“Clients are not only now looking for more sustainable properties, but also ones that gain in value over time”.

Sustainability in construction took centre stage during the III Real Estate Development in Portugal - COPIP conference which was organised by the APPII and Vida Imobiliária which ran on 30 June at the “Club - Monsanto Secret Spot” in Lisbon and Vanguard Properties was sure to be at the largest conference ever organised by the APPII.

Moderated by Manuel Collares Pereira, Vanguard Properties’ Scientific Consultant, the session “Sustainability in Construction and Real estate included the participation of José Cardoso Botelho. And according to the CEO of the largest Portuguese real estate developer, “wood is clearly the future”. “Clients are not only now looking for more sustainable properties, but also ones that gain in value over time”, he said, also stressing that Vanguard Properties has “taken a proactive stance and intends to go well beyond environmental legislation requirements.  Given current challenges, it only makes sense to view real our projects from a sustainable future perspective”.

Therefore, Vanguard Properties has signed a capital share investment agreement with Black Oak Company, a wood construction company that has an industrial unit in Esposende. As part of this strategic agreement, Black Oak Company has invested 25 million euros, and seeks to expand the factory with a view to duplicating the productive floor space to 20 thousand metres² and increase installed capacity to an annual production of 200 (woodframe) houses and one thousand in cross-laminated timber CLT) (cross-laminated timber). For Vanguard Properties this is a strategic investment which joins innovation and sustainability, changing the real estate paradigm in general, and the building method in particular of houses that are Net Zero Carbon Buildings, this means highly energy efficient buildings with a neutral or negative environmental footprint. Through this innovative investment, the real estate developer aims to be in the vanguard of the real estate sector and already has the production of one-thousand sustainable homes for its projects Terras da Comporta and Muda Reserve, work on which is expected to start in the fourth quarter of this year.