Vía Célere Innovation Room: Commitment to water

In 2012 Via Célere, reached an agreement with the Autonomous University of Madrid (UAM) and its Foundation, to launch the UAM-Vía Célere Observatory for Environmental Sustainability of Residential Buildings, with the aim of providing new tools to control the impact of the construction sector on the environment.

The project came to life within the framework of Célere Cities, from where the developer shares its vision for future of cities advancing towards a more sustainable building model, arising as a strategy through which it reaches out to its stakeholders to continue with the construction of cities that are more respectful of the social surroundings and the environment, in line with the New Urban Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals. one of the company’s fundamental strategies, 

For Vía Célere cities are the nerve centre of our society, with an increasing percentage of the population choosing to live in a large city. But there are numerous problems that threaten the sustainability of our urban environments and the real estate sector must play a key role in the development of cities.

The first project they have carried out is a pioneering study that measures the water footprint of the construction of residential developments in Spain.

According to this research, each residential square meter built generates a blue water footprint defined as the volume of water (of superficial or underground origin) consumed during the production process of 5 m3. This allows us to extrapolate the data and calculate the water footprint of a residential development in Spain, based on its built area.  Therefore, a typical development of 100 homes of 100 m2 each, generates a blue water footprint similar to that which would be needed to fill 20 Olympic swimming pools.

After finding out this information, Vía Célere has also announced its commitment to return a percentage of its blue water footprint each year by supporting social projects related to improving water management. In 2019, the developer has committed to recover for the environment 20% of the blue water footprint of the developments that it will hand over this year.

Célere Cities has chosen water as its first focal point in 2019, given that it is an aspect of building sustainability that is considered less than others, such as environmental pollution or energy consumption, but it is equally relevant. This is reflected in the fact that, according to the United Nations, water scarcity affects more than 40% of the world’s population and, at the same time, rapid urbanization is placing great pressure on fresh water supplies, wastewater, the living environment and public health.

Given all this data, Vía Célere has decided to take a step forward, in its role as residential developer, to improve the urban environment and contribute to creating more sustainable cities together with all the collaborators who would like to join this line of action.

But this is not the only point in which we were pioneers. At Vía Célere innovation is in our DNA, discover this and all the other innovations carried out over the years at celereinnova.es