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Vanguard invests in ECOSTEEL

The Vanguard Properties group has made a strategic investment of 30 million euros in ECOSTEEL, a company based in Laúndos, Póvoa do Varzim, with an international reputation for manufacturing high-quality frames. With such a move, Vanguard consolidates its role in boosting Portuguese industrial construction, as well as promoting sustainable building methods.

Vanguard Properties’ investment includes the acquisition of a 50% share of the company, which provides increased capital and greater support for commercial development, allowing ECOSTEEL to enter a new phase of expansion in its core activity, which ranges from minimalist frame systems to innovative construction and artistic installations, not forgetting design and technology. Such investment will spawn a new industrial unit producing cross laminated timber (CLT) for the construction of high-rise buildings.

Against this background of growth, by 2024, the company expects to increase the number of ECOSTEEL employees by over 60% to approximately 400, which includes architects, engineers, designers, locksmiths and installers. It is also worth remembering that, in June 2022, Vanguard Properties also announced investment in Black Oak Company, a Portuguese business specialising in wooden house construction, soon to operate under the brand KŌZŌWOOD Industries. These two business endeavours have meant Vanguard Properties making a total investment of around 50 million euros in Portuguese industrial units.

For José Cardoso Botelho, CEO of Vanguard Properties, "ECOSTEEL is an outstanding manufacturer of minimalist windows, whose cutting-edge design and technology are a perfect match for our industrial vision. With the creation of a new industrial unit for CLT production, our strategic investment focusses sharply on the industrialisation of construction, while producing sustainable wooden houses and buildings for the 'Terras da Comporta', 'Muda Reserve' and 'Foz do Tejo' projects, among others. We believe this to be the first step towards creating a large export group, which will benefit from the growing trend for using wood in construction, as well as the dearth of industries technologically equipped to meet demand".

For José Maria Ferreira, founder and CEO of ECOSTEEL, "this partnership will greatly improve the group's productive capacity and international expansion, further strengthening its economic and financial solidity, as well as its production infrastructure, much to our customers’ advantage."

Founded in 2013, ECOSTEEL is internationally renowned for developing minimalist frame and innovative building systems using cutting-edge technology, exporting to countries like the United States, United Kingdom, France and Australia. The company has also been involved in several emblematic building projects, including the Castilho 203 building in Lisbon (Vanguard Properties), the Maybourne Riviera hotel in Monaco, and the Château La Coste hotel in France, which boasts a pavilion designed by the distinguished Brazilian architect, Oscar Niemeyer.

Under its Otiima brand, ECOSTEEL has worked on a number of other architectural projects by Siza Vieira (Portugal, Pritzker 1992), Eduardo Souto de Moura (Portugal, Pritzker 2011), Aires Mateus, John Pawson (England), Renzo Piano (Italy, Pritzker 1998), Jean Nouvel (France, Pritzker 2008), RCR Architects (Spain, Pritzker 2017), Vincent Van Duysen (Belgium), Alejandro Aravena (Chile, Pritzker 2016); and sculpture by José Pedro Croft and Pedro Cabrita Reis, among many others.

ECOSTEEL also boasts an intense community investment programme, with a particular focus on young people. One such example is its patronage of the "42 Porto" school, which trains young programmers for free, and has proved a huge domestic and international success.

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