Barcelona has started the works of Can 70, the city’s first cooperative housing project for older people and the first to be built on public land in Catalonia. The project, located at Via Augusta 375-381 in the Sarrià neighbourhood, is promoted by the cooperative Sostre Cívic and will comprise 39 homes distributed in two buildings with community spaces. The works are expected to be completed by the end of 2027.
The Barcelona City Council granted the plots under surface rights to the cooperative in 2021 as part of the first phase of the ESAL agreement, which establishes a 99-year use transfer regime to promote innovative housing models.
The project includes 10 conventional dwellings and 29 aggregated units combining private spaces with shared kitchens on each floor. The buildings, designed by the architectural team Peris+Toral, feature architectural and sustainable innovations such as the use of compacted earth concrete, prefabricated slabs, galleries oriented to optimise light and ventilation, aerothermal systems and photovoltaic panels to reduce energy consumption.
The development will have two blocks with a ground floor plus four storeys for the homes, as well as a semi-basement connecting both blocks where the community spaces will be located, with the aim of opening them to the neighbourhood.
At the groundbreaking ceremony held on the afternoon of Friday 26 September, the city’s Fourth Deputy Mayor, Jordi Valls, highlighted that projects like Can 70 “show that housing policy cannot be carried out solely by public institutions. Collaboration with the private sector, social organisations and cooperatives is essential to expand the reach of our policies”. Valls also underlined that in this case the project has a double value: “the housing itself and addressing unwanted loneliness. Cooperatives like this make it possible to build community, foster relations with neighbours and, ultimately, feel accompanied”.
Can 70, a project launched in 2015
Can 70 is a pioneering project launched in 2015 by a group of Sostre Cívic members to rethink how to age in community, through workshops, debates and collective reflection in all areas. It is the result of a collective effort aimed at consolidating a new model of cooperative and community housing that promotes dignified and active ageing, as an alternative to traditional care or institutional models.
Promoting cooperative housing in the city
Can 70 is part of the ESAL agreement, signed in 2020 between Barcelona City Council and non-profit organisations with the aim of expanding the public housing stock also through delegated promotion via the social housing sector.
The ESAL agreement already totals five phases and 24 municipal plots granted, with a total of 849 public homes. This figure represents 85% of the agreed commitment, which aims to reach 1,000 homes in 10 years, 60% rental and 40% under use transfer. Currently, there are 377 homes under construction in Barcelona and 173 more about to start.