«Opengela has made it easier for us to rehabilitate not only buildings in Otxarkoaga, but also spaces that were in disuse»

This 4th edition of the Opengela Newsletter includes the interview of Jon Bilbao, Councillor for Housing and President of the Bilbao Municipal Housing Association.

The city of Bilbao is promoting one of the two pilot experiences of the Opengela project. The Otxarkoaga neighbourhood has set up an office to help the neighbourhood throughout the process of refurbishing its buildings. Within the scope of this European project, five blocks of buildings with 16 portals and a total of 240 dwellings are being rehabilitated. 

In the case of Otxarkoaga, unlike the other pilot project in Txonta (in Eibar), the particularity lies in the fact that most of the housing (around 60%) is publicly owned, through the company Viviendas Municipales de Bilbao.

In this interview, he explains how the double status of being the driving force behind the project, while also the owner of many of the homes that form part of it, reassured the other owners in the professionalism involved in this project.

In this edition, you will read more about the following:

• Opengela brings its urban regeneration model to Abanto-Zierbena, Trápaga eta Santurtzi with three new neighbourhood offices
• Five European regions and cities to replicate the Opengela model
• The Euskal Hiria congress highlights the role of urban regeneration and the Opengela model
• Ignacio de la Puerta: “We are interested in intervening in the housing stock to improve the living conditions and health of citizens”
• COAVN Gipuzkoa gets to know Opengela’s pilot projects in Otxarkoaga and Txonta
• VIDEO
• WEBINAR | ‘Urban Regeneration in Southern Europe: a recovery tool with a high social impact’
• And the upcoming WEBINAR: HOW TO IMPLEMENT INTEGRATED HOME RENOVATION SERVICES · EXAMPLES FROM EUROPE on 15th of March 2022