On 24 February, the Interreg Sudoe Eguralt project held its Final Event in the Sala de Armas of the Citadel (Pamplona). The project began in 2021 and will end in the first half of 2023. More than 60 entities participated in the event, including several companies and public entities, as well as research centres from several countries.

The partners of the Interreg SUDOE Eguralt project from Spain, Portugal and France, as well as professionals from the world of construction, participated in this event to present the objectives and results of the project. The Final Event was opened by Alberto Bayona López, Managing Director of the Navarra public company Nasuvinsa, leader of the project. José Mª Aierdi, Second Vice-president and Regional Minister of Territorial Planning, Housing, Landscape and Strategic Projects of the Government of Navarre closed the opening of the event.

Arantxa Arregui, Head of Sustainable Territorial Development at Nasuvinsa Lursarea presented the Eguralt project. This presentation was followed by three round tables focused on high-rise construction with wood.

Round Tables

The first round table dealt with the Promotion of high-rise timber construction and was moderated by Ana Ariz, Sustainable Territorial Development Technician (Nasuvinsa Lursarea). The participants at this table were able to talk about their short-medium term vision and the importance of digitalisation in high-rise timber construction. They also exchanged ideas on the differences between working with new timber construction systems and traditional construction.

After a short break, Oskar Azkarate, Director of Baskegur opened the second round table on New solutions in wood. The guests had the opportunity to discuss the current results of R+D+i and the main technical barriers for wood construction at height. They closed the round table by discussing the needs of prescribers for the promotion of timber construction.

The third round table was led by Azahara Soilán, XERA Technician, and focused on Awareness and Awareness Raising. The speakers highlighted the perception that society has of timber construction, certain paradigms and erroneous preconceptions, and the changes needed to improve this perception. Finally, they pointed out the need to improve synergies between the agents involved in the construction sector.

The round tables were brought to a close with conclusions highlighting the need to make progress in innovation, digitalisation, training, awareness-raising and strengthening multidisciplinary cooperation and collaboration in line with the EGURALT project itself.

Study visits

The day before the Final Event, the consortium of the Interreg Sudoe Eguralt project and its stakeholders made 3 very interesting study visits. The first one was to the Egoin facilities in Vitoria Gasteiz, a company with extensive experience in the design of wooden structural solutions for the construction sector. They then visited the timber-framed homes in Leitza, designed by I+M Arquitectos. Finally, they were able to visit the social rental housing built in wood as part of the Navarra Social Housing “Entremultivas” programme in Pamplona, promoted by Nasuvinsa.