The long-awaited day has finally arrived: the Porta Romana investment fund has presented the permit to build the 2026 Olympic village to the municipality of Milan.
The Winter Olympics to be held in joint edition between Milan and Cortina are an incredible showcase for the Lombard capital, which today more than ever wants to make a good impression and expose itself positively to the eyes of the international community: for this reason, the top management is thinking of acting with adequate advance for the completion of the works, and not to find themselves, as in the Italian tradition, always at the last second to complete the works on time.
In fact, Coima states in a note that the timing of the program agreement, signed by the Lombardy Region, the municipality of Milan and the FS have been “fully respected”, so much so that for the area of the next Olympic village the reclamation work. Excavations will begin soon, together with the safety and demolition of some existing works.
The area of the former Porta Romana airport covers an area of 190,000 square meters, and for several years it represented a barrier between the south and east of Milan. An industrial area, whose protagonists are the freight trains that arrive and deposit the materials, which will be totally reconverted thanks to a joint effort between Coima, Covivio and Prada, for an estimated budget of 180 million euros.
The project
The Milan 2026 Olympic Village project was born thanks to a collaboration of more than 70 architectural firms, under the management and direction of the SOM – Skidmore, Owings, Merrill studio. The architects have thought of building a space that is not an end in itself, but that can be reused after the Olympics as a real neighborhood of Milan. Squares, open spaces, pedestrian areas have been designed, all connected to the Porta Romana airport.
The delivery of the works is scheduled for July 2025, about six months after the start of the event, and the entire area, of 60 thousand square meters, is part of the southwest area of the Porta Romana airport. At the end of the Games, part of the Olympic village will be converted into a student residence, which will flank a series of private services required by the Milano Cortina Foundation, in a public / private effort that will be able to create a zero environmental impact area.
So much so that even now we are thinking about how to reconvert the area after the Olympics ended, in 2026, keeping the cornerstones of eco-sustainability firm. For example, recyclable and reusable materials will be used, which guarantee environmental friendliness, and all buildings will have LEED certification.
Furthermore, a good percentage of the energy necessary for the proper functioning of the plant will be produced by installing plants that exploit renewable sources, such as solar thermal and photovoltaic. Furthermore, rainwater will be collected and reused where necessary for cooling and heating, saving over 40% of CO2.
To bring more greenery to the area, the railway line, which is still active today, will be partially buried and covered by a park, in which children’s games and sports areas will be built.
Who is part of the Porta Romana investment fund
The Porta Romana investment fund is managed by Coima Sgr, and has been underwritten by a series of high-sounding names such as Covivio (well-known real estate operator born from the merger between Fonciere des Regions and Beni Stabili), Prada Holding (the famous fashion house is interested investment as a Milanese) and by the Coima Esg City Impact fund, the first Italian ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) fund for urban regeneration, officially placed at 400 million euros and an already identified pipeline of over one billion euros, through a progressive fundraising and a series of capital increases that will be instantiated during the 20-year life of the fund.
