The groundbreaking took place on June 26, at a ceremony that brought together the City Council, Gaiurb and the company responsible for the work, Casais.
"What we're doing today is manifestly different from what was done in the past. In the past, housing was built, and rightly so, to meet a certain design. Today, what we're doing is qualifying the city, providing answers that are not just about building housing, but that are also answers to improving people's quality of life," said António Miguel Castro, chairman of Gaiurb's Board of Directors.
António Miguel Castro also highlighted other goals that are now part of municipal housing policies, namely the Local Housing Strategy and the 1st Right program: "What we want is to build in places like this, close to public transport, schools, supermarkets, everything that surrounds us, and not put people in huts. We want buildings that give rise to happy communities which, in turn, give rise to happy cities."
"No one is going to go back to the old social neighborhood models. Here, we have an area that is going to be socially inclusive and diverse, we have everything to build a better and more inclusive city," said Eduardo Vítor Rodrigues, mayor of Vila Nova de Gaia.
Eduardo Vítor Rodrigues defended the importance of connecting with the private sector when it comes to the model adopted for implementing projects under his local housing strategy. "It would be very important for the political authorities to listen to companies and entrepreneurs so that we can get rid of this climate of prejudice that shakes us all, that takes away our freedom of thought and creativity and that makes us converge on a standard that is bureaucracy, which holds us all back and makes everything more expensive," he lamented.
"Gaia is an example of how private initiative can be mobilized," said António Carlos Rodrigues, CEO of Grupo Casais, the company responsible for the construction. "We felt confident in the whole process. We felt that it was a goal and not just a political banner and that it was, in fact, a motivation to hand these units over to the inhabitants," he added. This affordable housing development is the Casais Group's first project developed in partnership with a municipality.
A housing development with 90 apartments from 1 to 3 bedrooms
The contract includes the construction of two buildings with a total of 90 one- to three-bedroom homes and their respective exterior fittings.
This is a project that contributes to an increasingly sustainable sector and has an equally positive social impact - Well Built For Well Living. In other words, a construction solution that offers a balance between quality and functionality, with a special focus on issues related to operation and maintenance.
The construction solution adopted by the company is based on a system for producing sustainable hybrid buildings, with fewer polluting effects, based on modular prefabrication and a scalable platform, involving all stakeholders. Prefabrication involves various off-site solutions that integrate concerns about environmental sustainability, the occupational health of future users and energy efficiency.
Gaia strengthens its affordable rental offer
The construction of two multi-family buildings in Pedroso, also under the 1st Right Program, for a total of 60 homes (1, 2 and 3 bedrooms), is already well underway, with an investment of around 12 million euros.
The dwellings are expected to be delivered in June 2026, under the affordable rental model (the tenders for which will be opened in due course by Gaiurb, in the same way as has been the case).
Image credits: © Gaiurb
Translated with DeepL.com (free version)
