More public housing for the Gòtic as various municipal services relocate
As municipal services from the Area for Economy, Resources and Economic Promotion and the Area for Security relocate to the building at Via Laietana, 8-10, this will free up part of the building in Plaça de Carles Pi i Sunyer. Use of the latter will be granted to the Catalan health service to relocate the new primary health centre for the Gòtic neighbourhood there. Currently located in Passatge de la Pau, the move will provide the centre with more space.
Specifically, the services to be relocated are those operating at Carrer d’Avinyó 7, 15 and 32, and at Carrer de la Ciutat, 3, and Carrer de Paradís, 14. Between them, the five buildings have a total floor space of 5,600 sqaure metres. This space will be used to build seventy public flats, in addition 1,500 square metres for commercial premises on the ground floors.
Once the details are ready for the tendering process to draft the final project and condition the building in Via Laietana, the building will become a hub for municipal offices, with 700 staff in a floor space of 9,000 square metres. Work on the building is due to start in 2024.
Acquired from the Catalan government and currently empty, the building will also gain space for public use as it will house citizen support offices.
Revamping the economy and improving public housing in the centre
The new municipal offices represent another step in the current transformation process for Via Laietana. As from March, the first stage of work gets under way to make the street more pleasant, create more space for pedestrians, bikes and public transport, and also to boost local commerce.
The move also responds to the strategy to revamp the economy in the city centre. The post office building at the bottom of the street is set to become a digital innovation centre for tech companies, with space for local people to use and a post office inside.
The initiative also provides a significant boost to public housing in the district of Ciutat Vella, adding 158 homes in the district for the Barcelona Municipal Institute of Housing (IMHAB), and agreements with private bodies. Thanks to this, the use of 11 flats in the Barceloneta neighbourhood has been secured to be turned into protected housing, as well as 36 homes in the building that was formerly the Gimnàs Sant Pau, in the neighbourhood of El Raval.
If you would like to get onto the register of applicants for the public housing stock or would like more information, click here.
