The Gironès is an inland comarca of 575.6 km² and 27 municipalities, with Girona as its capital, where the Passivhaus standard proves its worth all year round: the inland Mediterranean climate, with hot summers above 35 °C and winters bringing frequent frosts between December and February, makes both cooling and heating weigh on a home's energy use. Our experience across Catalonia applies directly to the area around Girona.
The Gironès is an inland comarca of 575.6 km² and 27 municipalities, wedged between the Gavarres, the Guilleries, the Rocacorba range and the Empordà terraprims, and organised around Girona and the valleys of the Ter and the Onyar. The city of Girona, the comarcal capital, had 102,666 inhabitants (2022) and sits at 70 m altitude at the confluence of four rivers: the Ter, the Onyar, the Güell and the Galligants. With 206,168 inhabitants across the comarca (2024), the fabric is mostly primary residence, with growing demand for energy-efficient homes both in the city and in the ring of Salt, Sarrià de Ter and Fornells de la Selva.
The climate is humid Mediterranean with continental influence in the higher areas: in Girona itself winters bring frequent frosts between December and February and summers are hot and dry, with spells above 35 °C, while autumn unleashes easterly storms of heavy rain. In this context, both summer cooling and winter heating weigh on a home's consumption, and it is exactly where the Passivhaus standard offers the clearest return: a highly insulated envelope, the absence of thermal bridges and airtightness hold comfort year-round on a fraction of the energy and eliminate condensation.
Building well in the Gironès also means living alongside a protected landscape and a strongly regulated historic centre. The Gavarres massif, to the south-east between the Gironès and the Baix Empordà, covers around 350 km² and was declared a Natural Area of Interest in December 1992 within the PEIN, with the Puig d'Arques (533 m) as its highest peak. The protection of Girona's Barri Vell, which holds the Call, one of the best-preserved Jewish quarters on the peninsula, shapes the project from the first sketch, and that is central to how we work.
The Gironès shares inland constraints, landscape protection and a historic centre that shape building across much of the territory.
The towns of the Gironès have planning instruments (POUM or subsidiary rules) with a heavy weight of non-developable agricultural and forest land and landscape protection. The consolidated version can be consulted in the Catalan Urban Planning Registry (RPUC) and on each council's planning portal.
Residential building is concentrated in the towns' urban land and in consolidated developments. Buildability, occupancy and height parameters vary widely by sector, with specific integration conditions that must be checked case by case, especially in areas of heritage value.
The Gavarres massif, declared a Natural Area of Interest in December 1992 within the PEIN and covering around 350 km², shapes non-developable land across several municipalities. Girona's Barri Vell, bounded by the passeig de la Muralla and holding the medieval Call within it, has its own heritage protection regime that must be verified case by case.
A major works licence follows the standard Catalan procedure. Indicative resolution times run between 8 and 16 weeks from complete documentary submission, with extensions possible on plots affected by landscape or heritage.
We have the technical and logistical capacity to work across the whole comarca. We do not yet have a dedicated page for every town in the Gironès.
It makes a great deal of sense. With hot summers above 35 °C and winters bringing frequent frosts between December and February, both cooling and heating weigh on consumption, and a highly insulated, airtight envelope pays back in both seasons. A Passivhaus home in the Gironès holds comfort year-round on a fraction of a conventional home's energy and avoids condensation and thermal bridges.
We work across the whole of the Gironès and its 27 municipalities. Our head office is in Sant Cugat and we have the technical and logistical capacity to reach Girona, Salt, Sarrià de Ter, Cassà de la Selva and the rest of the comarca's towns.
Yes, bearing in mind that Girona's Barri Vell, bounded by the passeig de la Muralla and holding the medieval Call within it, has its own heritage protection regime. The Passivhaus standard is an energy-performance requirement, not an architectural style, and it is compatible with the integration conditions the composition rules require, which must be verified case by case.
The design controls solar gain through orientation, shading of the openings and high-performance joinery, and it incorporates heat-recovery ventilation that renews the air with no thermal loss. With Gironès summers above 35 °C, the home stays cool in summer and warm in winter on very low consumption.
Resolution usually runs between 8 and 16 weeks from complete documentary submission, with extensions possible on plots affected by landscape, heritage or protected natural areas such as the Gavarres massif.
Whether you have a plot in Girona, in the ring of Salt, Sarrià de Ter or Fornells de la Selva, or in a protected setting of the Gavarres, we can support you from day one with the technical knowledge of the inland climate and the landscape sensitivity the territory demands.