Comsa and Vopi 4 will build the blue economy complex at the Port of Barcelona for €52 million

BarcelonaThe future blue economy innovation center at the Port of Barcelona is preparing to begin construction. Work will start next month on the former site. sheds –port warehouses– on the Sant Bertran dock, next to the Ronda Litoral ring road and just beyond the Trasmed boarding terminal. A new chapter for a complex built in the 1960s, which had fallen into disuse and will now serve to house start-ups,scale-upsaccelerators, institutions and universities linked to all the economic opportunities that the sea can offer.

The construction of hubThe Blue Tech Port project has been awarded to the companies Comsa and Vopi 4 for €52.3 million, slightly above the initial estimate. The work, which will begin in the coming weeks, is expected to last two and a half years. It involves a complete renovation of the six buildings that comprised the former warehouses and the creation of a pedestrian walkway that will connect the different buildings. In total, 25,700 square meters will be developed. The renovation was designed by the studio b720 Fermín Vázquez Arquitectos, the same Barcelona-based firm that designed the Mercat dels Encants and is also working on the future Sagrera station and Hall Zero (the new pavilion for the Hospitalet de Llobregat Fair). Despite the imminent start of construction, the Blue Tech Port project has been in development for years. First, space was made available at Pier 01, a pioneering building dedicated to hosting start-ups Created by Tech Barcelona, it has since been replicated in other parts of the city. Later, despite knowing that a complete renovation of the warehouses was necessary, activity began in the building, and one of the Sant Bertran warehouses was opened at the end of last year.

Currently, more than 15 startups and two research centers are part of the hubThe US consulting firm Braid Theory, the startups Ocean Ecostructures and Bloom Fish, and the BCN Nautical Cluster are some examples of these first tenants. All have temporarily relocated until construction is complete, to the World Trade Center Barcelona, ​​the company that operates this business center in the port. The APB owns 76% of the WTC, with the remainder held by the construction company FCC. The WTC will manage the Blue Tech Port for 36 years and will assume the investment. When operational, the space is expected to accommodate more than 2,500 employees from the companies that will be part of the project.hubBut it won't all be office space. One of the Blue Tech Port's objectives will be the transfer and acceleration of knowledge. In the case of the blue economy, this means having access to water. That's why 50 linear meters of dock have been reserved so that companies in the center can test their products, such as underwater drones. While construction is underway, a space has been set up for thestart-upsTest your solutions on the left side of the Barcelona dock, where the Baleària terminal used to be and which has now been opened to the public for walks.