The urgency of building more housing more quickly, given the current scarce and prohibitive supply, is clashing with relentless bureaucracy. This issue does not seem to translate with the same urgency to administrative timelines, as could be inferred from the response of Leire Iglesias, director of the State Housing Entity, Casa 47, when asked about the Construction City.
“"The construction sector has prioritized putting the financing tools, platform, homologation, regulations, and preliminary procedures ahead in the industrialization Perte project. It will then continue with other objectives such as the development of the industrialization city."
In other words, there are still no concrete dates for the launch of the Industrialized Construction City, whose objective is to create a business ecosystem that develops construction models using industrial methods to shorten construction times and reduce the necessary workforce.
This project will be located in the Logistics Activities Zone of the Port of Valencia and was presented on April 24 as one of the fundamental pillars of the Perte housing for industrialized construction. For this, the Executive committed to mobilizing a public investment of 1.3 billion euros over ten years, with the ambition of building 15,000 industrialized homes annually and reaching 20,000 in a decade.
Despite these plans, there is no defined calendar or planned investment, nor has a public-private collaboration model been designed to develop this area, conceived to generate an innovation hub aimed at transforming the Spanish construction model towards an industrialized one. The goal of creating an industrial environment in the ZAL involves concentrating companies, innovation centers, and training spaces linked to industrialized construction.
The announcement by Pedro Sánchez during the closing of the 8th edition of the Rebuild building and construction sector fair generated great anticipation in the Valencian Community, as it would be the main beneficiary of the project by hosting its headquarters in its port enclave. The choice of the ZAL has a strategic component, as the Public Business Entity for Land (Sepes) has plots in this developing industrial park, which boasts good logistical connections.
The advantages of industrialization include reduced execution times and, consequently, lower costs, a key demand from the sector. According to José Luis Santa Isabel, president of the Federation of Construction Contractors of the Valencian Community (Fecoval), construction costs have risen from 600 euros per square meter to 1,400 in just six years. Furthermore, the sector is facing a labor shortage, which further pressures costs.
