Sustainability

Real estate activity has a considerable impact both environmentally and socially on the community.

This is especially relevant for Vanguard Properties, which rapidly became the leading player in the Portuguese real estate market. With a portfolio of projects spread out over the country, specifically in an ecologically sensitive area such as Comporta, it’s a great responsibility. Therefore, as a demonstration of its commitment, Vanguard Properties has adopted a proactive environmental policy in which it aims to go beyond legal requirements.

To oversee the Terras da Comporta project, the company decided to set up a steering group comprising national and international specialists, whose role will ensure that best environmental practices are implemented. 

With the same purpose in mind, in its other projects, the developer has implemented the BREEAM® certification (Building Research Establishment’s Environmental Assessment Method), an evaluation system for construction projects. Created at the start of the 1990s by an independent British entity, BREEAM® was developed in line with the sustainability objectives outlined in the UN’s Agenda 2030.

Shortly after acquiring the two important real estate assets at the root of Terras da Comporta, in partnership with Amorim Luxury, Vanguard Properties gave further proof of the values at the heart of its mission, by founding the Comporta Future Association. This association aims to implement an integrated strategy, to encourage participatory citizenship and promote the ecological value of Comporta, thus creating the foundations of an integrated community from an environmental and cultural point of view.

Energy Communities

We can live better in communities and in a more sustainable way. With the goal of making Terras da Comporta a benchmark development, not just nationally, but also internationally, each house, hotel unit or commercial space will have photovoltaic panels installed that will be producing energy for self-consumption, or to share with the community whenever there is a low consumption requirement, or in the case of excess production. Apart from enhancing production and consumption, energy production from renewable energy sources will satisfy the sustainability goals of the real estate project, contributing to buildings that are neutral in carbon emissions.

Wood Construction

In the vanguard of the sector, the development of new technologies in architecture and engineering now allow structures in wood to be a sustainable solution and competitive today compared to steel, concrete or brick structures, offering greater resistance to fires and earthquakes, ease of transport and assembly,  a better weight/durability relationship, and greater economy in terms of costs. In this regard, the Terras da Comporta project will market and sell houses which have wooden structures and are ‘Net Zero Carbon Buildings’. This means high energy efficiency and a neutral or negative environmental footprint in general, and in the construction method in particular.

At the same time, the ‘woodframe and CLT (Cross Laminated Timbers) that are be used at Terras da Comporta also have an advantage in using a natural renewable and recyclable material that promotes reforestation, retains carbon dioxide and does not require the burning of fossil fuels during production. It should also be mentioned that this method of construction will have another advantage: The houses will be produced ‘off-site’, with around 90% of the wooden structure manufactured in a controlled factory environment - a strategy that enables employees at the industrial unit in the region of Esposende to be employed locally, avoiding unnecessary commuting, fostering professional/personal life balance, and also reducing atmospheric, visual and environmental pollution.

We believe action speaks volumes.