The Barcelona Municipal Institute for Housing and Renovation (IMHAB) has started work on a new block of flats with social rents in the neighbourhood of El Parc i la Llacuna del Poblenou, in the district of Sant Martí. Specifically, the block of 18 homes will be built on a site in C/ Ciutat de Granada, on the corner with C/ Almogàvers, at the Poblenou superblock.

Designed by Naxal Arquitectura SLP, the project is a building with two parts, one with four floors and one with six. The homes will have one or two bedrooms, with floor areas of between 44-45 square metres and 50-54 square metres, with one adapted flat for people with reduced mobility. The building will also have a ground floor premises and a basement with storage rooms corresponding to the homes and a room for people to keep bikes in. The living spaces in the homes will be open to the street and the street corner, with the interior façade giving onto an inner yard with entrance routes and connections between homes and outside corridors. The project sought a model with long homes, repeated along the ground floor and the other five floors, with access from an outside corridor connecting to a single stairwell and lift shaft located by the party wall with the hotel, on the north-eastern side.

The investment planned for the new block is 2.96 million euros, with the project to provide affordable homes for around fifty people.

Sustainable housing pool

One of the most notable aspects to this new development is its sustainability and energy efficiency. Every one of the homes gives onto both the street and the interior yard, providing cross-ventilation and as much natural light as possible. Other features include sanitary water production and air-conditioning with aerothermal equipment, the installation of solar panelling connected to communal services, and volumetric detectors in communal parts of the building.

More public housing in Sant Martí

The new project now under way is another step by Barcelona City Council to permanently boost the affordable housing stock in the city and prevent homes from being sold privately in the future. The City Council currently has projects in progress or about to start for the construction of 2,300 homes, 80% of which will be offered with protected rents.

A significant number of these 2,300 homes are in the neighbourhoods in Sant Martí. In the neighbourhood of El Besòs i el Maresme, in C/ Puigcerdà and C/ Lluís Borrassà, two developments are at an advanced stage and will offer 75 and 54 homes respectively. In addition, a further 42 homes are being created in the APROP project at Les Glòries, and a few weeks ago work began on a block of 155 flats in C/ Veneçuela, in Provençals del Poblenou. This summer also saw the resolution of the competitions for work on four blocks of industrialised housing in El Besòs i el Maresme and La Verneda i La Pau, which will create a further 151 homes.

There are currently 495 publicly owned homes under construction in Sant Martí, 95% of which will be offered as rentals and the rest as leaseholds, ensuring the public ownership of the land, which will be returned to the City Council at the end of the lease period. This volume of nearly 500 flats represents affordable housing for more than 1,200 people.