A meeting in Coimbra, Portugal, on 30 April 2026 marked an important step in developing a technically rigorous training course on the Sustainable Management of Construction and Demolition Waste in Africa.
Minimos Quadrados (MQ) – coordinator of the GROW Project -convened an in-person meeting at the Institute for Research and Technological Development in Construction, Energy, Environment, and Sustainability (ITECONS), in Coimbra, Portugal.
Representing the GROW Project, Isabel Gonçalves (Project Director, MQ) and João d’Orey (Founder, MQ) met with a distinguished panel from ITECONS: President of the Board of Directors Mr. António Tadeu, Ph.D. (UC); Board Member Ms. Julieta António, Ph.D. (UC); and engineers Mr. João Almeida and Ms. Joana Prata, both members of CERIS — Research and Innovation in Civil Engineering for Sustainability, a Pole of ITECONS.
ITECONS is a portuguese non-profit organisation classified as an institution of public utility. It acts as a dynamic interface between the scientific community and industry, ITECONS provides applied research, testing, consultancy, and training across the fields of construction, energy, environment, and sustainability. Notably, ITECONS holds the distinction of being a Technical Assessment Body entrusted by the European Commission to adopt European Assessment Documents and issue European Technical Assessments under the Construction Products Regulation, a credential that speaks directly to the technical rigour the GROW Project seeks in its advisory partners.
The discussion focused on defining the scope of ITECONS’ participation in the project, with the aim of ensuring that some of the GROW training programme modules meet the highest standards of technical accuracy and practical relevance. The proposed areas of collaboration cover four areas:
- recommending authoritative sources of technical information
- contributing real-world case studies and best practice examples
- validating training content as Learning Units are developed and
- hosting a guided tour of ITECONS’ facilities during the Transnational Project Meeting (TPM) to be held in Coimbra.
“ITECONS found the GROW Project to be very interesting and necessary, and expressed its appreciation for the opportunity to contribute its knowledge and experience to a training programme with the potential to create lasting impact and support to sustainable development, says MQ.”
The meeting concluded with a set of agreed commitments. ITECONS will:
- Conduct an initial assessment of the Learning Units proposed for one module recommending the inclusion or revision of topics where necessary to ensure technical rigour;
- Suggest relevant sources of information and examples of best practices to guide content development;
- Validate the training content as each Learning Unit is progressively developed;
- Host a guided tour of its facilities for all project partners during the Transnational Project Meeting in Coimbra.
This partnership reflects the GROW Project’s commitment to ensuring its training outputs are grounded in credible, evidence-based expertise, while building durable institutional relationships that will carry the project’s impact well beyond its timeline.