ACCIONA Technology Centre in Madrid designs, develops and applies the most advanced construction materials, which will change the quality of life in the future. These materials will be found in multiple structures such as: roads, bridges, tunnels, streets, pipes and installations that supply people with water, energy and services.

For any type of construction, the materials are a fundamental part of the process. They form an essential part of the buildings we live and work in, roads, bridges, tunnels and streets we move around on, the pipelines and installations that supply us with water, energy and services. Increasingly so, the materials and the importance of accurate combinations of materials, create the aesthetics, structural endurance, functionality and durability of our environment.

The correct application of materials is vital to the construction sector to improve productivity and reduce maintenance costs. At ACCIONA we work with inorganic and polymeric materials, scientifically and technologically improving the construction materials. Through the use of nanomaterials we make improvements to the structural and functional properties of materials as well as improve their energy efficiency of construction components, and high added value with multifunctional materials which optimize service conditions and comfort.

From the ACCIONA Technology Centre in Madrid, we work on the application of the science of materials, understanding their structure, and using nanomaterials that make new applications of materials possible in construction. Through the project Cenit DOMINO, we work in the application of nanomaterials like the nanosepiolite and carbon nanofibres. These nanomaterials are applied to new concrete formulas, making processes shorter, through the modification and chemical control of the hydration processes, as well as through modifications that provide self-cleaning and biocidal capabilities incorporating photo catalysts, thus reducing the need for maintenance in buildings. In the field of organic materials, new polymers with electric conduction capacity are being developed.

The constructions of the future will be lighter and be easy and quick to erect, and allow for custom design. Its lightness and high performance will reduce the use of heavy machinery and simplify transport, which together mean a significant reduction of energy needed for its fabrication and set-up. These materials, on which our department of Research & Development has been working for more than 15 years, are reinforced polymer materials with high-performance fibres, the application of which has been developed in numerous research projects and was successfully tested in the construction of three road bridges of this type of material in Spain which have received various engineering prizes in the sector.

Through the POCO project (financed by the European Union), ACCIONA will use carbon nanotubes especially modified for the improvement of performance and costs of these light materials in polymeric base for construction. In this project we collaborate with companies like the aeronautical manufacturer EADS and the automotive manufacturer FIAT.

Air-conditioning in buildings consumes increasingly more energy, so from ACCIONA’s technology centre in Madrid, phase change materials (PCMs) are being applied to control temperatures which, due to their intrinsic physical properties, regulate the excess or shortage of heat, minimizing thermal fluctuations and reducing energy consumption. Along this same line of energy efficient buildings, we work on the synthesis of materials with sol-gel such as aero gel, nanoporous materials that are very light and have a high insulation capacity. Introducing these materials such as translucent insulating systems contributes new possibilities to the architectural design as well as improvements in efficiency.