• The dwellings on Txotena Street (three doorways) and Irumineta Street (four doorways) feature 12 m² terraces, thereby increasing their usable space by 30%.

A total of 84 dwellings in the Otxarkoaga neighbourhood of Bilbao have been extended with new terraces as part of the Opengela urban regeneration programme. The project, carried out by Bilbao Municipal Housing, aims to improve the liveability of small flats through innovative refurbishment solutions.

The buildings involved are located on Txotena Street (three doorways) and Irumineta Street (four doorways). The new terraces, measuring approximately 12 square metres, represent an increase of around 30% in the usable space of each flat. This work forms part of the Orain Otxar regeneration project, run by Opengela.

The project has received funding from the European Union through the Next Generation EU funds, as part of the Spanish Government’s Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan, as well as contributions from the Basque Government and Bilbao City Council.

• It has been included in the Commission Notice C/2025/6438 for its comprehensive neighbourhood and housing support model.

Commission Notice C/2025/6438 from the European Commission, released last December, provides guidance to Member States on how to implement the EU Energy Performance of Buildings Directive (EPBD) and improve the efficiency of the residential building stock. In this context, the Opengela project is mentioned as an example of inspiring practice. It states that ‘the Opengela pilot project in the Basque Country offers neighbourhoods advice and support on the administrative, technical and financial aspects of energy-related issues, but also on other relevant topics, such as accessibility for people with disabilities’.

In addition to the one-stop shop service, the document states that Opengela has developed ‘an online tool with an energy map of all buildings in the Basque Country’, which provides ‘an integrated framework to support the development of renovation plans, complemented by estimates of the financial implications at multiple levels: national, regional, neighbourhood and individual housing’. This tool also makes it possible to ‘detect needs, including the identification of the least efficient buildings’ and serves as a starting point for each building to determine its energy renovation needs.

The European Commission includes this experience in a section on household advisory practices, recognising Opengela as an inspiring model for other European regions seeking to accelerate the energy renovation of their buildings.

Full document here.