Barcelona City Council has signed the transfer of three municipal plots to build cooperative housing developments, which will add 150 properties to the public housing stock in the city. These are Fem Ciutat, at Avinguda de l’Estatut 15-17 (Horta – Guinardó), which has 105 properties, 100 car parking spaces and 41 motorbike spaces, 14 storerooms and 4 business premises; La Regadora, at Les Casernes de Sant Andreu, with 35 properties and one business premise; and Torrent Viu, at Carrer General Vives 4, with 16 properties. Works at La Regadora and Torrent Viu are scheduled to finished before June 2023, and those at Fem Ciutat before July 2025.
The three projects have been presented bearing in mind sustainable and environmental criteria. For example, the Torrent Viu project aims to make the most of the possibilities and environment of the natural corridor that connects La Serra de Collserola with the network of green spaces in Barcelona. So the building is planned to back on to the Ronda de Dalt and open on to Parc de Joan Raventós, a point that connects with the heart of Sarrià. Furthermore, the proposed building will have an A energy classification for its energy demand as well as the CO2 emissions.
These plots come from the second tender of public plots allocated for co-housing by Barcelona City Council and continue the intention of City Hall to expand the public housing stock to offer decent housing, prevent real estate speculation, promote cooperativism and strengthen the solidarity economy and social fabric.
More co-housing in the city
Co-housing comprises the transfer, by the City Council or a private owner, of an unused property or site on which the cooperative can build. The transfer is for 75 years, although it can be extended to 90, and the cooperative is commissioned with building or renovating and managing the housing. At the end of this period, the property that has been built becomes municipal property.
This model started in the city in 2015, with the signing of two agreements as a pilot test. Princesa 49 and La Borda were the first two cooperatives to join this initiative with 33 dwellings and made Barcelona the first city in Spain to commit to this kind of housing solution. In 2016 the first tender was set up in which four developments were awarded in La Xarxaire, La Chalmeta, Cirerers and La Balma. The works are about to be completed and will add 89 more dwellings to the city. With this new transfer to Fem Ciutat, La Regadora and Torrent Viu the public housing stock of the city will have more than 200 dwellings and will enable over 500 people to be housed.