The Government wants new buildings to include spaces for bicycles. There are those who warn that it will make housing even more expensive.

Europe wants its buildings to be increasingly ‘green’, an endeavor that Spain seems willing to take a step further. The Government has reviewed the Technical Building Code (CTE) to apply certain changes that prioritize precisely that: sustainability. If it goes ahead, the new CTE will pay even more attention to the energy efficiency of buildings, their polluting footprint and even proposes using buildings as a lever to promote sustainable mobility. With this last objective, a demand that has generated some controversy: that the properties must include a minimum of places for bikes.

From the sector they already warn that the new requirements costs will skyrocket of construction at the worst time, with the price of housing shot.

What has happened? That the Government has launched the institutional machinery to modify the CTEthe framework standard that details the basic requirements that buildings must meet. It is not a capricious change. In reality, it is an update that seeks to adapt the code to the guidelines set by Brussels, such as the Directive 2024/1275 of the European Parliament and Council. The Ministry of Housing and Urban Agenda is already advancing that it will be one of the “most ambitious” modifications since the CTE was implemented.

What is the objective? The change seeks to give more weight to certain objectives set from Brussels, such as the “energy efficiency of buildings”“environmental sustainability” or control of the polluting footprint during the life cycle of buildings. One of the novelties in fact is the regulation of what European regulations call “global warming potential of buildings”, a way of quantifying the emissions of a property.

With the current CTE, the Government also wants to review the anti-fire regulations (the change comes after the tragic fire of Valencia in 2024, which left several deceased) and use real estate as a lever for “sustainable mobility”. After all, buildings also usually include parking spaces. Housing has proposed that these spaces be planned from the beginning to make it easier for those who travel with electric cars, scooters or bikes.

And how will he do it? Including a series of guidelines in the CTE. At the moment we have your draftbut it is clear: “Buildings with parking spaces for cars will have a minimum infrastructure that enables the charging of electric vehicles and will have a minimum provision of parking for bicycles.” The text does not stop there and specifies issues such as the minimum number or even the size of the spaces reserved for bikes.

What does it say exactly? “Parking spaces for bicycles will have a minimum dimension of 2.00 x 0.4 m. From 20 spaces, 5% of the spaces will have a dimension of 2.5 x 0.9 m for bicycles with dimensions larger than standard, such as long bikes or for people with disabilities. In uses other than private residential, parking spaces will be marked in accordance with the highway code,” collect the text.

The draft clarifies that these parking spaces must “preferably” be in the parking lot or the access floor and that, at a minimum, residential properties must incorporate two bicycle spaces for each home. The CTE clarifies in any case that town councils can regulate to reduce this general requirement. Things are somewhat different in properties that are not intended for housing. In them, bicycle parking spaces must cover “5% of the building’s total user capacity.”

At what point is the change? What we have at the moment is the draft royal decree that modifies the CTE, a document that was kept on public display until December so that citizens, builders or any other group that wished could raise their “observations.” Once this mandatory requirement has been dispatched, the CTE must now continue with its processing, including, if the Government so deems it, the proposed corrections.

If we talk about the guidelines on bicycle spaces (and in general the “sustainable mobility” chapter of the project) it is important to take into account a nuance: the changes are proposed for newly built buildings. The project It also contemplates that the guidelines be applied to existing properties, but only when they have undergone substantial renovations, extensions or changes of use.

Has it generated controversy? It has certainly generated debate. And the reason is simple: there are those who already warn that, in general, the different changes applied to the CTE will make construction more expensive at the worst moment, in the midst of the housing crisis and with prices (especially rents) skyrocketing.

Recently the College of Surveyors of Madrid did the math and estimated that in general the new CTE requirements (not only those related to bicycle spaces) will translate into thousands of euros of extra cost. How many? In a first phase, the new houses will become 12,000 euros more expensive. And that will only be at the beginning. When they are fully implemented, the extra cost will be even greater and will reach 18,000, making it even more complicated. the “cost of entry” to the homes.

Images | Alexander Van Steenberge (Unsplash) and Liona Toussaint (Unsplash)

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