Nowadays, commitment to innovation in all areas together with diversification and search for new opportunities are some of the main targets of the construction industry, which has been seriously affected by the crisis both in Spain and in the rest of Europe. In this framework, the celebration of quality Technical Workshops is a top level tool that the fourth edition of CONSTRULAN, the Construction, Equipment and Facilities Trade Show will provide from 14 to 17 April at Bilbao Exhibition Centre.

This way, the future and challenges of the sector will lead once more the technical programme of the show. The constitution of Technical Forums dealing with biomass, geothermics, cogeneration, hybrid systems and piping insulation in installations is already confirmed. Moreover, world prominent architects will set out their particular view on sustainability at EGURTEK, the 3^rd Symposium on Timber Architecture and Construction, which will be held in parallel on April 15-16.

This year, CONSTRULAN proposals come from organisations like the Basque Federation of Sanitation, Gas, Heating and Related Business Associations (FAVI), the Basque Association of Indoor Environmental Quality (AVECAI), the Spanish Technical Association of Air Conditioning and Refrigeration (ATECYR) and the Association of Basque Heat and Cold Maintenance and Installation Industries (AMICYF), among others.

In turn, EGURTEK will spread timber qualities as a sustainable building material through the expertise of architects and studios like Kaden Klingbeil, the Berlin company that signed the first timber project in the centre of a European city; Sou Fujimoto, young Japanese architect with worldwide renowned works like the Treatment Centre for Children with Mental Disorders; and Carlos Puente, local architect (from Bilbao) settled in Madrid and finalist for the Mies van der Rohe Award of the European Community, among others.

Communications Department, January 2010