Brezovo Social Housing Care for everyone
Brezovo, former Student Dormitory building completion and adaptation as Social Housing giving care
The initiative envisages construction completion and adaptation of former “Students dormitory” building into Social housing with green areas in Brezovo town. The project offers social solution to the growing housing crises especially acute for vulnerable members of society such as people with disabilities, at risk of poverty and social exclusion, homeless and/or those living in poor conditions thus brining sustainable, inclusive and accessible decent living spaces and well-being for everyone.
Bulgaria
Brezovo – “Student Dormitory building” in regulated land property IV – 1254, district 47, according to the plan of the town of Brezovo
Early initiative
Yes
Yes
Yes
No
No
PDV07: Brezovo (BG)
The initiative represents solution to the growing housing crisis especially acute for vulnerable social groups. It envisages completion of the construction of solid building from 1989 completed in rough construction formerly designated for “Students dormitory” and green areas and its adaptation into Social housing. The building is large panel structure with a built-up area of 525.09 m2., gross built-up area of 2018.60 m2., located in regulated land of 4 455 m2 in Brezovo town. It consists of four-floor building, basements and flat roof with no elevators. It consists of 8 one-room, 4 three-rooms and 12 four-rooms apartments. Certain construction works were carried out over the years such as installed doors and windows, roof waterproofing, partially external plaster, plasters on walls and ceilings, faience on the walls in the bathrooms which is now compromised. Target vulnerable groups end-users are parents with children, underage parents, large families, children with poor health and disabilities, people at risk of poverty and social exclusion, homeless people and/or those living in very poor conditions. The initiative shall provide accessible and affordable social housing solutions so that no-one is left behind. The adaptively prolonged building usability brings multiple benefits for the people and environment. The approach to preserve existing built environment offers sustainable, aesthetic and inclusive living environment for the common well-being in solidarity with care for everyone, improved surroundings and social living spaces, nature and climate environmental protection.
Completion
Adaptation
Sustainability
Solidarity
Housing
The completion and adaptively prolong usability instead of abandonment and demolition brings multiple benefits for the people and environment. The approach of extending the life of existing building conserves building materials, saves carbon emissions and energy, avoids waste of eventual demolition, consumption of new land and use of new resources to build again. It is always better to re-use over replacement. Preserving the building and incorporating it along with modern innovative sustainable solutions triggers potential of sustainable interaction between buildings and social and natural environment. The initiative envisages cooperation among many interdisciplinary experts and non-academic knowledge in order to achieve the best synergy between built heritage along with energy efficient, ecofriendly solutions, sustainable materials, carbon reduction, sustainable construction technologies and eco-design, as well as green public procurement when selecting contractors for the implementation phase of the initiative in order to ensure best coexistence between built and natural environment in a sustainable manner. The initiative in Brezovo preserves and brings back to life built heritage triggering effect to inspire and be exemplary to other communities to initiate at their own local needs the idea of cherishing and preserving, adapting, reconstructing and re-using and taking care of the existing built heritage and already available built environment thus using the potential to meet contemporary social needs at affordable cost by circularity and sustainable preservation of the raw materials, resources, the ecosystem and nature through avoiding waste and taking good care of the natural and built environment. This promotes healthy high quality lifestyle for people without leaving no-one behind in sustainable, timesaving and resource efficient manner with respect to climate and nature.
The currently neglected due to lack of funding building of formerly designated Students dormitory from 1989 hampers the aesthetic of the surroundings and induces sense of lack of maintenance and poor conditions. The initiative is a chance for completion and transformation of the already existing built heritage and its adaptation and use as Social housing thus achieving socially valuable solutions, solidarity and improving the aesthetic and beauty of the environment and public spaces. The envisaged innovative solution shall provide good care for vulnerable social groups by bringing them positive emotions and chance for better, decent living conditions and for the whole society by assuring well maintained surroundings and sense of common care. Solidarity is key to accomplish sustainable over time results with the aim to secure common sense of responsibility towards the public spaces and attitude towards the aesthetic influence of the living surroundings on the everyday experience, senses and emotions without leaving no-one behind. The initiative embodies great potential of replicability by inducing inspiration for other communities and other places to appreciate more the beauty, value, and opportunities the old-time built environment represents and its potential that it has still a lot to offer and be reservoir for timesaving, aesthetic, sustainable and positive emotions inducing solutions. The initiative is exemplary of how rendering good care for the already built heritage can achieve respectful attitude in solidarity towards the importance of the building and surrounding maintenance, thus securing aesthetic experience for the quality of living and community wellbeing for everyone in inner peace, sense of belonging and in harmony with the surroundings.
The initiative represents inclusive concept of equality, accessibility, affordability and embodies a model of inclusive desicion-making governing system and new transformative social model of living together. The formulation of the project concept with local people, stakeholders and end-users’ participation in detecting the needs and the ways to meet them through implementation for the benefit for everyone with focus on vulnerable groups in open, non-discriminatory, wide public approach shows the inclusive spirit of the initiative at all its phases. This new social, decision-making governing model of close cooperation between local authorities and local communities from the idea to the final implementation helps to change the mindset of the people and make them more community engaged, inspires sense of belonging and care for everyone which creates values and brings transformative benefits. Solidarity and cooperation are keys to bring to life new way of tackling social challenges and finding solutions that no-one is left behind. The Social housing adaptation with active communities’ participation shall provide affordable and accessible solution to housing crises for the most vulnerable groups and bring solidarity contribution through common efforts. The highly inclusive nature of the initiative is example and holds valuable replicability potential as it shows how cooperation among all the groups of the civil society and authorities leads to major achievements in finding solutions to social challenges without leaving no-one behind, taking into consideration all the aspects of the social organization. This embodies modern approach to decision-making process, governing and social models, stimulates social inclusion, initiative and civil engagement and accumulates significant public energy that makes a difference and can be example for the benefit of every society and community and place where everyone’s needs are taken into consideration for the common well-being.
The initiative participatory process since the beginning through every phase of the development and implementation has been and shall be actively and closely developed, coordinated, agreed and shall be implemented with participation of residents, local communities, stakeholders, target groups, end-users, experts, etc. Target groups are vulnerable parents with children, underage parents, large families, children with poor health and disabilities, people at risk of poverty and social exclusion, homeless people and/or those living in very poor conditions. All the expressed positions, detected needs, public discussions have been taken into consideration when paving the road to the formulation of the project idea and development plan with the aim to final implementation. Target vulnerable social groups shall benefit affordable and accessible housing and decent living conditions while the local communities shall enjoy maintained surroundings through sustainable usage of resources and built environment thus benefiting timesaving and cost-effective solutions of common social challenges. The initiative participatory approach implies communities to initiate, manage and self-govern key processes and activities stimulating common sense of belonging and responsibilities. The active involvement and dedication to each phase of the initiative of local communities and people affected by the initiative and end-users is crucial and is part of the innovative social model of governing and decision-making process sensitive to people’s needs. The initiative achieves responsible attitude and engagement of everyone towards common social challenges and efforts for better environments, surroundings and fair social organization. The envisaged activities and expected contributions from all the stakeholders, target groups and local communities are inherent part of the entire initiative lifecycle. The re-use of the built heritage shall contribute for solidarity and better life for everyone.
The initiative consists of multi-level approach and engagement across multi-scales and fields thus providing both horizontally and vertically essential collaborations with the aim to tackle issues of regional, national and global level through local solutions. The aspiration is to reach impact and have contribution beyond the initial project scale and connect different dimensions. The initiative connects horizontally various social groups, residents, communities, end-users, experts, stakeholders, institutions to interact and share initiative responsibilities and leading roles since the formulation of the project concept to key phases of the development and implementation for full completion. The initiative brings together also vertically residents, communities, stakeholders, authorities, institutions, experts thus expanding the initiative beyond its own dimension. The local municipal authorities interact and shall cooperate vertically with regional and national authorities and institutions in the field of the initiative such as social public services, Ministry of Labor and Social policy, etc. The vertical scale interaction of stakeholders, communities, experts, social groups is also implemented as local communities shall interact and cooperate with communities, social groups and experts at regional, national regarding the concept design, development and the implementation phases. Cooperation at the phase of the exploitation of the Social housing building is planned among local communities and local, regional, national social public services, EU organizations involvement is also possible. This multi-scale initiative provides vivid example of how already built environment can be transformed and brought back to life thus continuously adding value for the local people needs and the society through cooperation at local, regional, national and European scale.
The initiative applies interdisciplinary and beyond-disciplinary cross-sectoral collaboration approach that brings together knowledge from different fields and practitioners and tackles different aspects of the project such as social, architectural, construction, ecological etc. The social inclusion implies also consideration of knowledge, experience and active participation from non-academics, the target groups, residents and local communities. Expertise of different academic disciplines such as architects, designers, interior designers, engineers, constructors, planners, energy efficiency specialists, safety experts, social experts, social workers, socially engaged associations, institutions, authorities, etc. have been consulted and shall continue actively participate in all the development and implementation phases of the project including during the exploitation and functioning of the final objectives of the envisaged Social housing building and green areas. The involvement of different disciplines and experts ensures sustainability of results and implementation of best solutions and incorporation of innovative modern technologies, materials and knowledge along with built heritage knowledge. Successful and lasting transformation of the built environment involves not only academics but also engages everyone – especially end users and residents, including younger people with their engagement, responsible attitude and good care towards common values and social needs, solidarity and respect towards built environment, public spaces and surroundings.
The initiative applies innovative approach towards built environment suffering from abandonment, disuse, lack of maintenance, partial renovation attempts, lack of funding and risk of demolition due to erosion and natural climate activities on the building materials. The project idea is instead of letting it collapse to safe the building formerly dedicated to be Students dormitory but remained incomplete. The initiative is very ambitious yet respectful, endorsed by the local authorities and local communities with the ideal intention to safeguard built heritage and provide sustainable, timesaving and cost-effective solutions to housing crises and social needs of vulnerable groups through its envisaged functioning as Social housing. The innovative governing model of inclusive cooperation and solidarity in the decision-making and governing process, stimulating social initiative, common efforts and mutual respect of the local people and engaging them with responsibilities to self-govern key project development and implementation phases makes the initiative pilot endeavor that brings potential to accumulate significant public energy able to transform the reality, to be a game-changer and to decisively tackle common social needs and challenges without leaving no-one behind. The general social sense of helplessness can be overcome by changing the mindset and letting people believe in themselves and in their transformative actions to bring to life results, to establish innovative social model of living together in solidarity. Other aspect of the initiative innovative character is to combine modern technical solutions with built heritage knowledge in the completion and adaptation process thus safeguarding the built environment, public surrounding and green areas, securing sustainable protection, resources and energy efficiency for further exploitation that shall continue bringing value for the society, common social and environmental development and well-being for everyone.
The applied methodology and approach regarding design of the project idea and formulation of the local communities’ social needs, defining the concept and further sustainable development and implementation process and exploitation implies active inclusive participation and cooperation with the local people, social and vulnerable groups, end-users, experts, academics, non-academics, authorities and institutions. The wide public discussions since the design of the initiative demonstrates open innovative interactive model of governance and decision-making process, sensitive to the people needs and societal challenges and readiness to adequately respond, seek sustainable solutions and initiate actions in solidarity. The inclusion of the communities and stakeholders into the development and implementation phases, rendering them initiative power to formulate objectives and be responsible to self-govern and coordinate key progress phases improves the sense of belonging, boosts social interaction and induces engagement for innovative social model of living together in affordable and accessible manner for everyone in collaborative communities. It is essential to involve and engage everyone in the initiative in order to achieve resistant to time results, sustainable development of the region, continuing care and attitude towards the common needs and prosperity without leaving no-one behind. The initiative applied approach is to combine heritage conservation with modern innovative sustainable technical solutions and materials to ensure best lasting results with respect to people, nature and environment. The initiative is endorsed by the local public authorities in active interaction with the society, communities, institutions, national and regional authorities, academics, experts of different fields of knowledge, stakeholders, target vulnerable groups and brought to action by strong commitment to common efforts and mutual respect for common well-being for everyone.
The initiative possesses strong replicability potential as it represents innovative governing model of inclusive social cooperation between local public authorities and local communities in the decision-making and governing process, stimulating social initiative of the people and end-users, engaging them with responsibilities to self-govern key development and implementation phases. The initiative is example and can be transferred to every society and community in every place and in every context and for every group of beneficiaries and shows how to boost social interaction among public authorities and local communities and society’s responsibility in order to induce accumulation of valuable public energy and power for the transforming process of achieving socially important public goals and tackling public social challenges in accessible and affordable for everyone manner without leaving no-one behind. The envisaged functioning as Social housing building shows how preserving built heritage can continue brining value nowadays and has still a lot to offer to local communities needs and be example for other national and European societies. The initiative innovative social model of living together in transformative way serves as example of solidarity for every society and place. The interdisciplinary, cross-sector and multilevel approach is example of how to ensure constructive synergy between traditional knowledge, heritage, academic and non-academic knowledge and modern technical solutions to preserve the built environment along with sustainable efficient further exploitation and added value for the whole society and generations. The initiative represents strong potential for knowledge transfer and peer-learning among national and European societies in order to achieve better models of social organization, solidarity, governance and decision-making for better solutions of societal challenges and more powerful remedies for stronger progress with care for everyone.
The initiative addresses a variety of global challenges by providing local solutions. Among the global issues that stand before the modern societies and are locally tackled by the initiative is the attitude towards the built heritage which has still a lot to offer instead of being abandoned and demolished. The already built environment represents enormous stock of resources that instead of being let to extinct can be saved, adapted and reused thus preserving the natural resources and raw materials, carbon neutrality, conserving the natural environment, be energy efficient and tackle global climate changes. It is also a sustainable, affordable and timesaving way to meet the globally rising social needs related to lack of built spaces and global housing crises especially for the most vulnerable social groups by responding to the current standards of safety, sustainability and efficiency. The completion and adaptation of the Social housing building tackles locally the rising European housing crises especially acute for the vulnerable groups of the society. The initiative is especially sensitive to the social needs of the people, thus ensuring sense of belonging among the communities, solidarity, accelerating personal readiness to put effort and responsible care about the contemporary challenges of all kind with the aim to ensure succession and continuity in time to come. The innovative governing, decision-making model of inclusion tackles the globally growing social challenge of lack of personal interest, involvement and determination to contribute for finding solutions to the public needs all the people face and everyone is affected by. Solidarity is key for fighting the global social inequalities, to establish new inclusive participatory social transformation model of living together and self-governance by leaving no-one behind and taking care also of the most vulnerable members and most vulnerable places.
The activities of all phases of the design, development and implementation assure inclusive care for everyone, aesthetic experience, sustainable solutions through built heritage adaptation. Participation of residents, communities, stakeholders, end-users in all the phases of decision-making, governing, implementation is ensured. Interdisciplinary practitioners and trans-sectoral expertise are included along with non-academics at all the initiative phases. Multi-level participation at all the project phases is envisaged through local, regional and national scale authorities and social services involvement, local, regional, national and European collaboration among communities and organizations. The initiative is included and approved by the local authorities in the approved Budget allocation and in the Strategic Integrated Development Plan of the Municipality, Priority 3: Development of healthcare, education, social and youth activities and sports systems; Ensuring sustainable employment and a good living environment, Measure 3.3. Expanding the circle and improving the quality of the social services offered which demonstrates strong dedication to completion. Next steps are search for financing through EU programs. Setting up project team to manage the implementation. Application of EU Green Public Procurement guidelines and modern architecture, construction, planning requirements and technical solutions and innovative materials for sustainability, energy efficiency, safety, etc. by respecting the built heritage knowledge. Public procurement procedures for contractor for the technical project and for contractor for construction, interior works, green spaces works and construction supervision all according to the NEB values and working principles and EU and national laws and realization of the works. Exploitation as Social housing with activities self-governed by stakeholders and communities brings non-discriminatory well-being for everyone and regional development.
