Again all relative and depends on the skills and knowledge of the architect and the people building. You can also get cheap concrete houses that fall apart after a few years, or you'll find that it's not the type of concrete you know. I quite like the combination of steel and wood but as you know sky's the limit when it comes to architecture.

Maybe you're right, but around here, timber would be a lot more expensive with significantly lower quality and far more limited lifespan.

And again, with all the new construction going on around here now, I have yet to see one timber frame. Not one. But maybe I'm just blind.

Anyway, there are some new techniques being employed in brick and mortar structures which greatly improve energy efficiency, something builders previously didn't seem to put much thought into (as our non-freezing climate only gets rough from jan-mar). I see brick structures now being covered in thick insulation, then a façade of thick stone on top of it. Tile roofs are now being insulated with interior façades with timber (or coloured and grained concrete) beams to make it appear more traditional.

I'm currently in the market for a house, and for the first time, I'm seeing many more certified C and even B rated efficiency in the exposés. Previously, an E rating would be consideted pretty good for around here.

Things change quickly but as always Spain is sometimes a few steps behind. Of course it's still not as common everywhere in Spain but it's certainly moving forward. The problem again is that most people who don't spend much time researching options, think wood is automatically negative and then think of a cheap wood garden shed. That it can be a lot more energy efficient and a better structure is unknown and you don't have to have a complete wooden house and can combine materials. For the Spanish climate it can often be a lot better. As said, a lot of the time you wouldn't even see the wood, especially when modules are made in factory and then delivered.


This house here in link
156 m²

Energy Efficiency Rating
A



CO2 footprint
– 170 KgCO2/m²



Energy consumption for home climate control
18,7 kWh/m²year



Construction time
10 weeks


NOEM | Modern wooden houses. Prefabricated houses design




Of course if you live on an island and have to ship materials etc. the idea of eco goes out of the window.

We have a roof consisting of faced polystyrene panels supported by laminated treated beams. The beams are a visual attraction but they were very expensive - like €10000 and that was 15 years ago.

The walls are double brick with a 10cm air gap and the inside of the outer wall was sprayed with foam. Combined, they offer pretty good insulation.

Thanks for that. Fortunately for us, wood frame has little to do with efficiency. Design and insulation materials (along with double glazing and all the commonly known design aspects) have a significant impact, however.

I suppose where wood is cheap, so goes the cost of building. Along with the quality and longevity of the structure. Luckily, we aren't yet subjected to that.

The cost of building would be roughly the same in Mallorca as it would be around Barcelona. €1000 per m2 is always a good guide. What I meant is that the term eco building is in relation to how far materials have to travel to get to the plot. Of course other things help to reduce footprint.

€1k M² was the figure builders on the costas used to pluck out of the air over 10 years ago, how times change😊

Yep and that was for a low quality standard build. No matter what type of build/material you go for now, you'll get a high quality build for that money now including architect.