For the second consecutive year, yesterday we had the pleasure of attending the leading event for the residential real estate sector in the Balearic Islands as co-sponsors. Organised by El Económico and the Borbalán media agency, Mallorca Real Estate Summit brought together all the companies in the sector at Castillo Hotel Son Vida.

The sector's most pressing matters were discussed in the morning session, ranging from the latest real estate market trends to the challenges that we are currently facing in the Balearic Islands, including the approval of a new land-use plan, the renovation of the Paseo Marítimo, the construction of a tramway that will connect the whole bay area, the renovation of certain neighbourhoods, the rising cost of building materials, the upcoming elections and, more particularly, the lack of affordable housing.

All the attendees had the opportunity to listen to some of the most prestigious speakers in the real estate, construction, investments, architecture and interior design industries, such as Carme Pinós (National Architecture Award), José Hilá (Mayor of Palma) and Francina Armengol (President of the Regional Government of the Balearic Islands).

After the presentations, all the firms were able to exchange views during the Networking lunch held at the Castillo Hotel Son Vida.

As we already commented last year, the Mallorca Real Estate Summit is a much-needed event given the relevance of the matters presented and debated every year, and the importance of the fact that companies and leading personalities in the residential real estate sector in the Balearic Islands have a forum to meet and prepare new strategies as well as to find synergies.

To facilitate the attendance for all those professionals in the sector who wish to do so, both locally and internationally, the event is always streamed, in Spanish and in English.

If you couldn’t watch the stream yesterday, you will find a recording of the morning session by clicking here.

One of Grupo Ferrá's core values since the foundation of our firm is guaranteeing the utmost safety and protection in all our construction sites.

For this reason, one of our companies is exclusively dedicated to providing the latest advances in safety measures for construction sites. Thanks to Protech, a company of our group specialising in meeting the health and safety needs of construction companies in construction sites, Grupo Ferrá can offer its services with the maximum quality. We have developed an integrated management, monitoring and control system aimed at ensuring compliance with all applicable regulations, with the goal of ensuring that workers can operate under optimal conditions at construction sites.

Now, as always, we continue to improve and perfect our safety processes with the implementation of a new RSA protection system, that we have started using in the construction of the ongoing Son Ferriol Park project.

This protection system, consisting of temporary staircase guardrails with safety nets, offers support and containment from the start of the works and until the final railing is installed, without the need to uninstall it throughout the entire construction process. Below we will explain some of the advantages of working with the new RSA system.

Advantages of the RSA System

1. 1.Edge protection systems for two slabs at a time: slab floor + formwork floor.
2. Time saving  given that the formworkers don’t need to wait until edge protection is installed on each floor in order to start formworking, given that it is already protected in advance.
3. Installation without a crane. Higher overall safety: permanent safety, given that it is more difficult to manipulate by non-authorised personnel.
4. Safer protection compared to traditional L-shaped supports for safety netting, given that this system prevents falls.
5. Better image: the system is not only inherently safer, but the general safety perception is also higher, and additionally it improves the construction site’s image.

At Grupo Ferrá we are glad to have started employing this system, that we will implement in all our construction sites, thus meeting the highest safety standards for our teams on site.

Last week we attended the presentation of the full programme for the 2nd Paco de Lucía Festival, as special sponsors of this event.

Between the 1st and 5th of March, the city's most iconic cultural venues will host multiple activities, all designed to showcase the flamenco experience.

Concert Schedule

A flamenco concert will be held daily at the Teatre Principal de Palma or at the Teatre Xesc Forteza. Coinciding with the festival’s Opening Gala Concert, the first concert, which will proudly present the unmistakable voice of Estrella Morente at the Teatre Principal de Palma, has sold out all available tickets.

The concert schedule will be as follows:

More activities of 2nd Paco de Lucía Festival

In addition to the concert schedule, complementary activities will be offered throughout the city as part of the festival, such as:

• AGUADocumentary Photographic Exhibition by Lola Álvarez, with pictures of the artists that participated in the 1st year of the festival at CaixaForum Palma. (10:00 to 20:00h, Monday to Sunday, from the 1st through the 15th of March at the Margarita D’Este Hall).
• Screening of a documentary on the life and work of Paco de Lucía at CaixaForum Palma
• Session of «I-CorDes. Instituto de Corpologías Deslocalizadas» at Es Baluard Museu d’Art Contemporari Palma by Rocío Molina (4th of March at 11:00h).
• Practical workshops for “cajón” and percussion at the Miró Mallorca Foundation by Benji Habichuela (5th of March, in the morning).

Palma: worldwide reference centre for flamenco

Founded and directed by the Majorcan journalist Soledad Bescos, the Paco de Lucía Festival was born out the need for a true flamenco festival in Majorca. This event promotes the preservation of the cultural value of flamenco and celebrates the life of famed guitar player Paco de Lucía, who spent his last years in Majorca.

Profits from ticket sales will go to fund social and pedagogic innovation projects organised by the Paco de Lucía Foundation. This foundation promotes social and cultural integration projects for vulnerable groups through flamenco music, which in 2010 was declared as Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity by UNESCO.

With the proceeds from the first year, the foundation is creating an archive of the creative materials produced by Paco de Lucía, including all his videos, writings, photographs and guitars, which will be open for researchers, as well as a free online guitar school.

For more information and news about the 2nd Paco de Lucía Festival, click here.