It is considered a “crucial event for the field of construction pathology, rehabilitation technology, and historical heritage management” (BIMCOMMUNITY).
In this edition, the Congress brought together more than 360 international researchers in both in-person and virtual modalities, with the organization handled by the University of Cantabria and the University of the Basque Country.
The eleventh edition of the Rehabend Congress took place in Bizkaia, between Maiatza 26 and 29, 2026.
The meeting featured six plenary sessions led by professors from Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese universities and laboratories, and participants from the European and American continents.
It is one of the most prestigious technical-constructive congresses internationally, where construction pathologies are contrasted with methodologies and technologies for the rehabilitation of buildings and infrastructures and the management of built heritage.
And all of this from a practical perspective, based on real experiences and analysis of how research, technological innovation, respect for heritage criteria, and digitalization guarantee the most effective and safest rehabilitations over time, and provide a greater social return on investments made.
At the request of the Congress’s Technical Secretariat, the Punta Begoña Foundation organized, for its attendees, six groups of visits that would provide an exhaustive tour of the galleries, currently immersed in a full open restoration process.
More than 150 congress participants, specialists from various parts of the world, visited the cultural landscape of Punta Begoña, and were able to learn about the history of the place, its constructive background, as well as the research, identification of constructive pathologies, applied methodologies, and chronological detail of proposals and actions launched for the comprehensive rehabilitation of the monument.
For the congress participants, the exhibition on the management model applied in Punta Begoña was of particular interest, through a Foundation integrated by all municipal groups of the City Council and with the involvement of all Administrations with competencies in the field of heritage.
Also, the way the open restoration model is applied, with more than 100 annual activities that are compatible with the progress of the work, and attract thousands of visitors.
The comprehensive and open restoration process of the Punta Begoña Galleries exemplifies in detail the approaches of REHABEND 2026, and specifically how the recently initiated works for the recovery of the main hall, monumental vestibule, and Flysch Cave are being addressed.
The structural and artistic works by the prestigious professionals who won the public tender for their execution have become an Open Classroom, a Professional Laboratory, and a “Live” Broadcast Set.
The steps taken can be learned, through guided tours, in situ, but also through Instagram @puntabegonaoficial. Here we practically share in real time the details of the work, the research, the historical values, the artistic and technical constraints, the solutions applied and the surprises that have occurred, the discoveries and problems that have arisen, the resolution technologies, etc.
An extraordinary possibility offered by the Punta Begoña Foundation, as an educational tool for knowledge, to bring heritage closer to society, and which is having a significant response at a technical, informative, and emotional level.
The presence of the group of international congress participants from REHABEND 2026 has represented an exciting challenge and a logistical one for the project, preparing us for the requests for visits “to the worksite” that are successively arising with diverse motivations (academic, professional, tourist, leisure, etc.).
We work to respond to all of them and to improve with the experience, comments, and shared knowledge, in this case from professionals as prestigious as the participants in REHABEND 2026.
