Friday, November 21, 2025
The Official College of Architects of Madrid (COAM) once again hosted the vanguard of Spain’s building industry for the third edition of the AECI Forum on October 29, 2025. Organised by the Spanish Association of Industrialized Construction (AECI), the event is positioned as a pivotal platform to promote, discuss, and accelerate the development of the industrialised construction model across the country.
Amidst a Spanish construction market that is projected to grow and is actively seeking more efficient and sustainable housing solutions, the Forum offers crucial business opportunities and networking. The day’s agenda is packed with parallel sessions, including round tables, international presentations, and hands-on workshops dedicated to practical applications of off-site construction and modular techniques.
The core message of the event is clear: industrialisation, digitalisation, and sustainability are the three non-negotiable vectors for the future of the built environment. As the search results indicate, the Spanish construction industry, valued at over €83 billion in 2025, is strategically embracing innovation to meet demand for affordable, green, and rapidly constructed housing.
Headlining the AECI Forum’s Training Room will be a deep dive into the La Mola project, a success story that has become an international benchmark for premium industrialised construction. Stefano Carlo Ascione, Passivhaus Designer and Marketing Director for the firm ARQUIMA, was present to discuss all the technical details of the house, which is located in Sant Andreu de la Barca, Barcelona.
The unique, 312 m2 residential project is distinguished by its unprecedented achievement in sustainability and energy efficiency: it is the first home in Europe to receive the highest dual certification:
The Passivhaus Premium standard represents the pinnacle of energy-efficient building. While the base Passivhaus Classic standard focuses on drastically reducing heating and cooling demands, the Premium class requires the building to generate more renewable energy than it and its occupants consume annually. This makes the building a net-positive contributor to the energy grid and the environment.
The superior construction quality, a hallmark of industrialised methods, maximises occupant comfort:
Architecturally, La Mola is a model project, demonstrating that extreme energy efficiency and high-end design can be achieved through integrated design and off-site manufacturing. The success of projects like La Mola is indicative of a broader, transformative trend in Spain’s construction industry: the rapid ascent of industrialised wood construction.
The sector has been experiencing phenomenal growth, reported at more than 300% annually in recent years. This expansion is driven by the realization that timber, particularly engineered wood products like Cross-Laminated Timber (CLT), provides the optimal solution for meeting modern demands for speed, sustainability, and energy performance.
The imminent formal validation by the new Technical Building Code (CTE) will serve to institutionalise this methodology, providing necessary regulatory confidence and further accelerating market adoption.
ARQUIMA’s proprietary construction system highlights the enormous time advantage of the factory-centric approach:
A house of approximately 250 m2 can be manufactured in a factory in just 5 days.
The same structure can be assembled on-site in less than a week.
This is a time saving of over 60% compared to conventional construction methods, drastically reducing delivery times and associated costs—a factor critical for addressing the housing deficit in urban areas like Madrid and Barcelona. The precision engineering involved in the factory setting also reduces material waste and ensures higher quality control than is typically possible in a conventional construction site.
Industrialised timber construction directly responds to the rising demand for homes with minimal energy consumption and a low carbon footprint. Wood, as a natural, renewable, and carbon-sequestering material, positions industrialised timber firms at the forefront of the green construction movement.
The AECI Forum in Madrid aims to cement these benefits into industry-wide standards, encouraging more companies to embrace the manufacturing model. By showcasing cutting-edge projects like La Mola, the Forum demonstrates that the future of building is not just about being faster, but about being fundamentally smarter, quieter, and cleaner.
As the Spanish construction market continues its growth, the AECI Forum serves as the essential meeting point where policy, innovation, and business converge to finalise the shift toward a more responsible and efficient built environment.
Read more news on: carbon footprint
Get such updates through woodandpanel.us
Image Courtesy: Google
Tags: AECI Forum 2025, Arquima, Industrialized Construction Spain, offsite construction, Passivhaus Premium, Technical Building Code, wood construction
Comments: