SANTA PERPÉTUA DE MOGODA, Spain: Sustainable Building Integration of environmental criteria in municipal procurement
Case study performed in the course of the "Check It!" project by ICLEI's Eco-Procurement Programme.
Short Description
The construction of a new town hall in Santa Perpétua de Mogoda provided the opportunity of realising an ecologically sustainable building. This pioneer project for sustainable building in Spain is part of a research project aimed at implementing a new form of "Public Investment Management", which will integrate sustainability criteria into the overall decision-making process.
Introduction
The town of Santa Perpétua de Mogoda is situated in the commuter belt of the city of Barcelona. In the last 30 years, the town has grown enormously, which has led to new housing and industrial estates settling beside the old town centre. During this time, the population has risen from 6,000 to 20,000, and the administration has grown accordingly. The old town hall was no longer able to cope with the new demands placed upon it, and this in turn led to the central services being distributed among many local offices. The new town hall was to fulfil two objectives: on the one hand, it would reunite all the central services under one roof and thus form the new centre which, as a communication and information platform would encourage active participation from the residents of the town. Secondly, it serves as an example of a new type of modern building design that integrates aspects of sustainability into its planning. Every inhabitant of the town can perceive the implemented vision as reality.
Map
Background - Information and Goals
Santa Perpétua de Mogoda has started a local Agenda 21 process and is a member of the regional network of sustainable municipalities (Xarxa de Ciutats i Pobles cap a la Sostenibilitat). At present, the municipality is carrying out a municipal eco audit, which is seen as a starting point for the local Agenda 21 process.
The integration of criteria for sustainable development in the public procurement process is an indispensable step for the town. The construction of the new town hall serves as a theoretical model and a practical test for the general integration of sustainability criteria in public procurement and contract awarding processes
Environment Friendly Procurement
Strategy
The intention of the programme was to incorporate sustainability criteria into the planning of a public building. As part of this process, a comprehensive outlook was chosen that incorporates all the lifecycles of the building into the planning stage. The following planning phases were included in the considerations:
The intensive confrontation with the principle of sustainability was responsible for the following ecological and social requirements being implemented in the planning:
Measures and Activities:
Project Status
In the course of the tendering process in which six different architect's offices participated, an architect was chosen who had previously worked on several projects in which bio-climatic architecture and technologies had been used for an environmentally compatible construction. However, this tendering process is the first contract for the construction of a "sustainable town hall". The technical co-operation office of the Barcelona regional administrative authorities (OTC) is responsible for the supervision of the building works. This office will monitor every phase of construction as well as providing constructive and organisational support. The OTC also assumes a mediator function between all the different groups involved in the project.
The construction phase is expected to be carried out during 2000-2001.
Partners
The planned costs for the construction of the town hall are EUR 3 million. It is not yet possible to estimate the savings that will be realised through the reduction in energy and water consumption. This is part of another research project
Results and Effects
The results and conclusions drafted within the project planning stage have been published in several publications.
In addition, the propagation of the project idea has encouraged other towns in the province to start similar projects, for instance, the construction of solar powered street lamps in Cornellá de Llobregat and the planning of a sustainable university centre in the town of Vic.
Another research project to draw up an evaluation method to assess the utilisation phase will follow the construction of the town hall.
Lessons Learned from the Project and Transferability
As a pioneer project in the area of sustainable public building in Spain, the conclusions drawn from the implementation of the theoretical model will be used to prepare measures for a more efficient utilisation of resources in an economical, social and ecological regard and will lead to a new form of "Public Investment Management" for a sustainable economy. Thus, the project has a strong model character for the other 311 municipalities in the province of Barcelona that are under the auspices of the initiator of this research project, the OTC (Technical Office of Cooperation). It is not just the construction of a "sustainable town hall" in Santa Perpétua de Mogoda that is important, but rather the transferability of the lessons learned and their implementation in other projects.
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