Reach for the skies - Taller buildings a solution to Palma's housing crisis

Architects and developers have been calling for this for some time

Palma has a housing shortage, but so do other parts of Mallorca. | Alejandro Sepúlveda

Andrew EdePalma24/08/2023 09:38

The Balearic government is to issue a decree for urgent housing measures, one of which will be the authorisation of taller buildings in Palma.

The town hall supports this measure, while architects and developers have been arguing for some time that it will be a way of increasing housing stock without using more land. The housing minister, Marta Vidal, says: "Any measure that involves making apartments available to the citizens of the Balearics at an affordable price must be considered to be of special urgency."

Other measures in the decree will include facilitating the conversion of commercial pressures into residential accommodation and a legalising of certain properties.

These are properties which cannot be demolished because offences have exceeded the statute of limitations. Vidal rejects claims that these properties are to be given an amnesty. She argues: "Amnesty condones a crime so that there are no consequences, but one cannot speak of urban amnesties where there was no crime."

The minister explains that, in many cases, this construction was carried under the protection of a "legal expectation". It wasn't that construction was illegal per se but that administrations failed in their procedures. These administrations must now "provide a solution".

The government is expected to approve the decree next month and to then send it to parliament for ratification.

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Stan The Man | about 1 year ago

Do not make the mistake of blocking views from high rise buildings. The lack of urban planning has already ruined many views of the sea etc. Madness in design and planning is evident nearly everywhere on the Island.

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