Urban Planning, Ecological Transition, Urban Services and Housing

Work has now been completed on four new public housing blocks in Sant Martí, constructed using industrialised techniques in a faster and more sustainable process. Between them the blocks offer 151 flats with official protection, which will mostly be rented. The keys are expected to be handed over to tenants this year.

The blocks started being built at the end of 2022 and early in 2023, with work completed this year. Recent months have seen the administrative steps completed for the definitive classification of the homes and the activation of services and utilities.

Two of the blocks are located in the neighbourhood of La Verneda i la Pau, while the other two are in the neighbourhood of El Besòs i el Maresme:

• Carrer de Binèfar, 22 (La Verneda i la Pau): 24 officially protected rental homes
• Carrer de Lola Iturbe Arizcuren, 13 (La Verneda i la Pau): 40 officially protected rental homes
• Carrer de Pallars, 477 (El Besòs i el Maresme): 42 officially protected rental homes
• Carrer del Marroc, 180 (El Besòs i el Maresme): 45 officially protected homes with leaseholds

Faster and more sustainable construction

The construction methods and materials used in industrial housing offer fast and efficient solutions in shorter time frames than for conventional building methods. Traditional time frames for projects of this type can take at least two years, while industrialised methods cut that to just over a year. They also enable CO2 emissions to be reduced by 30% compared to conventional construction.

The blocks in Binèfar, Lola Iturbe and Pallars have been built with prefabricated panels made with wood from sustainable forests, attained in the most efficient way and reducing emissions.

The four blocks bring the number of industrially built housing blocks in the city to nine. These include the APROP temporary housing blocks in the Gòtic neighbourhood and in Glòries. The Municipal Institute of Housing also has two further blocks in progress in the area of the old barrack blocks in Sant Andreu and another ready to be started in C/ Víctor Colomer. Elsewhere, another block at the Illa Glòries is currently nearing completion, with Block A there also built with a wooden structure and industrialised methods.