Metrovacesa and Exlabesa join forces to reduce CO2 emissions

• This agreement reinforces Metrovacesa’s sustainability policies, helping to minimise the carbon footprint of its developments.

• The alliance will allow Metrovacesa developments to have Exlabesa branded windows produced with Re-Local 100 aluminium.

• Re-Local 100 is Exlabesa’s 100% post-consumer recycled aluminium, manufactured entirely from products that have reached the end of their life cycle, such as windows, doors, facades and railings, among others. This process, verified by the Bureau Veritas certifier, promotes the circular economy and reduces environmental impact.

Madrid, 27 November 2024. Metrovacesa, Spain’s leading real estate developer with over one hundred years of history and more than 114 projects under development nationwide, has announced the signing of a collaboration agreement with Exlabesa, a benchmark in the design and manufacture of aluminium profiles, with the aim of reducing the environmental impact of its developments. Thanks to this alliance, Metrovacesa’s developments will use windows made from Re-Local 100, the recycled aluminium produced by Exlabesa from post-consumer aluminium materials.

In line with its commitment to sustainability, the developer will use recycled raw materials from Exlabesa’s Galician smelters in its residential developments. In these recycling plants, Exlabesa reuses aluminium that has previously been used in other products in order to reincorporate it into the construction process. Through this process, verified and audited by Bureau Veritas according to the ISO 14021 standard, not only is the waste generated minimised, but the environmental impact is significantly reduced compared to the use of primary aluminium, reducing energy consumption by up to 95% and eliminating the need to extract the mineral directly from nature.

With this collaboration Metrovacesa continues its commitment to sustainable construction, placing special emphasis on the circularity of the materials used in its developments and on reducing its carbon footprint. These actions are part of the company’s sustainability strategy, which for several years has been analysing the life cycle of all its developments in order to establish short, medium and long-term initiatives to reduce their environmental impact.

David Sierra Lluch, Director of Projects and Sustainability at Metrovacesa points out that ‘at Metrovacesa we firmly believe that collaboration with leading companies in their sector is the way to improve results in terms of sustainability. EXLABESA is clearly a benchmark in aluminium manufacturing and its support will help us to reduce the carbon footprint of our developments’.

For his part, Carlos Negreira, director of the systems division for architecture at Exlabesa, says ‘with this agreement Metrovacesa ensures the supply of Exlabesa windows produced with 100% post-consumer recycled aluminium. Metrovacesa’s determination in its commitment to the use of circular materials in its projects, as in the case of our Re-Local 100 aluminium, which has a carbon footprint of 0.5 kgCO2eq/kg Al, together with the unique capabilities that Exlabesa has in the production of recycled aluminium, position both companies as leaders in sustainability and make it possible for the decarbonisation of the building sector in Spain to begin to become a reality’.

Decarbonisation of the real estate sector

Metrovacesa’s agreement with Exlabesa is yet another strategy within its commitment to sustainability. In addition to incorporating recycled and recyclable materials, the developer certifies all its new developments with sustainability seals and evaluates the carbon footprint generated throughout the life cycle of its projects through Life Cycle Analysis (LCA), supported by Building Information Modelling (BIM) technology.