We are a cooperative group made up of 8 cooperatives (TEB Barcelona, TEB Vallès, TEB Habitatge, TEB Verd, TEB Solucions, TEB Bellvitge, TEB Gestió, and a “second-level” cooperative, Taller Escola Barcelona).
We work according to cooperative principles and values to achieve an inclusive life for people with intellectual disabilities.
Since TEB was set up by a group of families in 1968 it has built up a network of non-profit special employment centres, occupational centres, specialised housing services, employment placement services, a guardianship foundation, sports clubs, etc. so that people with intellectual disability can take the place they deserve in society.
In the field of work, we have set up five special employment centres supplying quality products and services and providing jobs for 850 people, of whom around 600 are people with intellectual disability.
We also currently cater for 150 people at occupational centres and have 90 residential home places and a home support service.
1965
A small group of families set up a training scheme through Aspanias association, created in 1962 to defend the rights of people with intellectual disability.
1968
The city council provided premises on the street Grau i Torras, at number 25, and today this is still TEB/Barceloneta occupational centre.
1974
On 31st April 1974 the cooperative was registered, initially with 7 working members. While the initial idea was to provide training to help find jobs in companies, the cooperative took on more and more work and became increasingly important as a place of work.
This was the start of a network of special employment centres, occupational centres, a guardianship foundation and sports clubs.
1976
ENASA school of apprentices provided us with premises on the street Artesania, where TEB/Verdum was founded. It was renovated and extended in 1981.
This expansion of the cooperative’s radius of action soon led it to change its name to Taller Escola Barcelona. The first flats were acquired in the Barceloneta neighbourhood, and these have now become two residential homes.
1984
The years from 1981 to 1984 saw rapid growth in the cooperative. TEB/Verdum premises were extended, new premises were acquired in the street Gran de Sant Andreu with 4,500 m2 of floor space, and the premises in Barceloneta were also refurbished. In 10 years the organisation had grown from catering for 7 people to 250, of whom 33 were employed by 1985.
Work continued in the area of housing and the flats in Barceloneta became TEB’s first residential home.
1987
The organisation went from 4 to 5 sites with the acquisition of new premises on the street Andana de l’Estació in Sant Andreu neighbourhood, what is now TEB/Estació.
1990
The 1990s were very important years for the inclusion of people with disabilities. Following the passing of the social integration of the disabled act in 1982 a series of decrees were brought in giving the schemes for people with disabilities set up during the sixties and seventies a legal status. After the introduction of the figure of the special employment centre and its regulation in 1985, more jobs were gradually created.
1992
This was one of the most important years in the history of the city of Barcelona, and also for people with intellectual disability in the field of sport. Acell backed the creation of the Special Olympics and the non-profit organisations of Catalonia experienced some very special Olympic Games.
This was also the year in which the register of special employment centres was set up in Catalonia.
1999
Refurbishment work was inaugurated at TEB/Estació, a centre that 10 years later, in 2009, would be of vital importance to the future development of TEB with the creation and development of TColors, which produces paint for schools.
2000
On 11/12/2000 a general meeting of Taller Escola Barcelona sccl decided to begin the process of setting up a cooperative group, the first of its kind with a social purpose specialising in catering for and developing adults with intellectual disability.
It was decided that this COOPERATIVE GROUP with a social purpose would be made up of smaller cooperatives which are closer to their members and therefore better able to pursue our goals, both the specific aims of each cooperative and those shared throughout the group.
2001
In the course of 2001 the different individual cooperatives were set up (TEB d’Habitatge sccl, TEB Gestió Empresarial sccl, TEB Vallès sccl and TEB Barcelona sccl) and that of the Taller Escola Barcelona sccl was turned into a cooperative group, termed a “second-degree” cooperative under Catalan and Spanish law. The primary goal of this group was to ensure that the assets and resources built up over the years through everybody’s efforts would continue to serve or be used for the shared project, that future profits would continue to be invested according to collective decisions and that the existing centres and services would maintain their sustainability and capacity to improve.
2002
Taller Escola Barcelona sccl was turned into a cooperative group on 1st January 2002 by altering its articles of association. The different “TEBs” (Barcelona, Habitatge, Vallès and Gestió) were included as members of Taller Escola Barcelona sccl group.
All the cooperatives signed an inter-cooperative agreement setting up the cooperative group as a joint decision-making unit.
Under this agreement services and establishments were handed over to the different cooperatives that were to run them, and their right to use these collective assets was established in order to manage them appropriately.
From 1st January 2002 the members and workers in Taller Escola Barcelona sccl became part of the cooperative (Barcelona, Vallès, Habitatge or Gestió) in which they worked.
2005
On 15th November 2005 TEB Group was joined by a new cooperative, TEB Putxet sccl, also non-profit and with a social purpose, specialising in gardening, cleaning and other services. Soon after TEB Putxet broadened its vision to become TEB Verd, also taking on organic farming work.
2009
The latest cooperative set up by the group is TEB Solucions, founded in the depths of the economic crisis in 2009, with the aim of finding new work in the area of local services.