On Tuesday, November 20th the building Impulso Verde was presented, the first public building of Galicia built from Galician wood. Impulso Verde will also mean the initial step in the creation of the first multiecological neighborhood in Spain, as shown in the Implementation Actions of the project.

The building was presented by the Mayor of Lugo, Lara Méndez, in an act with representatives of the forest and wood sector of Galicia, as well as professional associations and media, which took place in the CEI Nodus from the Concello. In her own words, Impulso Verde is an “ambitious and innovative project, which places our city at the forefront of sustainable urban development and the green economy”. During the presentation, the Mayor was accompanied by the Councilor for Desenvolvemento Sostible, Daniel Piñeiro; the Provincial Deputy of Relacións Institucionais, Álvaro Santos; Luis Ruiz, professor at the Escuela Técnica de Ingeniería Agronómica, Alimentaria y de Biosistemas at the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid and coordinator of the LIFE Lugo + Biodinámico project at the UPM; Manuel Guaita, professor of the department of Enxeñaría Forestal of the Universidade de Santiago de Compostela, director of the Plataforma de Madeira Estrutural (PEMADE) and director of the technical team author of the Impulso Verde project; and Belén Feijóo Lombao, a senior research support technician from the departamento de Enxeñaría Agroforestal at USC and member of the project’s team.

Lara Méndez also said that this project “will mark a turning point in construction, which will contribute decisively to a paradigm shift constructive sustainable models, environmentally friendly, alternative to conventional, which are highly polluting and low energy efficiency, because they are based fundamentally on steel and reinforced concrete technologies”. As envisaged in the LIFE Lugo + Biodinámico project, Impulso Verde will be the first step towards the creation of a multi-ecological neighborhood, the first in Spain, “in which we project to provide great capacity for adaptation and resilience to urban environments, for their capacity for replication and evolution over time”, said Méndez.

The development and technical approach of the building Impulso Verde, collected within the project, has been developed by the partners of the two universities involved in the project, under the direction of Manuel Guaita and the architect and professor Antonio Lara. This project comes after the successes achieved by the PEMADE’s award-winning Gridshell the first structure in the world made with eucalyptus globulus. The building will be erected in the venues of the LIFE Lugo + Biodinámico project, between the O Ceao and As Gándaras industrial areas, in a place located at the roundabout on Infanta Elena Avenue. This space was selected because it gives maximum visibility and proximity to population centers and activity, centrality in the scope of action of the LIFE project and accessibility, which will be reinforced with the future unfolding and humanization of the road in which it will be located.