Berriak

The Bizkaia Provincial Council and the Getxo City Council have today presented the construction project for the future Intergenerational Centre to be located in the Romo neighbourhood in Getxo. The Deputy for Social Policy, Sergio Murillo, and the Mayor of Getxo, Amaia Agirre, have unveiled architectural details of a pioneering and innovative infrastructure that places Bizkaia at the forefront of Europe by jointly tackling a double social challenge: longevity and youth emancipation. An intergenerational response, because people of different ages will live together in this centre, interacting and living their lives in a communal space that will also be open to the community.

The tender for the project estimates an investment of 16 million euros, with 8,854 square metres under the plan and a construction period of over 20 months. The construction works for the new infrastructure, which are already in the tendering process, will begin at the end of this year. The Intergenerational Centre is expected to open its doors in 2024.

The new centre will be located at the junction of the Kresaltzu and Lope de Vega streets. The building, which will be integrated into the surroundings of the Romo neighbourhood through a new square, has a basement, ground floor, four standard floors, and a penthouse. It will also house large, accessible spaces for shared use (such as allotments, patios, or outdoor rooms) that will enable this innovative proposal for cohesion and intergenerational coexistence to be implemented.

A response to current and future needs

The Getxo Intergenerational Centre will address the needs identified in the Getxo social services area, in line with the social services portfolio and map of Bizkaia. It will therefore have 100 residential places for dependent elderly people, necessary to meet this group's present and future demand for residences. These places will be divided into modules with a maximum of 20 people in each one. Each of the six planned residential units (one per floor) will have its own kitchen, dining room, and living areas. Some 86% of the rooms will be for individual use and all of them will be customisable.

It will also house the services typically found in a residential centre, such as a reception area, rest areas, dining rooms, rehabilitation and psychomotor skills units, hairdressing and chiropody services, laundry, an administrative area with offices, consultation rooms, meeting rooms, and staff changing rooms, among other elements.

In any case, this new residential solution should be as close as possible to a home for the dependent elderly, those of today and those of the future, as emphasised during the presentation.

A housing option for youth emancipation

The Intergenerational Centre will also have 40 rented flats as a tool to facilitate the emancipation of young people in the municipality of Getxo. All the standard accommodation units have a dining-living room-kitchen area, a bedroom, a bathroom, and terrace. Two accessible units have also been reserved, each with two bedrooms.

As for the rest of the services, there is a communal laundry area and a room for children's pushchairs and bicycles, among other things.

In addition, on the ground floor there will be an open plan 283 square metre space for a use to be determined, which will be owned by Getxo City Council.

This project is officially launched after the signing of a collaboration agreement between the Bizkaia Provincial Council and Getxo City Council in February 2020. Through this agreement, the City Council ceded the 2,163 m² plot of land it owns to the Bizkaia Provincial Council for the development of this hybrid social infrastructure for 75 years.

* The construction project has been carried out by the joint venture Atelier80 Arquitectos and -Bieme Arkitektura.