KERAKOLL INDUSTRIAL UNIT NOMINATED FOR THE BUILD 2022 AWARDS
The Kerakoll industrial unit has been nominated for the Construir 2022 Awards, a competition organized by the CONSTRUIR newspaper. The Kerakoll project, designed by ad quadratum arquitectos, is competing in the “Architecture – Best private project” category.
For the 15th consecutive year the CONSTRUIR newspaper is distinguishing the initiative and merit of those who consecrate and work daily for good practices in the construction sector. This edition has 105 nominees, divided into four categories: Architecture, Engineering, Construction and Real Estate. For the nomination, CONSTRUIR evaluated the work developed throughout the period under consideration (January 1, 2021 and September 30, 2022); innovation capacity, media visibility, national and/or international distinctions, official statistical data, among other criteria.
The voting takes place online, on the awards website ( premios.construir.pt/2022/), until 6pm on November 17. The right to vote is reserved to subscribers of the CONSTRUIR newsletter already registered before the announcement of the nominees and to premium subscribers of CONSTRUIR, also already registered before the announcement of the nominees.
The winners will be announced at an event to be held on November 21, at the Cineteatro Capitólio, in Lisbon, at 21h30.
KERAKOLL’S INDUSTRIAL UNIT HAS BEEN RECOGNIZED FOR ITS ARCHITECTURAL VALUE
It should be noted that this architectural project was also among the finalists for the “Prémio Nacional do Imobiliário” this year, a competition organized by the Magazine Imobiliário. The Kerakoll project competed in the “Collective Equipment” category and was also nominated for the Excellence in Efficiency & Sustainability Award. It ended up with an honorable mention.
And even more recently, it was on the list for the 4th edition of the “Prémios do Imobiliário“, organized by SIC Notícias and the weekly newspaper Expresso, where it competed in the categories “Best new construction project – Offices”, “Interior Architecture in the categories – Offices” and “Sustainability in the categories – Sustainable Construction/Architecture”.
Also this year it was present in the “Prémios Verdes” competition, organized by VISÃO magazine and the Águas de Portugal Group, in the category Sustainable Architecture Award.
AN ARCHITECTURAL PROJECT THAT RESPECTS THE ENVIRONMENT
The architectural project respects the standards of sustainability and energy saving that are characteristic of the industrial footprint of the Italian brand, which is now an international leader in the GreenBuilding world with solutions that respect the environment and people. This is the first production facility in Portugal owned by Kerakoll, an international leader in the sustainable construction sector. The plant is located in the Rio Maior Business Park in the district of Santarém.
With an investment of over 11 million Euros and the involvement of a team specialized in the various areas involved, the new Rio Maior plant was built in less than a year: it covers a total area of 19,000 m2, 6,600 m2 of which covered, and has a production capacity of around 60,000 tons/year.
The industrial project aimed to build a unit with manufacturing, warehousing, administrative and social areas, technical and logistical areas, having as a common denominator in all areas of intervention the focus on environmental sustainability.
Thus, 900 m2 of thermal insulation systems and 443 photovoltaic panels were installed in this unit, which guarantee the annual production of 55% of the electrical energy and 70% of the hot water required.
This project was also guided by a diverse set of other environmental investments, such as noise and dust mitigation measures, energy production from renewable sources (photovoltaic), and the extensive use of plants in gardens and facades as passive and sustainable solar and thermal control measures.
THE PROJECT FORESAW AN ADEQUATE FORMAL AND FUNCTIONAL RELATIONSHIP WITH THE SURROUNDINGS
Based on his experience of over 20 years of design and by a practice of rigor in all his work, José António Lopes, the architect responsible for the architectural project of this new unit, designed a project where all the urbanistic and regulatory constraints were duly observed.
“Besides the generic framing in the Rio Maior Municipal Master Plan, the pretension found a special framing in the Lotting resulting from the Detailed Plan of the Rio Maior Business Park, observing exhaustively and rigorously all its applicable constraints”, refers architect José António Lopes, CEO of ad quadratum arquitectos.
“The plant is located near the Atlantic coast, in a strategic position for the supply of raw materials such as sand, calcium carbonate and cement, allowing road traffic to be reduced, in line with the company’s sustainable vocation,” notes José António Lopes, also an urban planner and author of strategic land-use planning studies.
The building complex is mostly composed of a first floor (storage/manufacturing building), excluding the East top which integrates administrative areas to support production with two floors (first floor and floor) and the West top which houses the reception, training, commercial and administrative areas with three floors (first floor and two floors). The entire building complex does not exceed the maximum height of 15 meters, and in fact the dominant height is 11.50 meters.
The new Portuguese factory, part of the Kerakoll Group’s 2020 industrial development plan, strengthens the Group’s presence on the Iberian Peninsula, where it is already active with two production sites in Spain, one in Almazora and the other in Castellón de la Plana. “Portugal is the ninth country where Kerakoll has strengthened its presence with a production plant: it is a particularly interesting market due to its potential for economic growth and the dynamics in prospect, particularly in the construction sector, thanks also to the results obtained in the fight against povid-19 with a high percentage of the population vaccinated”, said Andrea Remotti, Managing Director of the Kerakoll Group.