Vanguard Properties’ affiliate Kōzōwood Industries opens industrial plant for customised wooden houses

Kōzōwood Industries, which is now an affiliate of Vanguard Properties (the leading property developer in the premium and luxury segment), has inaugurated a new production plant in Esposende that manufacturers wooden structures for houses, buildings, schools, pavilions and other constructions. Part of an investment led by Vanguard Properties totalling €50 million, which is planned to run until 2025, this move forms part of Vanguard’s strategic commitment to Portuguese industrial construction.

The newly opened plant was already planned when Vanguard Properties invested in Kōzōwood Industries in 2021, part of the strategic objective to boost wood construction in Portugal generally, as well as for its own projects. As such, it consolidates the industrial company’s production capacity by equipping it with state-of-the-art wood treatment and cutting equipment.

Previously known as the Black Oak Company, Kōzōwood Industries was originally founded by Nuno Vale in 2015, who remains CEO and continues to be a shareholder. The company specialises in fully customisable wooden structures for houses and buildings, using woodframe and CLT (cross-laminated timber). Investment in the new plant, which was subsidised by PT2020, has doubled the area of the factory and logistics unit (30,000 m²) and the number of staff, creating the capacity to produce 1,000 units a year, or three a day.

In terms of technology, the factory is equipped with the latest scanning and optimisation technologies for wood cutting, which effectively eliminated issues with any boards. This means raw material utilisation ratios of around 75%, with any waste wood fully reused in drying kilns and the factory’s heating.

By the second half of 2025, Kōzōwood Industries will open another CLT and glued laminates production unit. This will involve funding from the EU Recovery and Resilience Programme and will increase total production by at least 50% compared to current levels.

According to Nuno Vale, founder and CEO of Kōzōwood Industries, "from the very beginning, Vanguard Properties has shown itself to be the right partner to expand our business, at a time when demand for wooden houses is booming. Now we can realise our vision, which is offering sustainable homes on a mass scale, making the construction sector in Portugal more sustainable."

For José Cardoso Botelho, CEO of Vanguard Properties, "this new unit at the Kōzōwood Industries factory constitutes an important milestone for the company’s future, acting as a stepping stone to internationalisation. Equipped with state-of-the-art tools and technology, as well as more personnel for the different teams, Kōzōwood Industries can now produce the structures needed to build three houses a day. This will help change the construction paradigm, making it more sustainable and faster to produce."

Vanguard Properties’ investment in wood construction consolidates its strategic area of sustainability with regards to the property developer’s operations. Unlike concrete, wood construction has a negative carbon footprint, as it captures carbon. With approximately 90% of the building process occurring off-site, wooden houses are quicker to construct, reducing installation costs when compared to traditional methods, and more efficient in terms of noise and temperature insulation.