this month it's been a year since the purchase of the Cardedeu lot where we promote the cooperative housing project of Cal Paler Nou A year full of assemblies, commissions, brainstorming, drawings, schedules, designs, good moments and others not so good, situations of tension and relaxation... In short, a year that has served gradually consolidate the group while the project is being built!

Participatory process and group empowerment

From October of last year until January, we have been developing the project in a collaborative way between all of us: the architects of labula i Stem, the facilitators of Matriu, the coordination of Sostre Cívic and, above all, the group itself; in a participatory process that has had 6 workshops and 6 assemblies, and which will continue in the basic and executive project phases.

During these months, the commissions for architecture, economy, participation, communication, coexistence and incorporations have been set up, which support the project from the group, and which have worked hard in all these areas to achieve the programmed objectives and resolve the issues that have come up.

The main objective of this process has been the design of the building in a participatory manner by the group, even the girls and boys of the families, in a work that we have called the "vision of the children" and that has been coordinated by the educator Clara Saperas.

Draft and Basic Project

The result of this participatory process has been a project of great cooperative ambition where, it could not be otherwise, the collective spaces are the protagonists. The building has more than 20% of collective spaces, some of which are closed: a commissary, a coworking, a dining room, multipurpose room, guest rooms, storage rooms, etc., and other spaces that are open to traffic, but also for meeting and recreation, such as: the walkways and the large "central street" that gives access in the houses on the upper floors.

In terms of the environment and construction, it is a daring project that aims to have almost zero energy consumption and achieve the nZEB qualification. Cal Paler Nou it will be an innovative building both socially and architecturally which will be a benchmark for other cooperative housing projects in our country.

Last actions and next steps

recently we have demolished the existing buildings on the lot and we already have a clean site, surveyed and with its corresponding geotechnical study. Right now the architects are working on the basic project, which will be processed in May, then we hope that in the autumn we can inform you that we already have the building permit!

The next steps will be the reworking of the financial plan, and the first contacts with the financial entities in order to prepare the bank financing of the project. In June we will start the executive project and in the autumn the tender for the work. And with regard to the group's community project, we will also work intensively on the group's vision together with this environmental impact work that we discussed earlier.

In short, now it is our turn to advance the technical and economic part and build the project of the spirit of the group, which is the soul of every cooperative project!