In just nine days, the Casais Group finished assembling the entire structure of a student residence in Valença, responding to the growing housing needs of the student community there. The residence will serve the School of Business Sciences (ESCE), a tertiary educational centre in Valença which falls under the aegis of the Polytechnic Institute of Viana do Castelo (IPVC). The project was developed using the industrialised timber hybrid (timber and concrete) system developed by CREE Buildings, which is more sustainable than traditional construction methods.
This residence is located on Avenida Pinto Mota. Its 1,200 square metres, and consists of 24 double rooms, eight single bedrooms, study rooms, a kitchen, dining areas and living spaces.
Valença City Council is a front-runner in adopting this type of construction since this is the first public building with an industrialised solution. The Casais Group’s challenges were based on changing the construction paradigm and being receptive to this construction method which allows for more sustainable, faster and less polluting construction and also poses fewer safety risks for employees. The system implemented in this construction project halved the development time normally required when using traditional methods of construction.
Another project of this type—using the same method adopted in Valença—is underway too: the University Residence in Beja, next to the Polytechnic Institute’s School of Technology and Management. This project, in the Alentejo, covers an area of roughly 11,000 square metres, with a cloister for an interior courtyard and an uncovered green area on the ground floor, and three upper floors. Construction began in early 2024 and is expected to be completed by the end of 2025. At the moment, the Casais Group is laying the foundations on site, while manufacturing the CREE solutions in the factory has begun, as has the industrialisation of the interior fittings for the bathrooms. The value of the contract, set to house 503 residents in 327 accommodation units, is around EUR 17 million.
“The university residence in Valença is the first work using this industrialisation system that we are doing for a public project, and we have every confidence that it will have a very positive impact on the community. We are very proud of the development of this ambitious project that responds to the growing need for student accommodation in our society. This type of construction, which we have now completed, is totally aligned with the values of the Casais Group, as is the one being developed in Beja. Our focus is on innovation, with the aim of contributing to a more sustainable construction sector. We believe that the kind of solutions we have implemented are more efficient in terms of strength, durability, quality and execution time,” says António Carlos Rodrigues, CEO of the Casais Group.
Industrialisation and off-site solutions have been central to the work of the Casais Group in tandem with its investment in innovation and digitalisation, as is the case with BIM technology, which was used in these two residential projects to simulate durability scenarios and make cost comparisons. One of the Group’s main objectives is to develop an incisive focus on a building’s key performance indicators as well as its likely cost throughout its life cycle. Investing in technology is one way of thinking about sustainability in the sector and accelerating the go-green transition in construction.
