“In February 2022, the first stone was laid, with half of the building being fully manufactured [...]. It is a project that has an investment of around 11 million euros, with the signature of the architect Mário Fernandes, which will be inaugurated later this year”.

In question is a complex, under construction next to the University of Minho Hub, in Guimarães, which includes a B&B Hotel with 95 rooms, 44 studios for rent and a commercial space.

The building, which uses engineered wood and a third of the concrete of a traditional building, is the first hybrid construction in the Iberian Peninsula, according to the group, which highlights that this alternative benefits the environment.

An official source from Casais said, in response to Lusa, that the four floors of the hotel need two months in the factory and about two weeks for assembly on site, with a traditional process taking approximately five months.

Economic savings

“The economic savings of this system can be observed on three fronts, in addition to reducing carbon emissions by around 60% and reducing the use of concrete by around 40%, the ability to reduce time, with lower financing costs and shipyard, a greater stabilization of material prices, since the respective supply takes place earlier in the contract and the minimization of errors due to a quality control in the factory and specialization of the employees involved”, he highlighted.

Among the individual components that will be prefabricated are ceiling panels, facade panels, pillars and structures.

In turn, the industrialized components are being manufactured at Blufab, an off-site construction unit of the Casais group, which supplies the works.

Half of the materials that are in the interiors of the building can be reused at the end of the life cycle.

According to the group, this hybrid construction also makes it possible to reduce waste by 70% and noise pollution by more than 50%.

Casais, which was created in 1958, operates in 17 countries and closed 2021 with an aggregate turnover of more than 527 million euros.