Barcelona City Council has taken a firm step towards the sustainable rehabilitation of its built park with the presentation of the new ‘Guide to decarbonising building renovations’, a practical, living and operational tool that includes 5 strategic objectives, 21 lines of action and about thirty specific solutions to reduce the carbon footprint in the housing sector. The event, held today, Friday 13 June in Ca l’Alier – an example of a building rehabilitated in 2012 with maximum efficiency criteria – brought together institutional representatives, experts and professionals from the public and private sector.
The person in charge of giving the institutional welcome, Michael Donaldson, director of the BIT Habitat Foundation, stressed the importance of public-private collaboration. “We have a challenge, but Barcelona has the ability to look far and transform challenges into innovative solutions. This guide is a practical tool resulting from knowledge and experience in pedagogical format, which seeks to offer fast and accessible learning.”
The Housing Commissioner of the Barcelona City Council, Joan Ramon Riera, has highlighted the ambition of the project: “Renovating the entire city of Barcelona with energy certification A would require about 16 billion euros, a utopian scenario that marks the roadmap.”
On the other hand, Riera has also put on the table two problems regarding rehabilitation, framed in the Pla Viure: the lack of citizen awareness and the limitation of the aid to the calendars. “The new Housing Plan proposes open calls all year round,” he said.
Gerard Capó, manager of the Municipal Institute of Housing and Renovation of the Barcelona City Council (IMHAB), explained how the city has adapted to the new European regulatory framework, structuring the lines of action in five aid programs -for neighborhoods, buildings and homes- and in residential rehabilitation financed by the European Next Generation funds and regulated by Royal Decree 853/2021. “We have the objective of rehabilitating 11,600 homes by June 30, 2026 prioritizing neighborhood aid.” For this reason, Capó has stated that “it is necessary to highlight the need to give continuity to strategies after 2026, guaranteeing stability and confidence in the sector.”
The guide collects existing renovation solutions in the market
The guide is part of the Urbanew project, which included a first phase of calling professionals to know solutions in the field of renovation, as explained by Lluïsa Cendón, head of urban innovation projects at the BIT Habitat Foundation, and Eduard Cabré, head of International Relations at IMHAB. Thus, this initiative has made it possible to identify and group innovative proposals from both the private and public sectors.
The Paris-Camps Arquitectura partner, Jordi Pardís, has emphasized the need to offer sustainable and affordable alternatives. “The guide is a collaborative, evolutionary tool with solutions that the industry offers to specific needs. In addition, rehabilitating with efficient systems is no more expensive than doing it in a traditional way,” he said.
Practical guide application
During the event, some solutions have also been presented to show the practical application of some of the proposals included in the guide:
- Tallfusta has exhibited industrialized rehabilitations with light facades and construction of wooden modules in the workshops.
- Leitat has presented intelligent windows that adapt the thermal transmission according to the external temperature.
- Praxis Resilient Buildings has introduced a heat recovery system in buildings with high water consumption, achieving high energy savings.
- Paris-Camps Arquitectura has shown multifunctional green roofs that collect rainwater, reduce the heat island effect and improve biodiversity.
Greta Tresserra, vice-president of the Architecture and Sustainability Group, concluded the day recalling that the construction sector is responsible for 40% of primary energy consumption and that urgent action must be taken. In the same way, he said that we have powerful and internationally recognized strategies, but that they must be applied. Finally, he stressed the importance of making renovation known also as a matter of health and accessibility in order to involve citizens and move from being part of the problem to being part of the solution.
Currently you can download the digital version of the ‘Guide to decarbonising building renovations’.