The Barcelona City Council, through the Municipal Institute of Housing and Renovation, will hold four information sessions open and free to all citizens, which do not require registration, during February, with financial aid for the renovation of housing as the subject of analysis. Specifically, the first of the meetings will be on Tuesday 14 at 18 hours in the Plens Nou Barris Hall, while the second will take place on Thursday 23 at 18 hours in the Casal de Barri de Verdum, and the third, on Tuesday 28 at 18 hours in the Centre Cívic of the North Zone. The fourth and last one will be on Tuesday, March 7 at 18 hours at IES Besòs (Sala Magna), at c. Josep Pla, 56.
Four sessions aimed at the neighborhood of the southern area of the district (Turó de la Peira, Vilapicina i la Torre Llobeta, Can Peguera i Guineueta), the central area (Canyelles, Verdum, la Prosperitat i les Roquetes) and the north area and Trinitat Nova. This a good opportunity for citizens who wish to know firsthand the different aids for renovation currently offered by the City Council of Barcelona.
Environmentally conscious renovations
In recent years, Barcelona City Council has made a firm commitment to the intervention and improvement of buildings throughout the city, partly as a solution to the lack of available housing for citizens. Thanks to the economic injection provided by the European Next Generation funds, the City Council currently offers up to four lines of aid that can cover up to 80% of the renovation investment. The aid is aimed at the structure of the building itself, improvements in housing, the implementation of the building book, as well as even a set of houses in the same neighborhood.
A range of lines of action shows that Barcelona is a reference in this field at the state level and that it open new alternatives in the future. In addition to improving the daily comfort of citizens, renovation measures are increasingly having an impact on energy efficiency, both inside homes and in buildings as a whole.
In this sense, emphasis is being placed on the importance of collectivizing the renovation process and involving all the people who make up the community of neighbors. A dynamic that has to allow the creation of a more circular model, walking towards decarbonization, and thus generating a community that allows energy sharing, even among several neighboring buildings.
Beyond the information sessions organized in the different districts, the City Council offers a citizen service through the Municipal Renovation Office (ORM), which has the resources to inform, assist and process the renovation aid that citizens wish to implement. In addition, as a prior step to carrying out any action, the IMHAB website has a renovation simulator, an open consultation space that offers key information on the state of the city’s buildings, their potential for improvement, and the possibility of applying for Next Generation fund subsidies.