This week, Fira de Barcelona is hosting Construmat, the benchmark event in the world of construction and rehabilitation, and, once again, Barcelona City Council, through the Municipal Institute of Housing and Rehabilitation of Barcelona (IMHAB), is present with its model in favour of sustainable, innovative and high quality housing.
This was evident during the presentation by Gerard Capó, Housing Manager of the Barcelona City Council, IMHAB and the Barcelona Housing Consortium, who put on the table the challenge facing the city, with a deficit of 90,000 flats and where 44% of the population must dedicate more than 40% of their income to paying for housing.
Faced with this situation, as Capó has pointed out, Barcelona is promoting a model where the collaboration of public and private entities is key to respond to the objective of making more homes, building them faster, and making them more sustainable and economical.
But not only does the construction of new promotions help to face the lack of housing, so does the commitment to urban rehabilitation and regeneration, an increase in funding by the state and a favorable regulatory and tax framework, as well as addressing the problem with a metropolitan perspective.
A sum of factors that allow that, from the IMHAB, more than 10,000 public homes are currently managed and new promotions are still promoted where quality of life, energy efficiency, and social cohesion of communities are put at the center.
Projects, immersive video, and virtual reality glasses at the IMHAB stand
In the exhibition space of 98 m², the IMHAB shows visitors a total of 9 newly built public housing developments in the city of Barcelona. In addition to models for each project, it incorporates virtual reality glasses to discover how these homes are inside, as well as an immersive video highlighting the affordable, quality, sustainable, and efficient housing that generates community.
Thus, projects such as the 72 social rental homes on Ulldecona Street, with a sustainable structure and almost zero consumption, the promotion of Veneçuela with 151 homes -of which 60 are for the elderly -, bioclimatic spaces and urban gardens, and buildings built with wood such as those in Binèfar and Pallars Streets, which reduce the environmental impact, can be known. Also noteworthy are the homes with services for the elderly in Casernes C and the large Illa Glòries project with 238 homes with official protection, photovoltaic panels, and landscaped roofs.
IMHAB sets itself the goal of achieving a public park of 15,000 flats in 2027
The IMHAB foresees a significant acceleration in its housing construction policy, within the framework of the strategy set by the Pla Viure, starting with the mobilization of land for the construction of 10,000 new flats in the coming years.
Specifically, during 2025, the delivery of 1,000 homes is expected to be added to the 1,000 already delivered between June 2023 and December 2024. This production will accelerate to reach 5,000 homes delivered by 2027, which will form a public park with a total of 15,000 flats, thus consolidating the commitment to the expansion of affordable housing in the city.