CHE As Sete Bicas CRL, Matosinhos - ICA Housing

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Affiliation to federations and other organisations: • FENACHE – National Federation of Co-operative Housing in Portugal • CIVAS Childhood, Elderly and Social Action Centre of Senhora da Hora III. Description of the case 83 Co-operative members’ rights – Running for information in order to achieve active participation CHE As Sete Bicas CRL has been developing several tools to assure a permanent information activity. The purpose is to bring our members into our “cause”, making it their own “cause” and stimulating them to participate in an active way in several moments that demand for decision making. Here you can find our main features that stimulate the co-operative members of Sete Bicas to make full use of their rights: • Customized reception desk, working from he needs, interests and abilities of the members and following up the evolution of the process since the moment they become a member; • Written information about the development of our Buildings in Construction and advice about new opportunities of Co-operative Housing Programs, answering all question and supporting conscious decisions; • Publication of the Quarterly Magazine, named “CHBI Notícias”, that we deliver for free to all our members, to several organisations with whom we interact and , in a general perspective, to everyone interested in the cooperative’s activity, fulfilling in this way the Co-operative Principle of Education, Training and Information; • Quarterly updating of our Co-operative Website (www.setebicas.com), in order to keep our online information up to date; • Periodical and updated information of the progress and developments of our buildings, with specific documents being published: • Active participation of our co-operative members in the most important moments of our Co-operative Housing Program, namely in the presentation of the model dwelling and the Housing Delivery System; • Collaboration through queries’ filling or other tools for measuring the satisfaction level of our members, in order to permanently improve the performance of our institution in the achievement of our members’ expectations and in the guarantee of the co-operative’s future success.
84 CHE As Sete Bicas CRL – Much more than Co-operative Housing An integrated approach to the needs of our members – the satisfaction of our commitments to the Society “Sete Bicas” Co-operative Housing is characterised by the following: Sustainable construction, environmental friendly and energy efficient Sete Bica’s concern for the continuous improvement of the quality of our Cooperative Housing has pushed us to experience new techniques and new building methods. The participation in the “SHE Project – Sustainable Housing in Europe” has supported these changes and the relationship with the academic world has encouraged the transformations. This project has launched the work and the recognition as the pioneering position of Housing Co-operatives towards sustainability. Moreover, it is this European experience that is on the basis of an intensive dissemination activity of best practices in construction, whether by participation in seminars and technical conferences or by participation in radio and TV programs, collaborating in writing newspapers and magazine articles. The year 2002 marked the break with the traditional construction methods and we started a new way oriented by “environment defence” and “energy saving”. With other co-operatives we have already accomplished two sustainable developments, which we try to stimulate. At the moment, we have 351 sustainable dwellings built and 151 are in project. We consider that this important change in the housing promotion activity is also an action of solidarity towards the environment, the society and our members. Innovative Architecture – Improvement of our Inhabitants’ Life Quality The project design of our housing programs pay particular attention to the functional and simple use of indoor spaces, adapted to modern families’ practices with the purpose of improving living conditions and quality of life of our cooperative members. Guaranteed Quality The construction process is developed under the close look of an external technical control. This work results in the edition of a ten year insurance policy that protects our buildings against project and construction errors during a ten years period. The construction insurance is, at the moment, and from a legal perspective, valid for a five year period. Our co-operative assures, in a voluntary way, the building’s insurance for another five year period, beyond the legal one. The co-operative’s work system is certifies according to the Norm NP EN ISO 9001:2000. We are the first housing co-operative certified in Portugal and our services are held on a total commitment in the respect of the Quality Co-operative Housing
Page 1: Case 13 from Portugal: CHE As Sete
Page 5 and 6: 86 This clearly shows the co-operat

CHE As Sete Bicas CRL, Matosinhos - ICA Housing

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