NEWS

Last 7 March 2018 the kickoff meeting of the project “Artificial Reef 3D Printing for Atlantic Area (3D PARE) was held at the Civil Engineering School of the University of Cantabria, to which representatives from the 5 institutions that make up the consortium attended. The project was allocated in the last call of the programme INTERREG ATLANTIC AREA, which promotes the cooperation between 37 Atlantic regions of 5 European countries (Spain, France, Portugal, UK and Ireland), co-funding projects in the scopes of Innovation and Competitivity, Resource Efficiency, Territorial Risk Management, Biodiversity and Natural and Cultural Assets.

In concrete, 3D PARE, coordinated by the Construction Technology Applied Research Group (GITECO) of the University of Cantabria, is aimed at the development of artificial reefs for the sustainable management of the marine ecosystems of the Atlantic area. This common habitat needs measures for the protection and recovery of its natural resources. Bearing this in mind, the new reefs will be generated by 3D printing. Focus will be on innovative designs, low-impact, resistant and bio-receptive materials and their behavior in marine environment. It is expected that the results verify the viability of this promising technique for the valorization of the ecosystem services.

The project started in February 2018, will last 4 years with a budget of 1.9 M€, and will be carried out by a consortium made up by the next universities and research centres: Ecole Supérieure d’Ingénieurs des Travaux de la Construction from Caen (France), Instituto Português do Mar e da Atmosfera, I.P. (Portugal), Universidade do Porto (Portugal), Bournemouth University (United Kingdom) and University of Cantabria (Spain).

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