THE FIRST INDUSTRIAL UNIT FROM KERAKOLL IN PORTUGAL
Kerakoll, an international leader in the sustainable construction industry, recently opened its first production unit in Portugal in Rio Maior, Santarém on the city’s Business Park. The architectural plan, from ad quadratum arquitectos practice, respects the sustainability and energy saving patterns that are part of Kerakoll’s tradition: this brand is currently an international leader in the world of GreenBuilding with solutions which acknowledge the environment and the people.
With an investment of over 11 million euros and the involvement of a specialised team in the different intervention areas, the industrial unit in Rio Maior was built in less than a year: it has a total surface of 19.000 m2 of which 6.600 m2 are indoors, and has a production capacity of around 60.000 ton/year.
A SUSTAINABLE ARQUITECTURE PROJECT WITH AD QUADRATUM ARQUITECTOS PRACTICE’S SIGNATURE
This industrial nature project, aimed to build a unit with manufacturing, storage and administrative functions as well as social, technical and logistics areas, having as a common denominator the focus on environmental sustainability.
In this unit 900 m2 of thermic isolation and 443 solar panels were installed which account for an annual energy production of 55% and 70% of the necessary hot water.
This project was also grounded by a series of other environmental concerns like the measurements for sound and dust mitigation, the energy production from renewable sources and the extensive use of plants in gardens, façades as passive and sustainable measurements for solar and thermic control.
THE PROJECT ANTECIPATED AN ADEQUATE RELATIONSHIP BOTH FORMAL AND FUNCTIONAL WITH ITS SURROUNDINGS
Based on its 20 years of experience and a rigorous practice in every work, José António Lopes, the architect responsible for this unit’s project, drew an architectural project where each urbanistic and legal elements where carefully and adequately examined.
«In addition to the generic framework of the municipal master plan for the city of Rio Maior, the claim found a special framework in the allotment resulting from the Detailed Plan of Rio Maior’s Business Park, examining rigorously and extensively all its elements and applicable condition» said José António Lopes, ad quadratum arquitectos’ CEO.
«The unit is situated next to the Atlantic cost in a strategic position for obtaining raw materials like sand, calcium carbonate, and concrete, allowing a traffic reduction, in line with the sustainable ethos of this Italian company» stated José António Lopes, also urban planner and author of strategic studies on territorial planning and development.
The building includes a ground floor (where one can find the storage and manufacturing department). The administrative, commercial and training areas are dispersed between three floors (ground, first and second floor). The building, in its entirety, does not exceed the CÉRCEA dimension of 15 meters being the dominant CÉRCEA 11,5 meters.
This unit in Portugal, part of an industrial development plan Kerakoll stablished in 2020, enhances the company’s presence in the Iberian Peninsula where it is already some relevancy with its two production units in Spain (Almazora and Castellón de la Plana). «Portugal is the ninth country where Kerakoll installs a production unit: it is a particularly interesting market for its economic growth potential and for its dynamics namely in the construction industry (due to the results obtained in the fight against covid, with a high vaccination percentage)», says Andrea Remotti, the delegate administrator of Kerakoll’s group.
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