Development of eight homes Palma, Mallorca

The project

This project is based on two main priorities, which are, in order of importance: 1) the housing emergency, by placing rental homes on the market for people with low levels of resources and at risk of social exclusion; and 2) the climate emergency, by constructing a building that will guarantee an optimal use of energy resources, in both the construction and use of the building, by including energy efficiency parameters and other environmental criteria.

The 258 m2 plot is located at calle Josep Togores 6, on the corner of Teresa María Ponce de León 25, in Palma, and was freely assigned for this purpose by the city council.

The development is in an urban area of Palma’s development expansion, in the neighbourhood known as “l’Olivera”, within the ring formed by Vía de Cintura (the Ma-20 road), a block away from ‘La Femu’ park, on the site of the former Fábrica Española de Metalurgia y Utillaje (Spanish Metalwork and Tools Factory), which no longer exists.

This project is for a social housing development of rental homes which, considering the size of the development, the location and the demand, will all be single-bedroom homes. In accordance with the applicable regulations, eight homes may be created, one of which will, in accordance with Act 8/2017 on universal accessibility in the Balearic Islands, will be an adapted home. The building will have a ground floor and a first floor, and will not have a basement car park, due to the size of the plot.

For the building design with the necessary sustainability conditions, four points have been established that need to be met:

• Building with Class A energy efficiency. This will be achieved mainly by implementing passive measures such as cross ventilation, solar protection, suitable insulation, etc., to reduce the energy demand to <17.20 kW/m2/year, together with active measures to meet demand using renewable energies by installing solar panels and high energy efficiency equipment to produce hot running water.

• Water consumption, maximum 100 l person/day. Due to the water shortage in the Balearic Islands, measures will be implemented to reduce the consumption of water from the drinking water supply system by installing aerators and Cold Start taps, and butts to store rainwater to be used to flush toilets and water plants.

• Reduction of building waste by 25% through the use of appropriate building solutions and by optimising the recycling of on-site materials.

• Reducing CO2 emissions from materials by 25% during building work, in comparison with an equivalent conventional building.