Opengela brings its urban regeneration model to Abanto-Zierbena, Trápaga eta Santurtzi with three new neighbourhood offices

The three municipalities will benefit from the funds of the Berpiztu programme, through which the Department of Territorial Planning, Housing and Transport will allocate 17 million euros to strengthen urban regeneration actions in neighbourhoods in the Basque Country between 2021 and 2023.

Opengela is taking its urban regeneration model to the Ezkerraldea-Meatzaldea region, where it will set up three new neighbourhood offices in the municipalities of Abanto-Zierbena, Valle de Trápaga-Trapagaran and Santurtzi.

This measure is part of the Berpiztu programme, with which the Department of Territorial Planning, Housing and Transport will allocate 17 million euros to strengthen urban regeneration actions in neighbourhoods in the Basque Country between 2021 and 2023. The direct subsidy to these town councils, in addition to Portugalete, was approved by the Governing Council, at the proposal of Iñaki Arriola, Minister of Territorial Planning, Housing and Transport.

In the three cases, Abanto-Zierbena, Valle de Trápaga-Trapagaran and Santurtzi, highly vulnerable neighbourhoods have been identified in which, according to preliminary analyses, the average income per household does not exceed 15,000 euros per-home per year. In the three cases, a neighbourhood office (known as opengelas) will be set up to accompany and advise residents and communities on how to carry out and finance the works, and families with the greatest economic difficulties will be given access to a guarantee fund for complementary financing to help them pay for the works.

In the case of Abanto-Zierbena, the direct subsidy of 6.28 million euros between 2021 and 2023 will be earmarked for the Peñucas neighbourhood, an area of 200 homes spread over 20 portals (seven blocks). The comprehensive action will consist of energy rehabilitation, accessibility, habitability, security and digitalisation of buildings and housing, the redevelopment of the area paying attention to accessibility, energy rehabilitation of the municipal euskaltegi, employment plans, financing and studies of the neighbourhood.

In the case of Valle de Trápaga-Trapagaran, for its part, the direct subsidy of 3.91 million will go to the San Andrés neighbourhood, where 195 homes will participate in the urban regeneration project. The intervention will cover the refurbishment of buildings and dwellings in terms of energy efficiency and various urban planning actions in terms of environmental sustainability, as well as the analysis of the reuse of obsolete buildings and actions for social inclusion, employment and R+D+i.

In Santurtzi, the Basque Government grants a direct subsidy of 3.42 million euros to refurbish a group of buildings housing 104 dwellings -Aurora Vildosola 1-13-.

The aid to these three new town councils will increase the number of neighbourhoods in the Basque Country that form part of the network of municipalities with urban regeneration projects underway. At the moment, those of Bilbao, Durango, Eibar and Lasarte-Oria are active, initiatives that are improving the quality of life of around 2,000 people living in 741 dwellings divided into 42 buildings.

The Opengela model is based on the implementation of district offices, which unify the regeneration processes of the neighbourhoods, serving both the neighbourhood and coordinating the rest of the groups involved. Opengela, which starts with two pilot projects in the neighbourhoods of Otxarkoaga (Bilbao) and Txonta (Eibar), seeks to be replicable throughout the Autonomous Community and to this end establishes guidelines that facilitate scalability to other territories.