Town Hall of Barcelona to Build 150 Social Housing Flats in Former Urban Prison

7 May 2018 – Eje Prime

La Modelo is going to change its colour: it will turn from the grey of its former railings to the green of its new parks and family homes. That is the plan that the Town Hall of Barcelona wants to carry out with the urban prison that said goodbye to its last inmates last June. Since then, the Town Hall has been holding regular meetings with local residents and entities to build social housing properties on the land that has been left in disuse, amongst other aspects. The Town Hall’s current idea is to build 150 flats on a plot of land measuring 15,000 m2.

In total, the prison used to cover a plot measuring 27,657 m2, of which the Town Hall plans to use almost half, 14,000 m2 to develop a park that will add some much needed green space to the Eixample area in which it is located.

The first draft of the plans that the municipal government presented in the most recent meeting is one of three possible plans that the Town Hall is considering. It is the preferred option of the Town Hall led by Ada Colau, who will provide more details about the project in July, according to Idealista.

The work to urbanise the plot is not expected to begin until 2020, and so the plans may well undergo several iterations yet, although all three plans involve building public housing, green space and a section that will serve to preserve the historical memory of the 100-year old prison. What is known at this stage for certain is the amount of investment that the Town Hall is going to allocate to the project: €4.9 million, which has already been included in the current mandate, which ends in 2019.

Original story: Eje Prime

Translation: Carmel Drake