Euroconstruc, the construction and developer group chaired by Xavier Vilajoana, celebrates its fiftieth anniversary this year with a milestone: having grown to reach 33 million in turnover, focusing on the promotion of social housing.
In the last fifteen years the group has built 2,181 officially protected homes (VPO), 70% of the 3,148 it has built in that period. “We are builders, and we realized that in a sector like VPO we were more competitive because we had greater control of costs. With the sales price set, a small deviation in costs in these homes is devastating for a developer,” explains Vilajoana, who also presides over the Association of Promoters and Builders of Catalonia (APCE). Euroconstruc now has a social housing development in Alicante and another in the pipeline in Cerdanyola del Vallès.
Euroconstruc was born in 1974 as the construction company of the developer Confort and was able to survive the bankruptcy that in 1993 ended with that firm, with which it only shared some shareholders. The company is now owned by the Vilajoana family and Ramón Torné (Confort group) and Joan Coll. Some of the group's greatest works are from that stage, such as the Maremagnan in Barcelona or the Bankpime building.
The construction activity continues to contribute the bulk of the group's turnover (20 million euros), while 2 million correspond to the marketing activity carried out by its subsidiary Gesció i Garantia and the rest to the promotion, carried out by the company Balec projectes Immobiliaris.
Last year the group delivered 110 apartments, with the largest developments in Barcelona and Cerdanyola del Vallès, and this year it plans to deliver another hundred, the majority in Cerdanyola and Badalona. In total, Vilajoana points out, the group has 200 homes underway, with developments in Barcelona (Sant Andreu, Via Julia and Gràcia), Badalona, Polinyà and Cornellà.
The company has also worked in Madrid and the Canary Islands, and resorted to internationalization to overcome the real estate crisis of 2008, but now focuses the majority of its activity in Catalonia. “We had promotions in Brazil, Miami (United States), Morocco, Algeria and other South American countries. But we are a medium-sized company, with little structure, and that meant great personal wear and tear for the managers, and especially for me. Each country, furthermore, is a world, and it is not easy to adapt to local regulations and practices, so in the end it was not such a good deal either,” he summarizes. Euroconstruc has a staff of 35 workers.
Vilajoana foresees that the group's growth will continue to be linked to the development activity. “Construction leaves us with a margin of 7%, due to the pressure of costs, industrialists, and developers,” which is why a large part of its activity focuses on building the group's own homes.
The manager is cautious about the increase in the promotion of social housing, despite the announcements from public administrations. “VPO rental is promoted but this activity has a very low profitability and high interest rates often make it unviable.” In his opinion, in addition, many town councils propose unrealistic projects, impossible for a private developer to make profitable. “Many contests remain deserted,” he laments.
