We want to advance to International Cooperative Day, which will take place next July 4, with an example of successful inter-cooperation! Cooperative housing in right of use continues to grow in Barcelona with the start of works on Cirerers, our second new construction project, after starting in September 2019 the construction of La Balma.

Almost all the companies that collaborate to make this project a reality are cooperatives of the social and solidarity economy: architecture, engineering, promotion, construction, group management, financing and insurance... and many of them are part of the ECOS group, of which we are partners, com Arç o Celobert!  

Cirerers it is collective and social housing 

El project Cirerers is located in Plaça de les Dones de Nou Barris and will be one 8-storey building with 32 homes and community spaces which has been defined in a participatory way between the technical team of architects of Celobert and the group of people who will live there, with the intention of resisting the loss of community life generated by commercialization.

Carmen Perales, one of the partners who promote Cirerers, states that "we want to create a network of mutual support that allows one community life, self-managed and assembly. We currently meet in assembly and work to strengthen an alternative model of access to housing and a community life rooted in the neighborhood and the people." 

Diego Carrillo, the project's architect, points out that "the building is designed from a community point of view and that's why it has a street-landing on each floor, where the users can go out, play or hang out their clothes. It also has communal interior spaces on the ground floor, open to the neighborhood and the square, as shown in the attached diagram. 

Finally, Estel Andreu, another participant from Cirerers, assures that this project "is the seed of a alternative model of access to housing in our city We want to weave and recover networks that allow us a common life freer of doors in and doors out". 

Cooperative housing: a boost for the Catalan social market

Thanks to their size, cooperative housing developments in right of use have an impact on many areas of the social and solidarity economy and contribute to creating an authentic Catalan social market, which can solve all needs without going through the economy capitalist

With this idea was born, for example, La Constructiva, the first non-profit cooperative oriented towards the construction of cooperative housing in right of use, and which is currently in charge of the construction of the building Cirerers. But there are many other entities that also participate in this project: Celobert is in charge of the architectural design and the direction of the works, Arç of building and works insurance, Matriu of the group accompaniment, the Col·lectiu Ronda of legal advice, Gestió Integral of support in the economic and fiscal field, and everything has been possible thanks to the funding granted by Fiare Banca Ètica. 

Inter-cooperation becomes essential to realize projects as complex and large as the construction of a building. Sostre Cívic, Celobert i Arç  we had previously participated in the ECOS cooperative group, an initiative made up of social and solidarity economy companies from different sectors and whose aim is to strengthen and develop partner organisations.

Sustainability and energy efficiency

Housing cooperatives in Catalonia are pioneers in the promotion of ecological multi-family buildings with minimal energy demand. The material used in Cirerers it is mainly wood, also lime mortar on the facades and plasterboard in the interiors. They are all material biodegradable and with a low ecological footprint, since its production, transport and recycling involve very few CO2 emissions.

"The project of Cirerers it will take a step forward in constructive innovation and will be the tallest wooden building in the state, with 8 floors," says architect Diego Carrillo. This confirms, once again, the commitment of housing cooperatives to social and environmental innovation, which in 2018 was already able to promote the 7-storey La Borda building, in the Bordeta neighborhood of Barcelona, ​​also of wood, and which is already inhabited.