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Cal Paler Nou is the first cooperative housing project in right of use in Cardedeu and the largest cooperative development on private land in Catalonia. With 36 homes, 20 of which are officially protected, it represents a pioneering commitment to recovering land from the speculative market and putting it in the hands of organized citizens.
The project began in 2018, when Sostre Cívic acquired a private plot of land thanks to one historic crowdfunding campaignAfter eight years of cooperative work, the building is in the final stages of construction and the community is preparing to begin living there.
Located on Serreta Street, between the urban area and the Cardedeu agricultural park, Cal Paler Nou It combines a good connection to the city center and the train station with direct contact with nature, and becomes a key piece in the transition towards a more inclusive, social and ecological urbanism. The building will be one of the largest in the cooperative housing sector in Catalonia, with a built area of 5.250 m², and will follow the most demanding standards of energy efficiency and sustainable materials.
We recover private land to make it cooperative
Cal Paler Nou was born with a particularly ambitious challenge: to demonstrate that cooperatives can also acquire private land, permanently remove it from the speculative market and allocate it to affordable and stable housing.
Until then, a large part of new construction cooperative housing projects depended on the transfer of public land by the administrations. Cal Paler Nou opens a new path which allows the model to be expanded where there is not enough public land available.
The ownership of the plot and the building is collective and will remain in the hands of the cooperative. The members will have an indefinite right of use, but the homes cannot be sold or used for private profit. In this way, they will be permanently excluded from speculation.
“Cooperative housing is accessing housing in a much more humane way”
Mireia Riera, member of Cal Paler Nou.
The driving group of Cal Paler Nou
"Cal Paler Nou "We are a group of committed, involved and diverse people who have decided to undertake a cooperative housing project in right of use and a way of community life in Cardedeu. We do this with the enthusiasm and desire to build alternatives to the current model of access to housing."
The driving group of Cal Paler Nou It has 4 axes that define the group's vision:
- Social, affordable and non-speculative housing
- Ecology and sustainability
- Community life
- Involvement in the territory.
Steering group meetings Cal Paler Nou in the building under construction
These axes generate the identity signs that govern the project from the design and construction of the building to the energy supply, making it a pioneering proposal due to its dimensions, scope, richness, interaction, diversity, transversality and opportunity, among other elements of transformation.
A building to live and share
The architectural project has been developed by the offices Labaula SCCL and Stem Arquitectes SPL , with UMMA arquitectura at the head of the execution and management of the work in the final phase.
The building has 36 homes with between one and four bedrooms, designed to accommodate diverse households. It is organized around interior patios and passageways that encourage the entry of light, natural ventilation and daily encounters between neighbors.
20 % of the surface area is intended for community spaces , including a communal kitchen and dining room, a multipurpose room, a shared laundry room, a tool room, a community storage room, bicycle parking and different patios and social spaces.
These spaces will allow resources to be shared, activities to be organized and mutual support to be strengthened, while maintaining the autonomy and privacy of each home.
Images during the building works
Sustainability has been a central criterion in the design of Cal Paler NouThe building will have energy certification A and will incorporate aerothermal systems, photovoltaic panels, ventilated facades, good insulation and cross ventilation. These solutions allow reduce energy consumption and the environmental impact of the building, but also improve the comfort of the people who will live there and contain daily expenses.
The construction was carried out by La Constructiva, a non-profit service cooperative promoted by Sostre Cívic and specializes in the construction of cooperative housing.
Crowdfunding and public financing, without speculation
Cal Paler Nou has required a total investment of 9,1 million euros, and its financing is one of the most unique stories of the project. In 2018, faced with the impossibility of obtaining financing from conventional banks to purchase the plot, Sostre Cívic launched Tornassol, its first issue of participatory securities.
In less than twenty days, partners, entities and individuals committed to the model contributed 450.000 euros . That mobilization allowed the land to be acquired and demonstrated that organized citizens could collectively finance the recovery of private land.
The bulk of the financing, 6,6 million euros , comes from a mortgage loan from the Catalan Institute of Finance (ICF) , the Catalan public bank, repayable over forty years. It is the piece that makes the model viable: stable and accessible monthly installments, without private intermediaries or profit logic.
Cal Paler Nou It thus exemplifies a new formula for promoting affordable housing: organized citizenship, public financing and a cooperative economy, without speculative capital or profit motive.
One step away from starting coexistence
Construction began at the end of 2023 , after years of work to define the project and secure financing. Now, with the building in its final phase of construction , the future residents are preparing to move in and begin a new phase.
Images of the General Assembly of 2026 a Cal Paler Nou. (Photo: Jesús G. Pastor @unfotografo)
In June 2026, Cal Paler Nou hosted the General Assembly of Sostre CívicIt was the first time that the cooperative's annual assembly was held outside of Barcelona and also the first to take place in one of its projects. A recognition of a community that has shown that recovering private land and converting it into cooperative housing is possible.
Cal Paler Nou is the result of eight years of perseverance, participation and cooperative financingA collectively constructed building and an intergenerational, self-managed community, rooted in Cardedeu and outside the speculative market forever.
Do you want to live in Cal Paler Nou?
The last registration period for this project was open until February 15, 2026Currently, registrations for Cal Paler Nou are closed. Fill out the form below if you want us to notify you if we reopen the process.
For more information, you can consult the project information dossier or you can write to us at incorporacionsprojectes@sostrecivic.cat.
This project has been promoted in the context of Singular Projects, promoted by the Department of Business and Labor and funded by the Ministry of Labor and Social Economy.
