Bjarg Housing Association is building 148 flats in Hamranes

The first residents are expected to move in at the beginning of 2023.

Construction of 148 flats Bjarg Housing Association at Nónhamar and Hringhamar in Hamranes, Hafnarfjörður The development is based on an agreement between the City of Hafnarfjörður and the Bjarg Housing Society under the General Housing Act, with the City of Hafnarfjörður contributing 12% of the flats' establishment value, or approximately 550 million króna. The first flats are expected to be ready on 1 January 2023, with the last ones on 1 September 2023. These flats will be added to the more than 600 flats owned and let by Bjarg, and the development in Hafnarfjörður is one of the largest undertaken by Bjarg Housing Society since its establishment. Of the 148 apartments, 9 will be added to the social housing system of the City of Hafnarfjörður.

^{Representatives from the City of Hafnarfjörður and the Bjarg Housing Society met at Hamranes in the fine weather this week to discuss and experience the progress of events. From left: Selma Unnsteinsdóttir, Project Manager at Bjarg's Lettings Department; Björn Traustason, Managing Director of Bjarg; Þröstur Bjarnason, Project Manager at Bjarg's Construction Department; Rannveig Einarsdóttir, Director of the Family and Child Welfare Department of Hafnarfjörður Municipality, Rósa Guðbjartsdóttir, Mayor, and Sigurður Haraldsson, Director of the Environment and Planning Department.} 

^{Hamranes is a dream community for those who want to live close to nature, with the hinterland of Hafnarfjörður in their back garden.}  

Rental housing for lower-income individuals and families

Bjarg Housing Society is a non-profit organisation intended to ensure that low-income individuals and families in the labour market have access to secure housing on a long-term lease. These are so-called rental homes based on the Nordic model. Applications for the flats in Hamranes have already been opened on the Bjarg Housing Society's website. Frugality, common sense and quality are the guiding principles behind the design of the flats to keep the rent down, with factors such as the number of square metres being taken into account. The flats are therefore not large: 45-square-metre two-bedroom flats, 70-square-metre three-bedroom flats, 85-square-metre four-bedroom flats and 100-square-metre five-bedroom flats, in a beautiful setting with gardens that are partly untouched lava fields covered in moss.

^{Frugality, common sense and quality are the guiding principles in the design to keep rents down, with factors such as the number of fermets being considered.}

A dream settlement for those who wish to live close to nature.

 New flats from the Bjarg housing association are being built, along with around 1,500 other homes in Hamranes, and the population of the fully-built neighbourhood will be just over 4,000. Hamranes is a new 25-hectare neighbourhood opposite the Skarðshlíðarhverfi area, where a dream home is now being built for those who want to live close to nature, yet just a stone's throw from a wide range of shops, services and leisure facilities. Transport links between the neighbourhoods are fairly good, thanks in large part to new flyovers, the dualling of the Reykjanesbraut and the opening of the Ásvallabraut. The neighbourhood will have two nurseries and a primary school, as well as provisions for a health centre and residential options for the elderly. Work on plots in Hamranes began in early 2021, and the first sod for Bjarg's housing was cut that summer. The first residents in Hamranes are expected to move in this year.