We are currently immersed in a special project in Palma, Majorca’s capital, an initiative that will represent a further milestone in our trajectory: the construction of the Balearic Islands’ tallest wooden multifamily building and the first in the region to be in the process of obtaining Passivhaus certification.
The building, designed by the architect Joan Bonet Cifre, has four floors, each with the same number of housing units. It stands on a plot between party walls in the district of El Molinar. Egoín Monterey pine, sustainably sourced from forests in the Pyrenees, is being used for the CLT structure of the entire surface area (552 m2).
This highly efficient building system has allowed for the structure to be assembled in just 11 working days. In addition to speeding up the construction process, this material also delivers other technical characteristics such as lightness, durability and resistance, as well as its widely-acknowledged benefits as a thermal and sound insulator or its capacity to regulate humidity levels.
37 Olympic-sized swimming pools of CO2
Wood has a low carbon footprint in comparison with other conventional materials. It is also the only raw material that absorbs carbon whilst growing and stores it once the building work is completed. A cubic metre of installed wood is estimated to extract from the atmosphere and immobilise a ton of CO2 during the building’s useful life. A total of 186.3 cubic metres of wood have been used in the building in El Molinar, thereby saving the equivalent number of tons of CO2, enough to fill 37 Olympic-sized swimming pools (50 x 25 x 2 metres).
Passivhaus
The multifamily building in El Molinar is the tallest wooden building in the Balearic Islands, and is also set to become the first apartment block to receive Passivhaus certification.
This quality seal, issued by the Passive House Institute in Germany, is internationally recognised as the strictest building energy efficient standard. Passivhaus buildings consume between 75% and 90% less energy than conventional constructions. Furthermore, the application of this standard guarantees top quality building systems and user wellbeing.
In previous posts we have discussed the benefits of combining Passivhaus standards and wood in the fight against climate change.
At the cutting edge of sustainable construction systems in the Balearic Islands
The wooden building in El Molinar is a landmark initiative for House Habitat, in line with previous projects such as the five-storey building in Barcelona’s Gracia district or the four-storey multifamily building in Sants, another of the city’s neighbourhoods.
We are also currently involved in the construction of a pioneering building at the forefront of sustainability and energy efficiency in the Balearic Islands, in line with an earlier project carried out in 2016: Can Tanca is a single family home on the island of Ibiza, an international reference in sustainable construction and only the fifth home in the world to receive Passivhaus Premium certification.
We are planning further projects in these much-loved islands, where we trust we can continue to work on the construction of buildings that will spearhead sustainable building methods that will continue to attract the attention of all the leading local media, like TVE Baleares, IB3 TV or Diario de Mallorca.
