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Dear Frederik,
I'm very happy to read that you are interested in my project.
As I had the chance to tell you already, my aim is to build a very high-end resort with the highest degree of sustainability.
Portugal is the sunniest country of Europe
with more than 300 days of sunshine a year, especially in the area where I'm located, the Alentejo region, one hour drive south of Lisbon.
At the following link, you can savor the landscape and climatic features of the area, quite a few of the images in this collection appear to be taken in summer but are instead winter shots.
Therefore, I want my resort to be 100% solar-powered with a 0% carbon footprint.
On this regard, as I said already in our conversation, unfortunately, none of the buildings is, with respect to the North / South axis, oriented so as to be able to benefit from installing solar panels on the roof also because the units are surrounded by trees and shielded from an excess of sunlight.
Here below some pictures of the property
The solar tree here below is for me the only esthetically viable option to install solar panels, actually, I really love it and I've found the architect firm that designed it and I'm about to contact them to design something very similar for my project.
https://www.wurck.nl/en/projecten/zonneboom/
This is what they state on their website about the Solar Tree:
"...a comment about the Zonneboom in response to the many requests for information from private individuals in particular. The Zonneboom is not a product that can be purchased ready-to-use. It is a design for a unique assignment, at a specific location, realized in a specific time, and for a client with a distinct vision and message. That makes the design unrepeatable. The concept can of course be further developed. wUrck likes to think along with clients who are inspired by the Zonneboom, but who are looking for a solution that fits their needs exactly."
Nothing of this kind would harmoniously blend into the natural context like the Solar Tree above.
Obviously, if you might have any idea/design as an alternative to the Solar Tree I'd be very interested to consider and analyze it.
Another important aspect is the availability of freshwater resources that is scarce in the area.
Here below a recent article (in Portuguese) that addresses this issue
The headline reads:
"Tourism and agricultural projects threaten to dry the Alentejo coast.
Water resources are at risk with the accumulation of new tourism developments. Grândola, Álcacer do Sal and Odemira counties are the most affected"
I'm in Grândola, the hotspot for tourism developments and one of the most affected municipalities for freshwater sources depletion.
Thus, in this regard, according to your expertise in this field, you might want to design the most efficient and radical way to collect, treat, and reuse rain, grey and black waters.
We might also consider the use of thermal energy but this implies a lot of excavations and it is a technology that no one uses here and was never built it before, thus not much experience from local builders in this field, and for me is paramount to keep the building process as easy, simple, clean and fast as possible.
I would like my project to become an example and a point of reference for the tourism development projects to come, on how to develop this sector in a completely sustainable way in an area that is experiencing an impressive real estate tourism development where many of the ongoing projects do not hold in account the fragility of the unique environmental characteristics of this area.
Regarding the building's structure, as I said already, I've opted for the scaffolding pipes because is the most unusual, simple, and fast to be built.
Even if the galvanized steel and corrugated clear polycarbonate sheets might not be the most sustainable materials, when compared to wood and glass, the fact that they allow the cleanest, simple and fastest way to build should compensate this handicap.
The prefab elements are delivered straight from the factory and assembled on-site in a very short timeframe keeping waste to a minimum, thus making the project more environmentally friendly when compared to more conventional buildings.
This construction typology produces much less to none debris than a conventional building avoiding the treatment and removal of them, the shorter construction time allows lowering substantially the carbon footprint minimizing the transport of the workforce and shipment of building materials.
The scaffolding structure of each unit can be built by a team of 4/6 people in one single day.
Also, the steel screw-pile foundation for such a structure is laid in one day.
and the building stands above ground level at a minimum height of 80cms, depending on the slope of the land, having a zero ground impermeabilization coefficient with no soft or hard land grading, no harms to tree roots, or any other kind of plants, etc.
The need for area preparation compared to a conventional foundation with concrete slabs is minimized, another significant asset for saving construction costs and execution time, thus reducing to a minimum the environmental impact.
There are many benefits to not reducing the surface of the ground area absorbing rainwater together and keeping a certain height from the ground level, it helps in protecting the structure from the ground moisture and from rain floods (rare event though), making it more thermally efficient, durable and reliable with less maintenance.
Each screw-pile, including installation, costs € 315 with, in this specific case, the total cost of 24 installed screw-piles being € 7.560 placed in one day. Difficult to find a better solution more cost-efficient and with a lighter ecological footprint in my opinion.
About the masterplan, recently I have altered it introducing the 11 scaffolding units which replaced 4 of the 6 houses that previously made up the project.
This was the previous masterplan, with 6 houses that you find attached to the email "MdG_masterplan_6_houses.dwg"
The new one is roughly this
As soon as I'll be able to make the new topographical survey I will upload it here and send it to you in .dwg.
Here below, the detailed list of buildings of the new masterplan:
- Plot 1 (P1) - Land ca 11.000m2, total built area 124m2 + 215m2 = 339m2
In this plot, the project includes two buildings:
-The first one, P1/A, is the one already existing where I currently live, 124m2, 2 bedrooms house
Please check the file "P1_A_Def_03.dwg" attached to my email.
-The second one, P2/B, to be built, will be my main house of 215m2 and 1BR
Please check the file "P1_ B_Def_02.dwg" attached to my email.
Please note that the .dwg file shows the previous design that has been updated with a larger area and a glass roof as you can see at the following link
therefore for this unit, we must update the .dwg file redesigning it according to the new specifications.
- Plot 2 (P2) - Land ca 4.220m2, total built area:
Of this plot, only the structure of the unit (P2/C) 59,78m2 has been built without finishings,
Please check the file "P2_C_Def_02_1.dwg" attached to my email.
the other two units, not yet built, have been changed in design and are now based on the design of the already existing glass cabin, therefore, also in this case we must redesign them in .dwg according to what shown at the link below:
- The scaffolding suites as shown in the new masterplan SS1, SS2, SS3, SS8 and SS11 will have this design
the only difference is that the 4 meters diameter round plunge pool will be replaced by a 3m x 12m lap pool.
Please check the following link
- The scaffolding suite SS10 will have this design
Please check the link here below
- The scaffolding suites SS4, SS5, SS6, SS7, and SS9 will have this design
Please check the link here below
As opposed to the other scaffolding suites that can only be used during the warm season from May to October, these last 5 suites fully embrace the Greenhouse Living concept and have the thermal and acoustic specs required for a normal house to be licensed, thus they can be used all year round.
- The staff housing unit has an area of 121,88m2 and 2BR en-suite.
This unit has not yet been designed in AutoCad. In the new masterplan is the green dot number 12.
- Seasonal staff lodging unit. This unit will have the same structure as the 5 scaffolding suites of 134m2 on two levels,
As soon as I will complete the design you will find it uploaded here.
- The Gym & Yoga facilities.
Please check the link here below
- The Restaurant and Vegetable Garden have the same greenhouse structure of the Staff Lodging Unit, only slightly longer.
Please check the link here below
In these renderings, the kitchen is still missing the roof, the exterior cladding, the interior walls tile finishings, the doors and windows. Soon I will upload the final version.
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Now, before getting to the project budget and time plan as you required, I'd like to tell you where I'm standing right now in financial terms.
At this very moment, I don't have any more funds to invest in the project but I have found an investor who's ready to buy 50% of the shares of my company that owns the property and manages the project.
Once we sign the partnership contract we'll both contribute to a capital raise of € 1.000.000 as working capital to start building and pay the preliminary costs like architect and engineer fees, building license, etc.
I also have access to public funds that will finance 75% of the € 4.347.815 so far estimated to build the entire resorts. This figure is a very rough estimate and will change as long as I get all the quotes I'm waiting for in relation to the scaffolding structures, the SIPs (pre-engineered, insulated, load-bearing OSB panels), etc.
The current figure is also relatively high because includes all the sanitary hardware, kitchen equipment, and furniture that are top-notch and some of the most expensive you can find on the market, the cost of all the above-mentioned alone is € 41.394 against a total of € 146.254 with a square meter cost of € 1.091 in the case of the two stories 134m2 scaffolding units.
If we take off this cost, the building alone would cost € 720/m2.
But, both the 50% partnership deal and the public funds financing will only be available once the first step of the licensing process is passed, the approval by the city council of the architectural project.
In relation to my current financial situation, my architect confirmed is availability to alter the project according to the new configuration and wait to receive his fee when, after the planning permission, I'll finalize the sale of 50% of the shares to the new business partner and receive the public funds financing.
Nevertheless, I'd like to ask you to give me a quote to develop the architectural project because you might be able, opposite of what happens with my local architect, to give me a deadline for doing it and respect it, here when they say "next week" it means at least 6 weeks if you are lucky. Also, my architect is much more used to develop more conventional designs while you are specialized in the field of greenhouse living and it would make much more sense if you could do it. So if I know the cost of doing this with you, I could see how to arrange it financially. In this case, obviously, you would have to do all the drawings, then my local architect would take care of the bureaucratic process to get the building permit.
All the engineering with water treatment etc. would come right afterward.
At this point, I have to tell you the way it works here with the building permit, probably is the same in Sweden.
First, you submit the architectural project together with a general description of the project. Once this is approved, you have 6 months to submit the engineering project, when this is approved then you have another six months to ask for the building permit.
Now the estimated costs. As you can see here below
we have 3 different phases to build the whole resort, the total cost it is roughly estimated to be € 4.347.815 but this figure will change and I will update it as soon as the final quotes will arrive.
About the timing, in Portugal, this is a million dollars question. Ideally, it should take 3 months from now to license the glass cabin where I live now, and another 3 months to license the tourism project but I wouldn't be surprised if 6 months becomes 8, 10 or 12. Once we have the license and we are ready to start building, things should go relatively fast considering the way we decided to build.
