Salas, a company founded 30 years ago in Sabadell, has become the first promoter of social housing in Catalonia. "We do more than any public administration," says its general director, Manel Rodríguez. Since its foundation, the firm has promoted 2,500 and manages an even larger number, 3,500, the majority owned by public administrations, through the Fundació Nou Lloc, an entity chaired by Pere Esteve Sala, one of the company's founders and President of Cohabitac, the coordinator of social housing foundations in Catalonia. "Every year we contribute 5% of our profits to the Salas Foundation," which promotes social housing, says Rodríguez.
Salas defines itself as "a technical platform" for housing development. Its staff, of 240 people in Sabadell, Mallorca and Madrid, includes architects, lawyers and financiers. “We look for whoever has the money and we build the houses, and even if they want it, we manage them for them,” he explains. Salas has been a pioneer in building housing for cooperatives. Last year she delivered 130 and now she has promotions underway in Mallorca, Sabadell and La Sagrera (Barcelona). “The partners contribute 20% of the investment and we manage the works and look for bank financing for them”, she affirms.
The company also promotes for town halls, and has reached agreements with those of Badalona, Sitges and Terrassa, among others. “We reached agreements with the municipal housing promotion entities to manage them once they are finished through the Foundation: we are specialists, and we take care of maintenance and that there are no occupations, no defaults, no abuses, like people who sublet their social apartments on Airbnb, as there have been cases”, he highlights.
Salas, owned 50% by the families of Rodríguez and Pere Esteve, delivered 465 homes last year, of which 200 were officially protected, and plans to deliver 550 this year -300 of them protected- and another 625 in 2024 The company billed 40 million euros in 2022 and plans to close this year at 45 million. "This is our fees, but the value of the homes we build is much higher, 120 million euros last year."
The developer has become the head of a business group: it has its own construction company, Salas Construhabit; its own energy manager, Salas Green Power, and promotes two social housing foundations (Fundació Salas and La Nou Lloc) and three housing cooperatives. The firm has also opened a factory for prefabricated elements for homes in Sant Celoni (Barcelona). Rodríguez lamented the lack of land, which he considered caused by mistaken urban policies. “In social housing we have no margin, we work at cost. And we don't do more because there is no more land available, or they offer it to us at prices that do not allow us to build floors that people can afford”.
