SEPES

Who is SEPES?

Introduction

SEPES Entidad Pública Empresarial de Suelo is a public enterprise under the Ministry of Development whose mission is to achieve the social and economic rebalancing of the entire Spanish territory through the promotion, acquisition and preparation of land for residential, industrial, tertiary and services use. For this purpose, it prepares the development projects and is responsible for implementing the necessary urban infrastructures.

Also, when commissioned by the relevant authorities, Sepes performs actions in the field of social housing, through the promotion of residential land and, occasionally, through the building of the necessary housing.

Basic operating principles

Although we could receive resources from the National Budget given that we are a public organisation, SEPES has been maintaining an asset management policy which has enabled it to self-finance itself since 1988, forcing it to rigorously study the economic and financial feasibility of its operations, without losing sight of its social duty.

Another basic principle is consensus. SEPES traditionally operates by reaching prior Pacts or Agreements with the Public Administrations, mainly with the Autonomous Communities, Town and City Councils. There are two types of agreements:

• - Framework Agreement with the competent body in each case.
• - Specific agreements for each operation, in which the terms under which the process is to be carried are laid down.

History

SEPES is a direct descendent of two public agencies that have achieved a high reputation in the urban development area of the State Administration: the Gerencia de Urbanización and the Instituto Nacional de Urbanización (INUR).

The Act of 30 July 1959 created the Gerencia de Urbanización as a vehicle of the Ministry of Housing to lead public action in the management and construction of our cities. The objective was to design, manage and implement urban development actions to prepare residential land in the service of state housing plans, on the one hand, and on the other, to develop land for economic activity.

These criteria also guided its actions when the Gerencia de Urbanización, in 1972, changed its name to the Instituto Nacional de Urbanización (INUR), carrying out major development work in residential and industrial land until 1981.

In 1981, the INUR ceased to exist and the Sociedad Estatal de Promoción y Equipamiento de Suelo was created, the name which gave rise to the current name of the Entity (SEPES). Most of the INUR staff and all its industrial urban development activities were integrated in the new company, which transferred its housing activities to the Autonomous Communities.

Royal Decree 1525/99, of 1 October, approved the new Statute of SEPES Entidad Pública Empresarial de Suelo. This culminated the process of adaptation to the figure of Public Enterprise, established in the Law on Organization and Functioning of the General State Administration (LOFAGE).