Sorigué builds roof for Circuit de Barcelona-Catalunya Two Sorigué projects winners at 21st Catalunya Construcció...

Barcelona presents Sorigué prototype for renovating properties

July 4, 2024

Over the course of a year, Barcelona City Council is to test the three best renovation systems for extending and improving blocks of flats in the city. The project has been led by the Urban Areas Catalonia team in conjunction with the Green Infrastructure and Facilities and Technology teams.

Barcelona City Council presented at a press conference on Tuesday 2 July the three best proposals for improving the comfort, habitability and sustainability of pre-existing buildings in the city. They include the Regenerate Barcelona project led by Constraula, Sorigué’s city services company, in partnership with the Polytechnic University of Catalonia (UPC).

Regenerate Barcelona, Aligra and Innofab are the three winning industrialised production prototypes in the urban challenge launched in 2022 to find innovative solutions for regenerating blocks of flats run by the Municipal Institute of Urban Planning in association with the BIT Habitat Foundation.

Synergies for innovation

The Regenerate Barcelona project has been led by the group’s Urban Areas Catalonia team. The Green Infrastructure and Facilities and Technology teams also took part in the project.

These synergies have made it possible to include living and biodiversity systems along with innovative tools for recording and displaying data on ambient energy consumption and weather stations which can be viewed via an app.

“The combination of the expertise and knowhow of the group’s business lines has enabled us to tackle this complex urban challenge and develop an innovative solution which is good for both the city and its people,” said Xavier Llopis, director of Urban Areas Catalonia at Sorigué.
Regenerate Barcelona by Sorigué

Regenerate Barcelona seeks to be a prime example of ecological sustainability in its use and construction by drawing on local, recyclable and reusable materials coupled with its dry assembly, making it a completely dismountable system. The project consists of a modular wooden frame that can be tailored to different forms of occupation, thus catering for a wide variety of needs.

As advantages, the prototype supports decarbonisation and circularity, improves energy consumption, reduces water discharge to the city's sewage infrastructure by maximising rainwater harvesting and storage, and enhances local biodiversity. It is also easy to assemble, adapt and maintain because of its modular system.

Decarbonising the city

The three prototypes are construction systems designed to retrofit existing blocks of flats using structures which add a new façade to expand the space, improve insulation and mitigate the impact of the sun.

They also cut CO₂ and energy usage, are built with low-emission methods and have a reasonable cost. Plus as they are manufactured in the workshop in parts, they can be assembled twice as fast as conventional systems.

All these factors mean that these solutions can be leveraged to regenerate a large number of properties in the coming decades to shift towards decarbonising Barcelona.

Over the course of a year, they will be trialled on a site at the UPC’s Diagonal-Besòs Campus in Sant Adrià de Besòs to assess their impact on health and comfort, urban resilience, energy efficiency, circular economy and biodiversity. This will involve fitting a system of smart building sensors to measure various parameters.

Presenting the prototypes

The proposals were presented at a press conference led by Laia Bonet, Deputy Mayor for Urban Planning, Ecological Transition, Urban Services and Housing; Filo Cañete, Mayor of Sant Adrià de Besòs; and Daniel Crespo, Rector of the Polytechnic University of Catalonia.

Members of each prototype team described their main features. Pere Joan Ravetllat, PhD and professor of architecture at the Polytechnic University of Catalonia, presented the Regenerate Barcelona project, while David Juárez, partner architect of Straddle 3, spoke about Aligra and Teresa Batlle, founding partner of Picharchitecs, outlined Innofab.