AEDAS Homes, a leading publicly traded homebuilder in Spain, has just launched its latest modular project – Vanian Valley. Designed to respond to its exceptional natural surroundings and views of the Mediterranean Sea, Vanian Valley is the first large-scale offsite development on the Costa del Sol.
The development, nestled in the hills outside Estepona on the Costa del Sol’s new ‘Golden Mile’, is half an hour from Marbella and 50 minutes from Malaga’s international airport. The 53 townhouses have a gross development value of €35.3million (£32million) and employ a volumetric 3D steel construction system with steelreinforced cast concrete slabs.
Designed by HCP Architecture and Engineering, a multi-disciplinary consultancy firm with projects in over 40 countries, the 193 modules that comprise Vanian Valley are being precision-built in a dedicated factory in Toledo by one of Spain’s leading volumetric manufacturers. The total build and installation programme is expected to take 52 weeks, with the 1 setting of the modules beginning after summer and delivery scheduled for autumn 2020.
Each Vanian Valley home has been designed to take advantage of the spectacular views and natural sunlight and overlooks the exclusive community’s pools and green areas. Depending on the typology, the houses have between 156 and 237sq m of floor area, three or four bedrooms, and three full baths. 24 units are laid out on two levels, and the other 29 have two levels plus a ‘tower’ with a rooftop terrace that enjoys panoramic views of the mountains and the sea. All the units have large balconies and floor-to-ceiling windows designed around a lifestyle of yearround sunshine.
However, the large number of units and the natural contours of the hillside site posed a unique set of challenges, which made the design for manufacture and assembly (DfMA) mindset critical in the planning phase of this project. To respond to the problem presented by the sloped terrain, a two-prong design strategy was employed: in five of the units, each one is comprised of two modules per floor, plus one module for the tower, while the other 48 units rely on a paired solution, similar in nature to the Etheria development in Madrid (see Offsite Magazine Issue 17). In order to maximise the installation of mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems, each pair of houses is comprised of three modules on the ground and first floors, separated by a party wall. 24 units will be topped with a single module to create the tower.
Logistics is a complex part of the Vanian Valley project, with the distance from factory to site being another key design constraint. In order to reduce the number of trips being made, each module was designed to be exceptionally large, measuring 12-14m long by 4.5m wide by 3.5-4m tall, dimensions which require a specialised truck. As modules are produced in the factory, they will be transported to a nearby empty plot for temporary storage before later being craned into their final location. This technique offers greater flexibility during the setting process and minimises the risk of the truck not being available as the modules roll off the assembly line.
Angel Fernandez, Director of AEDAS Offsite Homes, explained how customer needs influenced the company’s decision to go with modular, saying: “Homes in Vanian Valley start at €530,000 (£476,000) and our typical customer is looking for a large second home with an exceptional build quality, stunning views and plenty of light – and they want to be able to enjoy their new home next year, not two years from now. We chose modular for Vanian Valley because of the time we can save, and the control that it gives us over quality.
“While many of our customers are from Spain, we do have a significant number from northern Europe, so from a sales perspective, the time savings is really critical for us. If we had built Vanian Valley traditionally, it would have taken at least 24 months. Another plus is that many of these customers, especially those from Scandinavia, are familiar with offsite construction and its advantages, so this makes it especially attractive to this type of homebuyer.”
David Martinez, CEO of AEDAS Homes, added: “The Costa del Sol market is extremely competitive – if we can get our homes into the hands of customers faster, that gives us an edge. By year end, we will have launched around 180 offsite homes, and next year we will be scaling this up, so that by 2022, 10% of our deliveries will be offsite. The industrialisation of homebuilding is really reshaping our approach – we are now incorporating high-end modular bathrooms and panelised offsite solutions into many of our traditionally built, multi-storey developments, and we are actively working with suppliers to grow the offsite industry in Spain, which is still in the nascent stage.”
The Spanish home builder targets the mid to mid-high end of the residential market and operates in five major regions: Madrid, Catalonia, the East and Mallorca, Costa del Sol and Andalusia. The company has more than 4,000 units under construction across 64 developments and will deliver roughly 3,000 homes between 2019 and 2020.
