The subsidy call is now open for energy renovation projects in city housing, which the latest study by the Municipal Housing Observatory indicates as ageing and vulnerable in terms of energy. Public investment for the subsidy call will amount to 71 million euros (41 million to come from the EU’s Next Generation funds), the largest sum earmarked to date for renovations of this type. The goal is to renovate 15,000 homes in the next three years.
Renovating a home to improve energy efficiency represents an estimated saving of 620 euros a year on power bills and helps reduce CO2 emissions by 811 kilogrammes per renovated home.
Applications can be made until 30 June 2023, with action organised into three different areas: housing, whole buildings and neighbourhoods. Professional associations of quantity surveyors, technical architects and building engineers, as well as the Architects’ Association of Catalonia and the Association of Building Administrators for Barcelona-Lleida, will be collaborating in processing applications for buildings, to help speed up the validation process for projects.
Projects will be eligible for subsidies of up to 3,000 euros and will have to reduce energy consumption by at least 30% and the annual energy demand for heating and air-conditioning by 7%. In the case of whole buildings, subsidies can cover between 40% and 80% of the savings achieved.
For neighbourhood projects, action is planned within the area covered by the Neighbourhood Plan, where highly complex buildings are located, and in a further six neighbourhoods: La Pau, Canyelles, Trinitat Vella, Congrés i els Indians, Can Peguera and El Besòs i el Maresme, with a population of 87,500 inhabitants, roughly 350 buildings and 11,000 homes.
The subsidies form part of the urban regeneration strategy in vulnerable neighbourhoods with a run-down housing stock, to implement social, environmental and economic measures which help improve conditions for local people and reduce inequalities.