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Background
Changing people's way of living from collective to individual dwelling, thus obtaining
a greater flexibility of housing was achieved by a greater diversity of dwelling-types and
the sizes of plots (between 300 square meters and 850 square meters) according to demands,
providing housing for various categories of families.
BRAYTIM - Ltd. was commissioned for the urban lay-out plan of an unbuilt area of 22 ha,
located in the South of Timisoara, for the development of individual housing.
Reduced costs were obtained by approaching the development of the area as a whole,
completing the infrastructure, setting-up a single building-site, saving time in design
and construction.
Narrative
Before 1990, mainly because of the massive construction of multi-family structures, the
access to single-family housing was very limited. Housing was characterised by
standardisation and uniformity, hindering the development of private property rights.
Urban areas lacking personality, together with other factors, contributed to the
maintenance of a poor quality of housing.
BRAYTIM - Ltd., established at the end of 1990 was commissioned for the urban lay-out plan
of an unbuilt area of 22 ha, for the development of individual housing; the area is
located South of Timisoara, bordering the Calea Martirilor avenue.
The project started despite the absence of an appropriate legislation (The laws no. 50 and
18 being issued later), as a result of the claims of BRAYTIM Ltd. addressed to the central
and local governments. The initiative was considered a pilot project and encouraged by the
Ministry of Public Works and Regional Planning.
BRAYTIM Ltd undertook the following actions: contacting the authorities, starting and
financing the urban planning study (elaborated by IPROTIM Plc.), elaboration of the
architectural design projects for the three types of proposed dwellings, organising press
conferences and promotion through the media, contacting the customers for the new
dwellings, organising the construction works.
For the first stage of construction (1990-1993) an urban lay-out plan was elaborated
concerning an area of 8 ha (88 plots) of the initial area. The land, owned by the state,
is bordering the Calea Martirilor avenue. In 1993 the first 27 houses were inaugurated.
In the second stage (1993-1995) the developer bought 1 ha of land from private owners and
divided it in 17 plots in order to build and sell other individual housing.
In the next stage, 1995-1996, following individual demands of land owners from the
respective area, and based on the urban plan suggested by the designer, the Local Council
of Timisoara took the initiative for developing a new residential area including the
necessary facilities.
By changing the management system of such an operation, the following options have been
adopted: diversifying and individualising the urban areas of a neighbourhood in accordance
with a unitary urban planning conception; the creation of a sinuous street-pattern,
resulting in the reduction of the speed of vehicles, personalising the environment, and
providing a semi - private character to the area; providing green areas in the enclosures
formed between plots, for playgrounds, recreation areas, which might facilitate social
contacts; the provision of pedestrian streets across the area, ensuring connections
between dwellings, green areas and facilities; arrangement of public areas with high
quality public space equipment, specially designed for that area; mixing groups of state
owned dwellings with the areas of individual dwellings, with a view to obtaining positive
social effects, as concerns access to private property; introduction of a local regulation
in the area, establishing rights, duties and unanimously accepted norms for co-habitation.
Reduced costs were obtained by approaching the development of the area as a whole,
completing the infrastructure, setting-up a single building-site, saving time in design
and construction.
Changing the way of living from collective to individual dwelling has strenghtened the
feeling of private property, increasing the degree of civilisation with educational
effects for the next generations. The land owners were interested to co-operate in
land-subdivision and exchanges of land.
A greater flexibility of housing was achieved by a greater diversity of dwelling-types and
the sizes of plots (between 300m2 and 850m2) according to demands, offering housing
possibilities for various categories of families.
For the implementation of the action, the developer used a strategy based on the following
elements: flexibility in acquiring the land; e.g. in the second stage, for buying a plot
of 1 ha, the owner was offered two dwellings in exchange for the plot; this being a
novelty in the real estate transactions; convenient arrangements to involve land owners;
sharing responsibilities for land servicing in the area between the local government and
the developer; raising public awareness about the urban operation through the media, and
contacting the owners of land from the neighbouring areas; the possibility of establishing
a non-profit association of owners, as legal person, to organise auctions in order to
appoint a builder, to sell plots obtained by new sub-divisions; consulting the land owners
and the population within the area to formulate design specifications and finalize the
urban plan; regulating exchanges of land; consulting the owners in order to find out their
intentions for building and to make them aware of the advantages generated by their
co-operation in obtaining a unitary urban conception; market research, advertising in
order to find potential customers who might buy land for construction, and to learn about
their requirements; elaboration of the design specifications; elaboration and approval of
the urban plan and regulations; promoting new building technologies (using
"parpaing" blocks which permitted the elimination of the kernels of reinforced
concrete, thus reducing the duration of the construction works and the costs); the
developer assumes the whole responsibility for the design and the necessary approvals in
the name of all the owners.
The operation initiated for the realisation of the single-family housing-project in
Timisoara induced changes with positive effects as to: local regulation (urban regulation
and co-habitation within the area); sectorial policy of the Local Council (in the field of
housing) increasing its involvement and improving its pertaining strategy; the system for
managing such operations; establishing partnerships between owners, developer, designers,
constructors, and the local government.
This project is a positive example of partnership between a private company (BRAYTIM Ltd),
a state-owned company (IPROTIM Plc) and the local government encouraged by the Central
Government (the Ministry of Public Works and Regional Planning).
Sustainability
This project is a positive example of partnership between a private company (BRAYTIM
Ltd), a state-owned company (IPROTIM Plc) and the local government encouraged by the
Central Government (the Ministry of Public Works and Regional Planning).
The operation initiated for the realisation of the single-family housing-project in
Timisoara induced changes with positive effects as to: local regulation (urban regulation
and co-habitation within the area); sectorial policy of the Local Council (in the field of
housing) increasing its involvement and improving its pertaining strategy; the system for
managing such operations.
Reduced costs were obtained by approaching the development of the area as a whole,
completing the infrastructure, setting-up a single building-site, saving time in design
and construction.
Changing the way of living from collective to individual dwelling has strenghtened the
feeling of private property, increasing the degree of civilisation with educational
effects for the next generations. The land owners were interested to co-operate in
land-subdivision and exchanges of land.
A greater flexibility of housing was achieved by a greater diversity of dwelling-types and
the sizes of plots (between 300m2 and 850m2) according to demands, offering housing
possibilities for various categories of families.
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