In an interview for the Nivell magazine, of the Balearic Builders’ Association, our Marketing Manager talks about her experience in India. What have you cooperated on? As Grupo Ferrá’s designated manager in charge of the implementation of its Corporate Social Responsibility policies, I had been looking for a while for a trustworthy and transparent organisation that we felt we could trust. I had been given excellent...
Carmen Planas: “Providing a safe and healthy working environment is a key factor because companies are made up of people and if staff members are doing well, companies thrive.” Endesa, Meliá Hotels International, Angel 24 and Mac Insular were this edition’s finalists. Palma, 22 June 2018. - The companies Sampol y Ferratur won the 7th...
This past month of February we had the chance to travel to Anantapur, India, for the inauguration of the dwellings that Grupo Ferrá has made possible through a partnership agreement with the Vicente Ferrer Foundation and also to find out more about the development programme that this non-governmental organisation is implementing there. The project in India We were actively seeking a solidarity initiative that was related to...
Grupo Ferrá is currently undertaking the construction of a single-family villa within a magnificent plot of land offering a 1,412 sq. m. garden, complete with a swimming pool designed in a functional style, at the Sol de Mallorca Residential Area, in the municipal district of Calvià. This idyllic location on the Mediterranean Sea can be easily reached from any European airport. This villa is the first out of five exclusive properties...
Grupo Ferrá is fully aware that all national and regional economic sectors need to modernise, to implement a policy of ongoing training, to update their work processes and to adapt them using the new technologies available. With this goal in mind, on 21 April Grupo Ferrá and the Fundación Laboral de la Construcción de Baleares (Foundation for the Promotion of Work in the Construction Industry of the Balearic Islands) entered into a partnership...
Grupo Ferrá wishes to warmly congratulate the Grupo Ferrá – Sagrat Cor Female 11-12 years-old Volleyball team on the excellent results that they have achieved in the II Edition of the Spanish Female 11-12 years-old National Championship 2017 that has been held between June 23 and 25 in Valladolid. After an intense weekend, they managed to achieve a magnificent tenth...
Our commitment translates into the responsible handling of our company’s human resources in terms of attending to their personal needs and ensuring their training and professional development. In social matters, we support projects aimed at improving the human right situation in countries with high poverty levels.
Location: Urb. Son Vida – T.M. Palma.
Constructed area: 2.250 m2
Location: Mont Port – T.M. Andrtax.
Location: Bendinat – T.M. Calviá.
Constructed area: 840 m2
In an interview for the Nivell magazine, of the Balearic Builders’ Association, our Marketing Manager talks about her experience in India.
What have you cooperated on?
As Grupo Ferrá’s designated manager in charge of the implementation of its Corporate Social Responsibility policies, I had been looking for a while for a trustworthy and transparent organisation that we felt we could trust. I had been given excellent feedback about the Vicente Ferrer Foundation (FVF – Fundación Vicente Ferrer), so I arranged a visit with them. After meeting the representative of the Vicente Ferrer Foundation for the Balearic Islands, Isabel Pizá, and starting to work together, I realised that I had finally found an organisation from which we could learn, and with which we could share experiences and grow in terms of corporate responsibility. Our company shares a common philosophy and core values with the Vicente Ferrer Foundation, which is essential when choosing your allies.
In July 2016 we started to support the Habitat project of the Vicente Ferrer Foundation, thus enabling the construction of homes for families belonging to the most disadvantaged sections of the Indian society and facilitating their access to dignified living conditions in a tiny village called Kogira, in the area of Penukonda, Madakasira region, in the country’s southeast. Getting involved in this home building project was a way of empowering women in India, given that the houses were registered in their names so that if they are abandoned by their husbands or widowed, no one can evict them from their homes, which unfortunately is a quite common occurrence in rural India.
After receiving the first report and the pictures showing the project’s implementation, we decided to renew our cooperation. However, we received a very unusual response from the Foundation, because Isabel Pizá told us: “Wait, before continuing your cooperation with us you need to travel to Anantapur to see the results of your solidarity first hand”. A few months later, a delegation from Grupo Ferrá flew to India in order to inaugurate the houses that we had built.
Getting to know and see the Foundation´s project with our own eyes, as well as the management transparency and everything else that we saw while on the ground was such a positive experience that it encouraged us to continue supporting the Vicente Ferrer Foundation and to remain at their side in the fight against the extreme poverty.
In July 2017 began new building work for the construction of houses in the village of Kanumpalli, in the Padini area, in northern Anantapur.
As an experience, what has it given you on a personal level?
The experience has been very enriching from all points of view, as well as an excellent opportunity for learning and transforming our company. Of course, it has also had quite a significant impact on a personal level, because getting in touch with other realities that are radically different from ours suddenly opens your eyes to new perspectives. It is not possible to see life again in the way that you did before.
Who has travelled to India on behalf of the Group?
Three members of the Grupo Ferrá team made the journey: Raquel Carrasco Barrio, Financial Director, Antoni Gurrera, Managing Director and me.
Will you continue this cooperation?
We have decided to renew our commitment with the Vicente Ferrer Foundation and, as I have mentioned earlier, we are participating in the construction of more houses that will restore dignity to the inhabitants of Kanumpalli. We are extremely proud to be able to make a contribution, however small, to give families in one of the poorest areas of southern India access to a better life, because what would be considered to be a fundamental right in our society for them is a real opportunity to escape extreme poverty.
Is this the first time that you have executed Corporate Social Responsibility project abroad? What is your Corporate Social Responsibility policy in the Balearic Islands?
We do not distinguish between global and local action. Our commitment as a company is to implement any guidelines and practices necessary that may lead to the achievement of economic, environmental and social balance. In this context, such a distinction would make no sense.
We have recently started cooperating with the company 3 Glops from Mallorca, dedicated to the occupational integration of persons with mental illness through a special employment centre. We have also cooperated with AEA Solidaria, an NGO created and managed by the staff of the airline Air Europa, by sending clothes to children at risk of social exclusion in the municipal district of Boca Chica, in the Dominican Republic.
Carmen Planas: “Providing a safe and healthy working environment is a key factor because companies are made up of people and if staff members are doing well, companies thrive.”
Endesa, Meliá Hotels International, Angel 24 and Mac Insular were this edition’s finalists.
Palma, 22 June 2018. - The companies Sampol y Ferratur won the 7th CAEB Awards for Good Business Practices in Occupational Health and Safety organised by the Confederation of Business Associations of the Balearic Islands (CAEB - Confederación de Asociaciones Empresariales de Baleares) in cooperation with the Spanish Foundation for the Prevention of Occupational Hazards (FSP - Fundación Estatal para la Prevención de Riesgos Laborales). The companies that have been named as finalists are the following (in alphabetical order): Endesa and Meliá Hotels International, in the category for “Companies with more than 200 employees” as well as Angel 24 and Mac Insular in the category for “Companies with 1 to 200 employees”.
The President of the CAEB has pointed out that “with these awards the CAEB wishes to recognise and highlight the efforts and hard work of the companies in the field of occupational risk prevention”. Carmen Planas congratulated the winners and finalists, stating that “providing a safe and healthy working environment is a key factor for companies to stay competitive because companies are made up of people and if staff members are doing well, companies thrive”.
Planas has also explained that “occupational safety and health is a value that the CAEB has championed and promoted for more than 18 years through a quite extensive effort in providing training, information, advice and support to the local business community”.
The event’s attendees included the Head of the Department of Health Promotion and Occupational Epidemiology of the National Institute of Safety, Health and Welfare at Work (INSSBT - Instituto Nacional de Seguridad, Salud y Bienestar en el Trabajo), Francisco Marqués; the head of the Social Security and Occupational Risk Prevention Service of the Confederation of Employers’ Organisations of Spain (CEOE - Confederación Española de Organizaciones Empresariales), Marina Gordón, and the General Director of Labour, Social Economy and Occupational Health of the Regional Government of the Balearic Islands, Isabel Castro.
This past month of February we had the chance to travel to Anantapur, India, for the inauguration of the dwellings that Grupo Ferrá has made possible through a partnership agreement with the Vicente Ferrer Foundation and also to find out more about the development programme that this non-governmental organisation is implementing there.
The project in India
We were actively seeking a solidarity initiative that was related to the Group’s action philosophy with the goal of thanking society for all the support we receive, and to also show that part of that support and of our customers’ trust in us can be transformed into opportunities for others. Thus, we took the decision to support the Habitat project of the Vicente Ferrer Foundation, enabling the construction of homes for families belonging to the most disadvantaged sections of the Indian society and facilitating their access to dignified living conditions in a tiny village called Kogira in the Madakasira region.
Our commitment has led us to get involved in this home building project as a way to empower women in India. In line with this goal, the Vicente Ferrer Foundation records ownership of these houses naming the women as registered owners in order to guarantee their right to continue living there indefinitely, thus preventing their eviction in case that they are abandoned by their husbands or become widowed, something which might seem obvious to us but that is not always the case in rural India.
Through this solidarity initiative we have participated in the building project of a colony in Kogira, and our contribution has consisted of providing three families with access their own house, which will protect them from high temperatures (which can sometimes reach 45ºC), from snake bites or scorpion stings, or from the monsoon season, for which purpose these houses have been built at a 60 centimetres elevation above ground level in order to prevent damage in case of possible torrential floods during the rainy season. Some of them are also adapted for disabled people.
The houses have been built with good lighting conditions, ventilation and the basic sanitary requirements. Water is manually collected from wells. Construction of this colony prevents the emigration of these families to large cities, where poverty becomes misery.
The Universal Declaration of Humans Rights sets forth in article 25 that everyone has a right to enjoy decent and adequate housing and with this initiative Grupo Ferra shows that we can all do our part in order to address this great challenge.
This initiative has been so positive that it spurs us in our desire to continue supporting this organisation, to walk hand in hand with them in their ongoing fight against extreme poverty, which is still a daily experience for too many people. We urge you to join us in the satisfaction that brings participating in a solidarity action. It’s important to remember that, as the Hindu thinker Mahatma Gandhi said: "The difference between what we do and what we are capable of doing would suffice to solve most of the world's problems".
The Vicente Ferrer Foundation has been working for nearly fifty years for the comprehensive development of the poorest and most disadvantaged communities of the Andhra Pradesh state. We encourage you to get to know them better and to try and find the most appropriate way in which you can cooperate with this foundation. You may find further information about them on the website www.fundacionvicenteferrer.org.
Act now! What you give is much less than what you get.
Grupo Ferrá is currently undertaking the construction of a single-family villa within a magnificent plot of land offering a 1,412 sq. m. garden, complete with a swimming pool designed in a functional style, at the Sol de Mallorca Residential Area, in the municipal district of Calvià. This idyllic location on the Mediterranean Sea can be easily reached from any European airport.
This villa is the first out of five exclusive properties that the developer plans to build, and it will be completed in 2018. Once finished, it will offer a built-up area measuring approximately 440 sq. m., distributed on two storeys, with an indoor garage and two large terraces, one of which is covered and boasts panoramic views, five bedrooms and a stunning dining room with a double-height ceiling of over six metres that will lend a pleasant air of roominess to the entire property.
The architect, Miguel Olazábal, has integrated the surrounding landscape and Mediterranean traditions into the design by using a colour palette based on white and earth tones, combined with large picture windows that add elegance and depth to the villa as seen from the outside, and luminosity and dynamism to its interior.
For more information on this project: www.pleinsoleilmallorca.com
Grupo Ferrá is fully aware that all national and regional economic sectors need to modernise, to implement a policy of ongoing training, to update their work processes and to adapt them using the new technologies available. With this goal in mind, on 21 April Grupo Ferrá and the Fundación Laboral de la Construcción de Baleares (Foundation for the Promotion of Work in the Construction Industry of the Balearic Islands) entered into a partnership agreement for the implementation of the BIM methodology (Building Information Modelling) in this construction firm headquartered in the Balearic Islands. On this event, Grupo Ferrá was represented by Ana Ferrá, Marketing Manager, and Antoni Gurrera, General Manager of the group, and the FLC by Mario Guillén, Manager for the Balearic Islands of the jointly-participated entity.
This agreement, which stems from Grupo Ferrá’s ambition to become one of the pioneering firms in its industry for implementing the new building methodology in the Balearic Islands, will lead to providing the appropriate training to its technical staff.
BIM, AN INTEGRATED WORK METHODOLOGY THAT RELIES ON MULTIPLE TOOLS
BIM, an acronym for the expression Building Information Modelling, is a process involving the generation and management of data throughout a building’s life cycle on the basis of a 3D dynamic modelling software operating in real time, in order to minimise design costs for the building both in terms of resources and time. The process creates a data model of the building’s geometry, its geographical information, components, amounts and spatial relationships. In short, BIM is a methodology comprising processes and procedures within a multidisciplinary team that establishes a smart connection between a bidirectional relationship enabling it to be updated in real time.
BETTER PROFESSIONALS WITH BETTER TOOLS
Starting on June, over 20 Grupo Ferrá employees will commence a programme of theoretical and practical training on the operation of the Autodesk Revit tool, for the basic modelling under the BIM methodology, addressed to technical staff and project managers, and its practical application to building projects. At a later stage, technical staff members will also be trained in the handling of measurements and budgeting of projects under the BIM methodology using Presto’s Cost-it module, working on the basis of practical examples with real projects and analysing possible design conflicts at the project stage with Autodesk Navisworks, which will allow them to correct such conflicts before the start of construction works. Finally, all professionals will acquire the know-how required to undertake the planning of projects under the BIM methodology in 4D using the Synchro tool, which will enable our technical staff to run simulations and spot potential conflicts in the project’s execution, as well as to define its timeline.
Grupo Ferrá wishes to warmly congratulate the Grupo Ferrá – Sagrat Cor Female 11-12 years-old Volleyball team on the excellent results that they have achieved in the II Edition of the Spanish Female 11-12 years-old National Championship 2017 that has been held between June 23 and 25 in Valladolid. After an intense weekend, they managed to achieve a magnificent tenth position among the thirty-two participating teams from throughout Spain.
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