The Group of Construction Research and Innovation (GRIC) is a research group of the Department of Project and Construction Engineering, composed of a team of professors and researchers of the Technical University of Catalonia (UPC). GRIC is recognized as a consolidated research group by the Government of Catalonia in the 2009-2013, 2014-2016, 2017-2021, 2022-2024 and 2025-2028 calls.
Buildings and construction account for approximately 37% of global final energy consumption and 34% of CO₂ emissions, with operational emissions reaching around 9.8 Gt CO₂. Since most of today’s building stock will remain in use for decades, achieving near-zero operational and embodied emissions is critical to meeting the Paris Agreement and the EU 2050 climate targets. The sector also consumes up to 40% of raw materials and generates about 35% of EU waste. At the same time, it remains one of Europe’s least digitalised industries, which reinforces the need for sustainable, circular and digitally enabled solutions.
The main objective of the GRIC research group is to accelerate the sustainable transition of the built environment by developing integrated, cost-effective and data-driven solutions that advance decarbonisation, climate resilience and resource efficiency.
GRIC promotes an integrated vision that is climate-neutral, user-centric, energy-efficient, circular and data-driven, spanning the full building life cycle: design, construction, operation, renovation and end-of-life management.
