Industrial areas. Homes, welfare and more services for the future

The daily commute to work, the difficulty of finding housing close enough, the need to make sustainability something concrete and everyday. In times of difficulty in finding and retaining personnel, even industrial areas are evolving and implementing initiatives aimed at improving the quality of life and work.

A precise signal comes from Nip - Nucleo Industrializzazione Provincia di Pordenone, whose members' meeting at the Maniago headquarters unanimously approved the business plan for the three-year period 2025/27. In addition to the consolidated commitment to industrial and infrastructural development, the emphasis is on the human component of work.

Thus, after the territorial welfare project that has been launched and the investment in the training of workers, the novelty is the creation - mainly through the recovery of existing buildings, without further land consumption - of new housing to support urban agglomerations. The development of new housing will be functional to the skilled workers sought, also from outside the territory, in order to attract more and more people and meet the needs of companies. This is why the feasibility study and the search for funding are underway: for Maniago 8 million, for Meduno 5, for Montereale Valcellina 3.5 and for Cimolais and Claut 2. "The new residences," says the president of Consorzio Nip, Alessandro Tomba, "represent a concrete response to the housing shortage in our area. In a context in which we are witnessing a demographic decline and the difficulty of finding skilled labour, it is essential not only to preserve the competitiveness of existing companies, but also to create the conditions to attract new talent and investment from other regions and abroad. These residential hubs, with a rotational system, will make it possible to offer temporary housing to new employees, facilitating their integration into the local community: not only will an immediate housing need be met, but it will also contribute to the stabilisation and integration of new residents in the long term'.

A total of 170 companies have settled in the industrial areas under the responsibility of the Nip Consortium in Erto e Casso, Maniago, Meduno, Montereale Valcellina and Pinedo, plus a further 150 in the industrial areas under agreement in San Quirino, Arba, Budoia, Sequals, Vito D'Asio, Montereale Valcellina for the artisan area, and Vivaro.

A hitherto unused square of about 7,000 square metres, immediately next to the exit of the Padova Zona Industriale motorway tollbooth on the A13 motorway, has been transformed into a recharging area for electric vehicles in the Padua Industrial Area. Interporto Padua and Electrip Italy presented the new project at Green Logistics Expo, the international exhibition of sustainable logistics. "This is the first concrete step for an evolution of the area towards a modern network with a vocation for sustainability. The municipal administration has given precise indications and we, as an operational tool for the management of the Industrial Area, are implementing them,' explains Interporto Padua's general manager Roberto Tosetto. 'This intervention is not decisive on the front of supporting electric mobility, but it indicates a direction with the re-use of an area that was little used. Electrip is a company belonging to a multinational conglomerate holding (35 thousand employees, 6 billion in turnover) and specialised in the production, marketing and installation of charging stations for electric cars. For Italy and Europe, it has planned a plan to install stations in both public and semi-public areas. In Padua, 10 Hyper Fast recharging stations of 200 Kw each for a total of 2megawatts will be built, totally paid for by Electrip, ensuring recharging times (from 20% to 80%) between 10 and 25 minutes. The charging station will be ready by early 2025.