly times (350 m2/day).

In just 20 weeks and thanks to the use of off-site and modular construction solutions, between September 2020 and February 2021 five new annexes were built in the Bellvitge University Hospital, the Parc Sanitari Pere Virgili Hospital, the Arnau de Vilanova University Hospital in Lleida, the Moisés Broggi Hospital, and the Germans Trias i Pujol University Hospital of Badalona. It is a firm commitment of the Catalan Health Service which demonstrates the positive impact of collaboration, innovation and talent in the construction industry, focusing on meeting essential social needs and challenges.

Industrialised construction brings together a range of smart manufacturing and automation techniques, including prefabrication and off-site construction practices. Its main benefits include streamlining the construction process, cost reduction, improved security and quality, increased productivity, greater control and efficiency, flexibility in design and adaptation to the client's needs, and the involvement of groups traditionally under-represented in the industry. The session brings together a range of specialists with extensive experience of industrialised construction solutions and projects to discuss the challenges and prospects of industrialising construction today.

The BIM as a springboard towards the future of the construction industry. In this discussion panel, we will talk with leading experts and members of our faculty board on the strategies and challenges of digitalisation in the construction industry. In order for companies to get that competitive edge, they need to make a full digital transformation. To do so, the aim of this round-table discussion is to start a conversation among experts who will share their knowledge and viewpoints. From different perspectives, we will try to analyse the current state of digitalisation and what the great challenges are to be faced in the future.

The session brings together representatives of the construction value chain to discuss the role of women in each of the actors involved in construction projects: Industrialists, Site Management, Project Management, Construction Management, Contracting and Management. In this space for reflection, participants will address some of the most important questions about the role of women in construction today, such as: Why are there so few women in the construction industry? What are the barriers to entry? What is the experience of these women in each part of the value chain? How do they behave in such a male-dominated environment?

Cities cover 3% of the planet's surface and account for over 60% of its population, resource consumption and waste generation. Therefore, in order to improve the sustainability of human activity, the cities and public spaces of tomorrow must be conceived and designed as a tool for transformation, offering a better future for people and the planet. This is why the closing session of Construmat aims to look to the future, to how engineering and architecture can design infrastructures and public spaces that promote the liveability of cities, reconciling the well-being of all their inhabitants and their environment as much as possible.