1. Could you briefly introduce Rossell Giner and his role in the construction sector?

We are a company of technical architects that has evolved over the years and currently specializes in managing the execution of works, including the previous phases, with active participation in architectural projects, until the delivery of the work and subsequent monitoring.

2. With 25 years of experience in the sector, what significant changes have you observed in construction and how have you adapted to these changes?

Although it seems like just a few years, the evolution has been incredible, both in the development of projects, as well as with construction systems, prefabrication, planning, etc.

For example, when I started working, the most sophisticated tool was a table with a parallax… where the bravest ones began to enter the world of Autocad. Today, it is completely impossible for an office to do a project without tools such as Autocad, Revit, Allplan, among others.

We have gone from drawing in 2D to modularizing projects.

In terms of pure construction, many innovative systems have been introduced, such as CLT, prefabricated elements, dry construction…

The management of works, as a DEO, has also been nourished by the introduction of computers and tools that help us do our work.

3. What are the main areas of innovation that you have identified in your architecture and engineering processes?

Processes have evolved a lot with the tools we have at our disposal today. Nowadays we carry projects on our phone, tablet or computer, and on paper, in DIN A3 and rarely in DIN A1 format, which means that we always have the entire project at hand. Clouds and applications help us to have the documentation centralized, updated and accessible at all times.

In recent years, we have begun to introduce applications to geolocate incidents on site, creating workflows until their resolution, which is very useful for DEO tasks.

4. How do you assess the impact of technology on your daily work? Is there any tool or software that you consider essential?

It is becoming more important every day to adapt our way of working with new computer tools, such as taking notes in PDF files, creating communication groups for each performance, etc.

Within the DEO tools there are some that we consider essential. The first is the measurement and budget management, which for us is TCQ, but there are other companies that use Presto or even Excel.

For document management, we like Teams, as it also has a chat section. But there are many others, such as Dropbox, BIM360, Procore, etc.

For construction management and construction reviews, we like Dalux or Procore.

For quality management, we are starting with Beware, since until now we did it through the clouds with our own system.

5. Can you share a specific example of a recent project where you have applied technological innovations? What results did you obtain?

Apart from the applications, we have also applied different work methodologies, such as Lean and Last Planner, for the temporary management of the works, with magnificent results.

We have achieved the most spectacular results with works for CatSalut, with the construction of hospitals of approximately 6,000 m² in a record time of less than 8 months.

6. How do you stay up to date on new trends and emerging technologies in the field of architecture and engineering?

Social networks such as LinkedIn and publications from ITeC and CATEB help us discover new trends, as well as major fairs such as Construmat .

7. What role do startups play in your innovation strategy? Do you collaborate with any specific startups ? If so, how did this collaboration begin? What criteria do you use to decide which ones to collaborate with?

We are currently collaborating with Beware .

We hope that startups will play a fundamental role in the company, with optimization and streamlining of processes and communications.

We have little experience in this world and in terms of collaboration criteria, in these first steps, we are taking them hand in hand with Barcelona Contech Hub.

8. If you have collaborated with startups , how do you integrate the innovative solutions they provide into your projects? Is there an established process for this integration?

We are participating in the development of a tool that we believe will be of great use to our sector and that we are already in the internal testing phase.

9. What are the main challenges you have encountered in implementing new technologies and innovations in your projects?

Above all, agility, speed, that they are intuitive, flexible, that they have a mobile application and that they give added value to our work, that they make our lives and procedures easier.

10. How do you think the use of technology and innovation can influence the sustainability of architectural projects?

It is a revolution to which we must adapt and which will certainly be exciting.

Sustainability is increasingly at the center of projects, and with innovations and new technologies, we will certainly be able to further optimize projects and make them more sustainable.

11. What are your future plans in terms of innovation and technology? Are there any new trends or technologies that you are particularly excited about?

We love challenges and we embark on everything that has to do with continuous improvement, whether in construction processes or technological ones, for example, prefabrication management, Lean methodologies, environmental labels such as Breeam , Leed, implementation of BIM, both in project and work monitoring, obviously the TCQ, with all its modules, and with great desire to continue incorporating new knowledge and applying new tools.

12. What does participation in the Barcelona ConTech Hub as one of its Global Partners mean for Rossell Giner?

We want to contribute our experience to help with the creation and development of applications in the construction sector, with a critical and constructive vision at the same time.

At the Barcelona Contech Hub we appreciate your participation and hope that your responses can inspire other professionals in the sector to adopt new technologies and innovative approaches.