The Vilanova project is the construction of a bioclimatic building with residential apartments of 70m² or 90m² in Vilanova i la Geltrú, 60 km south of Barcelona City in Spain. The ground floor is dedicated to commercial activity and underground car parking is also constructed. It is the first step of a larger development that will account for up to 1.332 dwellings, and aims to demonstrate the feasibility of incorporating high environmental quality standards and a rational use of energy to social housing buildings, before applying them to more constructions in the city. 

The innovative technologies developed in the project can be summarised in three main areas of development:

1. Heating and domestic hot water based on solar energy and natural gas.
2. Bioclimatic and low energy building design.
3. Sustainable design regarding the use of materials and water management.

It was initially intended that heating be supplied by a central heating system based on an efficient gas boiler supplemented by solar collectors. However, the collective installation turned out as economically infeasible because of the relation between energy saving and installation costs. As a consequence, the proper solution adopted was the conversion from a collective to an individual system.

The building was constructed in a sustainable manner with the use of extensive insulation, water saving appliances, and environmentally friendly building materials such as PVC-free cables and ecological paint. Still, the individual heating system and the bio-climatic design of the building stand out as the most interesting features for others to follow. The bioclimatic design optimises the thermal performance by maximising the solar incidence during winter periods and minimising of solar incidence during summer periods.

• Individual heating
• Bioclimatic building design

Contact Person /Technical consultants	Elisabet Viladomiu/Alexandra Lozano Institut Cerdà, Numància 185, E-06034 Barcelona Phone: +34 93 2802323 Fax: +34 93 2801166 e-mail: slozano@icerda.es
Architects	BCN Cambra Lògica de Projectes SL
Local authority	Jordi Valls or Camil Queraltó  Plaça de la Vila, 8 08800 Vilanova i la Geltrú, Barcelona, E-Catalunya Phone: +34 93 8140000 e-mail: jvalls@vilanova.org
Builder	Qualitat Promocions SCCL