The company Blocotelha, from Leiria, is building the new coverage of the airport of Faro and will assemble this structure with 370 tonnes of metal parts without forcing the terminal to close.
The work, which is being developed in a consortium with Casais, provides for the assembly of a roof that will be produced at the construction company's industrial hub, in Porto de Mós, Leiria.
«Projects like the one we are doing in Faro they are highly complex from a technical point of view, but from an organizational point of view they are also very demanding. We know the activity in the Algarve and we're going to spend 24 months – the work's deadline -, working night and day with the airport in operation, which offers us many challenges», Blocotelha's commercial director, Erico Ferraria, told Lusa.
This person in charge guaranteed that the development of this project is possible, taking into account the «capabilities that the company has been developing and acquiring over the years», creating solutions such as «the skinzip [a modern construction system, adaptable to any project], a very specific solution, with technical options used in large infrastructures, where maintenance and architectural ambition are very clear».
According to Erico Ferraria, the solutions created are a mix of «metallic construction» and «solutions of self-supporting profiles with concave and convex shapes, to be closed with a system skinzip», which «allowed the owner of the work to maintain the architecture he had».
Blocotelha has been involved in interventions at major airports, such as Orly (France), Ivato International Airport (Madagascar), Porto Airport, Beja Airport, North Terminal and Cargo Terminal at Lisbon Airport.
«In the United States, we have also been asked to build two airports with that solution. We invested in this solution [skinzip] to complement and continue the self-supporting system», an innovation with which Blocotelha distinguished itself at the beginning.
«Over the years, this system has allowed us to position, grow and open up a range of opportunities, as it allows us to respond to a set of architectural forms and bold solutions, which forced us to work alongside designers and grow not as a pure metallic direct builder, but as a metallic contractor», underlined Erico Ferraria.
The company is developing a renovation work in the center of Paris, «which is to transform an emblematic building into an office and leisure area».
«We are in a phase where environmental issues, sustainability and the circular economy are increasingly patent requirements, ours too, but essentially external», highlighted the commercial director.
In this sense, the company is concerned with recycling and green energy.
«At the end of its life, 95% of our material ('skinzip') can be recycled and the objective is, ten years from now, to work with 95% green energy», he revealed.
Throughout the entire process there is a qualitative screening of all the material, which has a code with the composition and origin of the product, which the customer can verify that it matches what was ordered.
In 2022, Blocotelha contributed 85 million euros to the total turnover of 250 million euros for the group (Mekkin), in which it operates. Its main markets are the Iberian Portugal-Spain, and the center of Europe, namely France, Belgium, England.
«We are in North Africa, with a presence in Morocco and Algeria. Then we do what we call projects spot. We compete for works, as we have already done in Gabon, Ghana, Madagascar, Brazil or Colombia, in which we join the contractor, study the logistics, create the conditions of human and logistical resources to be able to execute a project during a certain period in a certain quadrant. The basis of all this part is the engineering capacity of the company», assumed Erico Ferraria.
This is because Blocotelha provides «all manufacturing support».
«As a contractor, we essentially manage contract works. That is, we do not limit ourselves to making a project, developing and manufacturing it: we take care of local logistics and shipments and we take care of all the management on site», he explained.
Erico Ferraria said that given its «dimension and specificity», Blocotelha chooses the projects it wants to enter. «It is a company that looks for complexity. We rarely participate in simple projects».
Blocotelha was requested for a large-scale project on some islands in the Pacific. The certification that the company has allows it to enter certain markets. «In France, we are in the construction phase of the largest transformation center in Paris, we have finished unit four at the airport. The two undertakings together are perhaps greater than any undertaking in Portugal».
The company is also involved in ITER (International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor), an international project involving around 50 countries, «which are trying to create an alternative energy process to atomic energy».
“It is a megalomaniac contract. We are at CERN, a project that is also of important technological interest. More than 70% of our turnover is international, but we want to continue to do good projects in Portugal », he said.
Erico Ferraria said that Europe has a «clear tendency towards reindustrialization». "To the gigafactories, which are happening in a clear attempt to not become so dependent on third parties, like gas, give us a clear vision of good opportunities here».
Employing more than 500 people, Blocotelha wants to continue to grow «at least 10%» a year.
Germany is one of the markets where Blocotelha wants to be present. «The strategy is also to have a performance of 'spot' projects outside Europe and an essential market in Europe», she underlined.
Comments