La Selva, some 995 km² with 185,873 inhabitants (2024), has two very different faces: the roughly 25 km of coast that open the Costa Brava, with Lloret de Mar, Blanes and Tossa de Mar, where summer heat, solar exposure and sea salinity shape the envelope; and a forested interior, between the Guilleries and the foothills of the Montseny, with a milder climate. In both settings the Passivhaus standard governs a home's comfort and energy cost.
La Selva combines two very different territories. The coastal strip opens the Costa Brava with some 25 km of shoreline: Lloret de Mar (42,600 inhabitants in 2024) and Blanes (42,198) concentrate very high tourism demand and a strong second-home component by the sea, with the coves of Tossa de Mar as a reference. The interior, with Santa Coloma de Farners as its capital, is forested and quiet, between the Guilleries and the foothills of the Montseny, with Caldes de Malavella and Sils as reference towns.
On the coast, the dominant factor is summer cooling: heat, intense solar exposure and sea humidity make it essential to control solar gains and ensure an airtight envelope. La Selva is Catalonia's most humid coastal comarca, with rainfall ranging from 700 mm on the shore to over 1,000 mm in the mountainous interior, and salinity adds a further demand on materials and joinery. Inland, among the Guilleries, crowned by Sant Miquel de Solterra at 1,204 m, the milder climate and abundant vegetation favour stable year-round comfort. In both cases, a highly insulated envelope, free of thermal bridges and airtight, is the most direct route to lower energy costs.
Building well in la Selva also means respecting the landscape of the Ardenya-Cadiretes massif on the coast, protected under the PEIN with 7,740.15 hectares approved in 2004, and the Montseny biosphere reserve on the western fringe, a natural park since 1977 and a UNESCO biosphere reserve since 1978, crowned by the Turó de l'Home at 1,705.8 m. It also means respecting the thermal-spring tradition of Caldes de Malavella, where water surfaces at between 56 and 60 °C and was already exploited in Roman times. Landscape integration shapes the project from the first sketch, and that is central to how we work.
La Selva combines coastal fronts under heavy tourism pressure, protected natural areas and historic centres that shape building across much of the territory.
The towns of la Selva have planning instruments (POUM or subsidiary rules) with different regimes on the coast and inland. 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, in consolidated developments along the coastal strip and in inland sectors. Buildability, occupancy and height parameters vary widely by sector, with specific conditions on landscape integration and composition in many areas, especially along the sea fronts and in historic centres.
The Ardenya-Cadiretes massif on the coast, with a PEIN of 7,740.15 hectares approved in 2004, and the Montseny biosphere reserve on the western fringe shape non-developable land across several municipalities. The historic centres of Tossa de Mar, Santa Coloma de Farners and other towns have their own heritage protection regimes 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 la Selva.
Yes. On the Costa Brava the challenge is not winter but summer: heat, solar exposure and sea humidity. La Selva is, in fact, Catalonia's most humid coastal comarca. A highly insulated envelope, with solar-gain control and airtightness, keeps the home cool on a fraction of a conventional home's energy and avoids the condensation that salinity worsens.
We work across the whole of la Selva. Our head office is in Sant Cugat and we have the technical and logistical capacity to reach Lloret de Mar, Blanes, Tossa de Mar, Santa Coloma de Farners, Caldes de Malavella, Sils and the rest of the comarca's towns.
Yes. On the coast we prioritise summer cooling, solar control and material resistance to sea salinity. In the forested interior, between the Guilleries and the foothills of the Montseny, with a milder climate, the goal is stable year-round comfort. The Passivhaus standard adapts to both settings with the same performance rigour.
Proximity to the sea calls for corrosion-resistant joinery and materials and a careful envelope design. Heat-recovery ventilation delivers clean air and controls indoor humidity, which reduces the risk of condensation in a saline environment.
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.
Whether you have a plot on the Costa Brava seafront, in a development in Lloret or Blanes, or in an inland town such as Santa Coloma de Farners or Caldes de Malavella, we can support you from day one with the technical knowledge of the coastal and inland climate and the landscape sensitivity the territory demands.