Press Release: Launching ceremony of the 1st tire

In Póvoa de Lanhoso, in a small village by the Cávado river, a Utopia will be born. The launching ceremony of the first stone (or in this case the first tire!) of Plako’s headquarters – which will be attended by the Deputy Secretary of State and Economy Dr. Leonardo Mathias, and the Mayor of Póvoa de Lanhoso Manuel Baptista – takes place on May 9th, at 11h00, at Rua da Pedreira, parish of Águas Santas – Póvoa de Lanhoso.

The UTOPIA building, to be inaugurated by the time of Plako’s 10th anniversary, will be built by reusing almost two thousand used tires (using a construction technique developed by the American Eco-architect Michael Reynolds), an option that translate into a 70% reduction in carbon emissions and higher levels of energy efficiency than traditional construction materials. 

To reduce environmental impact as much as possible, numerous measures are planned that go far beyond the Reynolds-inspired construction, such as: a studied patch of trees in the space surrounding the building, a  vegetable garden capable of meeting most of the canteen’s needs; and more common measures such as reusing rainwater for irrigation, solar water heating, micro-generation, recycling, and domotics. 

Under the motto “We are absurdly optimistic”, one of the major goals that Plako intends to achieve with this project is to infect the common citizen with this optimism, awakening them to the need to take an active stance on environmental preservation.
To help fulfill this goal, bringing its UTOPIA to as many people as possible, it intends to involve as many agents as possible, counting for now with the support of the following institutions: Póvoa de Lanhoso City Hall, Quercus, Braval, School of Engineering and Laboratory of Physics and Construction Technology of the University of Minho, iiSBE Portugal, and AEBA.