ULMA Architectural Solutions

Last updated
ULMA Architectural Solutions
Type Cooperative
IndustryConstruction
Founded1990
Headquarters Oñati,
Area served
Worldwide
Key people
Unai Arregi (President)
ProductsChannels and Drainage, Architectural Pre-fabricates, Enclosure Walls, Ventilated Facades and Urban Furniture.
Number of employees
250 (2023)
Subsidiaries Portugal, France, Brazil, United Kingdom, Italy, Germany and United States
Website www.ulmaarchitectural.com

ULMA Architectural Solutions is a cooperative in the construction sector that creates prefabricated products for drainage and architecture. In the field of architecture it offers: ventilated facades, industrialized enclosures, customized prefabricated products and urban furniture. It is one of the 9 cooperative companies that make up ULMA, one of the largest business groups in northern Spain. [1]

Contents

History

ULMA Architectural Solutions is one of the 9 companies which make up ULMA cooperative group, which dates back to 1957 when six young mechanics set up a small workshop in Oñate (Guipúzcoa) to offer ancillary services to the chocolate industry in the region. In 1961, they formed the Industrial Cooperative Talleres ULMA S.C.I., the name of which is an acronym of their surnames, following the example of the founders of Fagor Electrodomésticos.

Although their first business was based on chocolate packaging machines (which led to the company now known as ULMA Packaging), in 1963 they patented the first JJEIP prefabricated scaffolding in Spain, which was their introduction to the construction business. As their business grew with products such as construction flanges and forklift trucks, the different businesses adopted a new, unique corporate image which took shape in the 1990s.

In 1990 ULMA Group decided to launch a new business called ULMA Polymer Concrete, dedicated to the manufacture of prefabricated polymer concrete drainage channels and window sills, as part of ULMA Construction. In 1991, the new business set up its premises and began to manufacture the first prefabricated pieces of polymer concrete, a material hitherto unknown in Spain. Indeed, it was so unknown that it was not sure how to translate "polymer concrete" into Spanish, and ended up calling it "mineral colado".

In 1996, the company left ULMA Construction and set up as a business under the name ULMA Polymer Concrete. In 1997 it consolidated its own sales network and, in 2001, started to manufacture and market ventilated facades, which supplemented its existing products such as architectural prefabricates. Its headquarters, covering 12,000 sqm. in the Zubillaga district in Oñati, opened in 2001. [2]

Economic data

Rio de Janeiro office Fachada ventilada de ULMA en Mis, de Rio de Janeiro.jpg
Rio de Janeiro office

In 2023 ULMA Architectural Solutions has 250 employees. It forms part of ULMA Group, is present in 80 countries with a workforce of 5,500 people and turns over 1000 million euros. The other businesses in the group are ULMA Construction, ULMA Forklift Trucks, ULMA Conveyor Components, ULMA Embebbed Solutions, ULMA Handling Systems, ULMA Packaging and ULMA Forged Solutions.

Products

ULMA Architectural Solutions manufactures four types of products all in polymer concrete:

All these products are made of polymer concrete, a material composed of a combination of silica and quartz aggregates, bound by stable polyester resins. It is up to four times more resistant to compression than traditional concrete, allowing the production of lightweight elements - pieces with a thinner profile that allow the use of auxiliary means of transport to the construction site - and of reduced dimensions. [3] [4] [5] [6]

International market

Since 2009, ULMA Architectural Solutions has opened subsidiaries in Portugal, France, Brazil, Germany, the United Kingdom, Italy and the United States. It has a presence through distributors in more than 20 countries around the world.

Projects

Kompaq Drain building block, from ULMA Kompaq Drain.jpg
Kompaq Drain building block, from ULMA

Since 2016 ULMA Architectural Solutions has also offered indoor coatings with different textures, colours, finishes and formats. [7] [8] [9] [10] [11] [12] [13] [14] [15]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Façade</span> Exterior part of a building, usually the front but not always

A façade or facade is generally the front part or exterior of a building. It is a loanword from the French façade, which means "frontage" or "face".

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Modular building</span> Prefabricated building or house that consists of repeated sections

A modular building is a prefabricated building that consists of repeated sections called modules. Modularity involves constructing sections away from the building site, then delivering them to the intended site. Installation of the prefabricated sections is completed on site. Prefabricated sections are sometimes placed using a crane. The modules can be placed side-by-side, end-to-end, or stacked, allowing for a variety of configurations and styles. After placement, the modules are joined together using inter-module connections, also known as inter-connections. The inter-connections tie the individual modules together to form the overall building structure.

Prefabrication is the practice of assembling components of a structure in a factory or other manufacturing site, and transporting complete assemblies or sub-assemblies to the construction site where the structure is to be located. Some researchers refer it to “various materials joined together to form a component of the final installation procedure“.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Mondragon Corporation</span> Spanish cooperative federation

The Mondragon Corporation is a corporation and federation of worker cooperatives based in the Basque region of Spain.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Santiago de Compostela Cathedral</span> Catholic cathedral in Galicia, Spain

The Santiago de Compostela Archcathedral Basilica is part of the Metropolitan Archdiocese of Santiago de Compostela and is an integral component of the Santiago de Compostela World Heritage Site in Galicia, Spain. The cathedral is the reputed burial place of Saint James the Great, one of the apostles of Jesus Christ. It is also among the remaining churches in the world built over the tomb of an apostle, the other ones being St Peter's Basilica in Vatican City, St Thomas Cathedral Basilica in Chennai, India and Basilica of St. John in Izmir, Turkey.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">San Mamés Stadium (1913)</span> Stadium at Bilbao, Basque Country

San Mamés Stadium, was a football stadium in Bilbao, Biscay, Spain. The stadium was the home of Athletic Bilbao, known as Los Leones de San Mamés-Bilboko lehoiak. They are known as Los Leones because their stadium was built near a church called San Mamés. Mammes was an early Christian, born in A.D. 259, who was thrown to the lions by the Romans.

A building envelope or building enclosure is the physical separator between the conditioned and unconditioned environment of a building, including the resistance to air, water, heat, light, and noise transfer.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Precast concrete</span> Construction material

Precast concrete is a construction product produced by casting concrete in a reusable mold or "form" which is then cured in a controlled environment, transported to the construction site and maneuvered into place; examples include precast beams, and wall panels for tilt up construction. In contrast, cast-in-place concrete is poured into site-specific forms and cured on site.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Geocomposite</span>

Geocomposites are combinations of two or more geosynthetic materials for civil engineering applications that perform multiple geosynthetic functions. Such composite materials enhance technical properties of the soil or the geotechnical structure, while minimizing application costs.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Construction aggregate</span> Coarse to fine grain rock materials used in concrete

Construction aggregate, or simply aggregate, is a broad category of coarse- to medium-grained particulate material used in construction, including sand, gravel, crushed stone, slag, recycled concrete and geosynthetic aggregates. Aggregates are the most mined materials in the world. Aggregates are a component of composite materials such as concrete and asphalt; the aggregate serves as reinforcement to add strength to the overall composite material. Due to the relatively high hydraulic conductivity value as compared to most soils, aggregates are widely used in drainage applications such as foundation and French drains, septic drain fields, retaining wall drains, and roadside edge drains. Aggregates are also used as base material under foundations, roads, and railroads. In other words, aggregates are used as a stable foundation or road/rail base with predictable, uniform properties, or as a low-cost extender that binds with more expensive cement or asphalt to form concrete. Although most kinds of aggregate require a form of binding agent, there are types of self-binding aggregate which do not require any form of binding agent.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Superabsorbent polymer</span> Polymers that can absorb and retain extremely large amounts of a liquid relative to their own mass

A superabsorbent polymer (SAP) (also called slush powder) is a water-absorbing hydrophilic homopolymers or copolymers that can absorb and retain extremely large amounts of a liquid relative to its own mass.

Basement waterproofing involves techniques and materials used to prevent water from penetrating the basement of a house or a building. Waterproofing a basement that is below ground level can require the application of sealant materials, the installation of drains and sump pumps, and more.

Polymer concrete, also known as Epoxy Granite, is a type of concrete that uses a polymer to replace lime-type cements as a binder. In some cases the polymer is used in addition to Portland cement to form Polymer Cement Concrete (PCC) or Polymer Modified Concrete (PMC). Polymers in concrete have been overseen by Committee 548 of the American Concrete Institute since 1971.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">San Mamés Stadium (2013)</span> Football stadium in Bilbao, Spain that opened in 2013

San Mamés is an all-seater football stadium in Rafael Moreno Pitxitxi Kalea, Bilbao, Basque Country, Spain. Inaugurated on 16 September 2013, the stadium replaced the "old" San Mamés as the home of Athletic Bilbao. With a capacity of 53,331 seats, San Mamés is the 7th-largest stadium in Spain and the largest in the Basque Country.

Antiguoko Kirol Elkartea is an amateur youth Spanish football club based in Antiguo, a part of San Sebastián, in the Basque Country, Spain.

Commercial Modular Buildings are code-compliant, non-residential structures that are 60% to 90% completed offsite in a factory-controlled environment. They are then transported or shipped to a final destination where the modules are then erected onto a concrete foundation to form a finished building. The word "modular" does not describe a building type or style; it simply describes a means of construction.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Translucent concrete</span> Concrete-based building material which lets through light

Translucent concrete is a concrete based building material with light-transmissive properties due to embedded light optical elements — usually optical fibers. Light is conducted through the stone from one end to the other. Therefore, the fibers have to go through the whole object. This results in a certain light pattern on the other surface, depending on the fiber structure. Shadows cast onto one side appear as silhouettes through the material.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">ULMA Group</span> Spanish industrial cooperative group

The ULMA Group is a business group made up of nine cooperatives that operate in diverse sectors: ULMA Greenhouses, ULMA Architectural Solutions, ULMA Maintenance Services, ULMA Conveyor Components, ULMA Embedded Solutions, ULMA Handling Systems, ULMA Construction, ULMA Packaging and ULMA Advanced Forged Solutions.

ULMA Construction is a Spanish company that produces and distributes industrialized formwork and scaffolding systems for building, civil works, and rehabilitation. Ulma is operating in 80 countries on five continents through the rental and sale of its services and products, technical project development, and on-site consultancy. 

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pontevedra Municipal Sports Hall</span> Sports venue in Pontevedra, Spain

The Pontevedra Municipal Sports Hall(Pabellón Municipal de los Deportes) is an arena in Pontevedra, Spain. It is primarily used for team handball and is the home arena of SD Teucro. The arena holds 4,000 people. It is located in the neighbourhood of O Burgo.

References

  1. "GRUPO ULMA. Diversificación, aprovechamiento de sinergias, personas e impulso a la creatividad, claves del desarrollo de un grupo innovador". ADEGI (in Spanish). 2013-01-01. Retrieved 2023-02-23.
  2. "ULMA Architectural solutions cumple 25 años". Profesionales Hoy. Retrieved 2016-07-03.
  3. "Cubreventanas Para Protección Contra Lluvia en Hormigón Polimero". La Casa de la Construcción. Retrieved 2016-07-03.
  4. "Innovación en la envolvente arquitectónica". Tecnalia. Retrieved 2016-07-03.
  5. "Soluciones para revestimientos interiores de ULMA". Profesionales Hoy. Retrieved 2016-07-03.
  6. "Ulma Architectural Solutions, galardonada con el Premio NAN 2013 a los mejores materiales". TU Lankide. Retrieved 2016-07-03.
  7. "Residencia con 6.000 metros cuadrados de fachada ventilada en Bilbao". Detalles y proyectos de arquitectura. Retrieved 2016-07-03.
  8. "Fachada ventilada ULMA en Mis de Río de Janeiro". ULMA Architectural Solutions. Retrieved 2016-07-03.
  9. "14.000 metros rehabilitados con fachada ventilada ULMA". Publicaciones digitales técnicas. 2014-03-06. Retrieved 2016-07-03.
  10. "Rehabilitación de terrazas con prefabricados de acabado pétreo". Construible. 2014-02-28. Retrieved 2016-07-03.
  11. "Ulma instala un sistema de drenaje en un centro comercial italiano". SPRI. 2016-03-30. Retrieved 2016-07-03.
  12. "14000 metros rehabilitados con fachada ventilada". ULMA Architectural Solutions. Retrieved 2016-07-03.
  13. "Instalados 3.000 ml de fachada ventilada de hormigón polímero en el Hotel Portoseguro de São Paulo". Detalles y proyectos de arquitectura. Retrieved 2016-07-03.
  14. "Amplía gama de productos con desagüe lineal". Allgemeinebauzeitung. Retrieved 2016-07-03.
  15. "Canal compacto Compaq Drain" . Retrieved 2016-07-03.