Urban Planning, Ecological Transition, Urban Services and Housing

Barcelona City Council’s Municipal Institute of Urban Landscape is convening the Second Green Roofs Competition, an initiative promoting the establishment of new green roofs in the city. 

The competition’s ten winning projects will receive a 75% subsidy on the cost, up to a limit of €100,000 per roof. The selected projects include features such as self-sufficient urban allotments, rainwater collection, installations for renewable energy generation, a composting area for organic waste, and relaxation and leisure areas.

The evaluation took into account the following criteria:

• Number of flats in the building.
• The planting of greenery and biodiversity.
• The water cycle, the creation of efficient watering systems, and the recovery and use of rainwater.
• Improving energy behaviour and the use of sustainable materials.
• Energy generation with renewable-energy systems, wind turbines and solar panels.
• Landscape improvement, visibility from neighbouring buildings and public areas, as well as the green roof’s integration into the building.
• Economy in the execution, proportionality criteria in terms of the intervention and the result.
• Collective and social benefits.

In addition to the winning projects, the second green roof competition is awarding 10 second prizes (for the projects finishing in eleventh to twentieth place), which will receive a subsidy of €1,500 for technical expenses.

All the unselected competition participants, along with other building owners who are interested in installing a green roof, can apply for financial aid to protect and improve the urban landscape, which means subsidies for installing a green roof, providing the project meets the terms and conditions for the subsidy.

A total of 47 projects were presented for this second green roof competition, 33 of which went on to the second phase. The 10 winning projects and 10 second prizes were selected from them. Work on the green roofs are scheduled to begin during 2021 and finish in 2022. All in all, the transformation of these 10 roofs will expand the city’s urban greenery by 2,055 square metres and will be enjoyed by 362 flats.

Take a look at the winning projects here

This is a competition aimed at privately owned residential buildings, as the objective is for the roofs to offer a collective or social benefit to residents. Roofs are excluded where their purpose is for carrying out profit-generating activities.

Click here to discover the winners of the First Green Roofs Competition.

Green roofs, the key to enriching the city

Green roofs are one of the key elements for bringing about a greener and more sustainable city and for helping to adapt the city to the effects of climate change.

By implementing measures such as the Climate Emergency Declaration, the Climate Plan and the Programme for Promoting Urban Green Infrastructures, Barcelona City Council is aiming to increase the surface area of its green roofs, public and private alike.

Green roofs can include green spaces, urban allotments, spaces for social use or collecting rainwater, and they are compatible with renewable-energy facilities. They therefore offer multiple benefits: in social relationships, in the effects they have on thermal comfort and air quality, in creating new green spaces, in urban landscapes, in encouraging biodiversity in the city's water cycle and in energy saving.