Sacyr's Blog

While skyscrapers make the most of vertical space, they also pose significant safety and economic challenges. China has banned the construction of buildings taller than 500 metres. We investigate the extent to which building height can become an insurmountable handicap.

Industrialized construction utilizes processes and techniques and most of all its characterized by producing components in a workshop that are later transported to their final location for their assembly. It is a different concept from traditional construction that moves production outside the construction site. 

From churches that don’t degrade over time to swimwear that minimises the friction of the swimmer or packaging that repels its contents, nanotechnology is already sparking a veritable revolution in the development of new materials. Here we take a look at the sectors in which nanotech provides differential value versus those in which the "nano" label on consumer products is pure marketing.

The large nests of the sociable weaver, which house up to 500 individuals, are remarkable for their elaborate system of thermoregulation—while the central chambers retain heat, the outer chambers maintain lower temperatures. What lessons can the animal world teach us about techniques of sustainability?

While Native American tribes historically performed weather modification rituals that attempted to invoke rain, nowadays drones and electrical discharges are being used to create rainfall in the desert. But to what extent can these technologies be used to manipulate the weather?