A new project to secure and restore the utilities in the public housing apartments, the last units assigned just six years ago, built on Via Falcone e Borsellino, owned by the Municipality of Porto Torres. An example of the failure of sustainable housing.
They were advertised as apartments featuring modern facilities with cutting-edge energy-saving systems, built according to green building principles, with thermal and acoustic insulation made of all-natural materials. Five million euros were allocated by the Ministry of Infrastructure and the Region, of which 700,000 were paid by the Municipality to finance the "Sustainable Living" project, which involved the construction of 49 public housing units.
The contract was awarded to Holzfanil srl, a company based in Gravina di Bari. The residential units, spread across four buildings, were constructed in the C3 expansion zone between Via Loi and Via Falcone e Borsellino. They were handed over by the Wheeler administration on May 10, 2019, just six years ago. A dream turned nightmare. From the first few months, the families, who had held the keys to their new home, had encountered numerous problems with leaks and damp. For many, the situation was almost unbearable.
The various critical issues faced by beneficiaries of public housing have forced the current municipal administration to issue a management order (1 March 2023) prohibiting the balconies of 23 housing units, creating significant inconvenience for tenants, particularly families with vulnerable and disabled residents.
External verandas were supported with scaffolding to preserve the condition of the site and determine any liability of the construction company. The following month, on April 7, 2023, the Holzfanil company failed to address the construction defects, despite warnings from the construction manager and the municipal director. Therefore, it was urgent to request a technical assessment at the Sassari Civil Court to determine the causes of the construction defects and attempt an out-of-court settlement between the parties. Meanwhile, the municipal council appointed attorney Piras to provide a preliminary technical consultancy, to avoid incurring the statute of limitations for taking action against the construction company. Identifying the work required to address the reported and highlighted issues allows them to be quantified at a total of €930,590, nearly €1 million in costs that the Sassari Court proposes to divide between the parties involved.
That agreement between the construction company and the municipality was never finalized. The company abandoned negotiations. It left risks to the safety of people, so much so that the municipal administration, for reasons of public interest, urgently initiated planning to proceed with securing the housing, where the environment and the residents themselves are at risk. Resources amounting to €62,000 were allocated to Estrella Engineering srl to plan interventions in the homes that risk becoming veritable traps.
