• This represents the first step towards transforming the future fairground into a benchmark for sustainability in the international sector.

Infecar, Gran Canaria Fair, continues to advance in defining its future venue and this Friday, February 2nd, has presented the acquisition of the Breeam® ES Urbanism Master Plan strategy certification, demonstrating the intention to shape a venue that aspires to have sustainability as its central axis.

Raúl García, Councilor for Environment, Climate, Energy, and Knowledge of the Cabildo de Gran Canaria; Javier Torralba, director of Breeam® Spain; and Juan Palop, the author of the Infecar Master Plan, have revealed the details of this sustainability strategy, which represents the first step in transforming the future fairground into a reference for sustainability in the international fair sector.

“This strategy that we present today is unique in its configuration because, from the beginning, it has been orchestrated with processes and criteria of high demand that, in the future, I predict may serve as a pilot or mirror for other constructions in the Canary Islands,” Raúl García has assured.

Javier Torralba, director of Breeam® Spain, the technically most advanced assessment and sustainability certification method in the construction industry and world leader by the number of certified projects since its inception in 1990, has pointed out, “Today Infecar becomes the first fair institution in Spain to achieve the initial certification of Breeam® ES Urbanism.”

Thus, planning the new fairground offers the opportunity to go beyond the goal of building a competitive and efficient venue. This is an opportunity to also contribute to improving the social, environmental, urban, and economic environment of the upper part of the city.

Juan Palop, the author of the Infecar Master Plan, has pointed out that “this is what regenerative urbanism consists of, unlike sustainable urbanism. It is not about doing the least harm possible but about betting on regenerating the conditions of life wherever it intervenes. This is, therefore, a plan for organising a fairground, but it is also a plan for a community, a city.”

From an environmental point of view, innovative nature-based solutions are included, such as a zero-carbon urban planning in which the fairground, far from emitting CO2 and polluting gases, will serve, on the contrary, as infrastructure for capturing CO2. “More than emitting little, it is committed to capturing and contributing to regenerating the atmosphere,” he specified.

In addition, it is planned to produce twice the renewable energy necessary to operate the venue, “thus opening the opportunity to share the excess energy with neighbouring communities.”

Regarding this initial certification, Palop has emphasized “the joint work that we have done with Breeam® ES, which has been in charge of auditing all the aspects that shape this Master Plan and in which we work earnestly to obtain the highest distinction possible.”

The opportunities of the sustainable construction sector in the Canary Islands, under discussion

Yesterday, Thursday, February 1st, a workshop dedicated to professionals in the construction sector, one of the key players in our paradigm shift, was held at Infecar.

Rethinking the way open spaces, infrastructures, and buildings are constructed and used is fundamental to achieving this sustainable future, as María Paz, responsible for Urban Planning at Breeam® ES, pointed out, and in charge of breaking down the ‘Challenges, challenges, and opportunities of sustainable construction in the Canary Islands. What to measure and how when we talk about sustainability.’

“We are walking towards a more sustainable future in which pollution levels are reduced, the circular economy is embraced, and our impact on the environment is mitigated, and with the Breeam® methodology, we have the opportunity to carry it out within our reach,” she pointed out.