Mallorca: Balearic social housing wins OBEL Award
Mallorca’s Balearic social housing model wins the 2026 OBEL Award on 1 September, recognising work designed to tackle a severe shortage of homes and a very limited stock of public rental housing. The OBEL Foundation honours the administrative and building methods developed between 2019 and 2023. The scheme aimed to deliver more public homes quickly and at scale without cutting architectural, environmental or social standards.
More than building homes
The work was led by economist Cris Ballester, then managing director of the Balearic Housing Institute, known as Ibavi, alongside Carles Oliver, head of its technical department. Their approach treated public housing as more than a construction target, looking instead at how homes are commissioned, tendered, designed, built and lived in by vulnerable communities.
The foundation highlighted local materials, circular building practices, climate-adapted design and new approaches to public procurement and project delivery. It also stressed the need for high-quality homes for people often pushed aside or displaced by existing systems.
The jury said the model shows how change can begin within public administration itself, with procurement, investment and management used as tools to reshape a wider system.
Prize funds set for wider reach
Ballester and Oliver are expected to use part of the prize money to expand the model’s international reach and future impact. Ibavi has declined both the award and its financial endowment.
Jury president Nathalie de Vries said architectural innovation lies not only in design and materials, but also in procurement, policy and processes. She said public-housing shortages are not unique to the Balearics, and that the model offers public bodies a framework they can adapt to their own circumstances.
Source: Europa Press / Mallorca.com