Fairs usually show trends that are not always consolidated. In the case of Construmat, the show dedicated to the construction sector organized by Fira de Barcelona that started this Tuesday, for some editions it has been exposing a new building method, the industrialized one. In short, it consists of making the pieces of a building in a workshop or factory and then assembling them on the ground. This practice started a while ago with single-family homes. But in the Gran Via de l’Hospitalet de Llobregat area it is shown that it is spreading to high-rise buildings. That is to say, industrialized construction no longer only makes houses but also builds apartment blocks.
“Yes, apartments are being built with industrialized construction,” confirms the general director of the Institute of Construction Technology of Catalonia (Itec), Francisco Diéguez. “First they started with single-family houses, then they moved on to some three-story buildings and now they are making blocks of five or six stories, even some of eight,” he says, explaining the evolution of this method.
“Clearly, this practice will become more common soon,” says Diéguez. “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 general director of Itec.
In Construmat you can see several business experiences in this sense. One is that of the PMP group, with different lines of business in industrialized construction, from delivering turnkey homes to collaborating with traditional construction companies to make only the interiors or the envelopes. “The evolution towards apartment blocks had to begin a few years ago, but the Covid pandemic delayed it,” says Júlia Camats, marketing director of the Ilerda company, immersed in erecting a residential building in Calella de Palafrugell.
“There has been a change of chip. Before, the client perceived that industrialized construction was of lower quality. Now they relate it to the complete opposite. And also with more sustainability and a lower price,” reaffirms the architecture director of the PMP group, Míriam Sánchez. They are also in charge of the interiors of a large apartment block in the Finestrelles neighborhood of Esplugues. Sánchez describes this construction method in a graphic way: “It’s like putting together an Ikea closet.”
Also present at Construmat, which will last until Thursday, is the firm Evowall. Together with Roig, he is embarking on building his first multi-family development in an industrialized way. These are two seven-story blocks in La Garriga. “It will have positive energy. That is, it will create more energy than it will consume,” explains Gemma Anguera, from the firm’s commercial department.
The promotion of La 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,” Anguera boasts.
Beyond this trend, at Construmat you can learn about all kinds of innovations related to the world of construction. For example, in the new materials space it is exposed how date or olive pine nuts can have a second life in this sector. Some of these ideas will continue and others will not.
