Casa Laguna

Ecuador’s largest climate-conscious construction project on the outskirts of Guayaquil ensures affordable housing for 3,500 families. Ensuring that this housing development was as sustainable and climate friendly as possible were key priorities for the developer. 

Habitability and Comfort 

• Directly benefits 3,500 families, from a social, environmental, and economic approach. 
• The community benefits approach of the project allows the enjoyment of a better quality of life for all with affordable and low costs. 
• Housing models ranging from of 111m² to 160 m² per unit. 

Community and Connectivity 

• Located near shopping centres, schools, colleges, and banks, as the project is mindful of Ecuador’s deficit for housing and the needs of good location, accessibility, and ease of acquiring food, medicine, and access to schools. 
• Includes a community events hall, community swimming pool, parks, and recreational areas. 
• The project is creating sustainable livelihoods for the communities it works with through the management of bamboo plantations alongside local communities. There is also the development of industrial-scale bamboo plantations creating further value for the communities. 

Resilience and Adaptation to Climate Change 

• Development built on a safer northern area of the river basin to avoid climate change impacts such as sea level rise and flooding, as Guayaquil is the fourth most vulnerable coastal city to climate change in Ecuador. 
• Studies carried out to quantify economic losses caused by floods and ensure a safer ground for the development to prevent damage. 

Resource Efficiency and Circularity 

• Used ECOPact green concrete for all housing units, resulting in a reduction of 98kg of CO2 equivalent to each cubic metre sold. This amounts to 60% less CO2 emissions, or a total of 1,100 tonnes of CO2 saved. 
• The use of ECOPact also achieved a 30% reduction in carbon footprint. 
• Where regulatory conditions allow, ECOPact+ concrete integrates upcycled construction and demolition materials, further closing the resource loop to reduce the environmental footprint. 

Economic Accessibility 

• Ease of direct and fast financing with the builder, state financing and private banking. Highly developed area, properties with a high possibility of increasing capital gains over time. 
• Holcim Ecuador supplied all of the ready-mix concrete needed to complete the project, totalling a volume of 13,000 m³ of ECOPact to meet the sustainability requirements. 
• Average rental cost for each housing unit – $600 USD per month. 
• Average purchase cost for each housing unit – $120,000 USD per house which is the average cost of an apartment in the area. 

More information: 

https://www.holcim.com/who-we-are/our-stories/ ecuador-affordable-housing-ecopact