Barcelona enters the race to host the headquarters of the State Public Health Agency

BarcelonaBarcelona has entered the race to host the headquarters of the Spanish State Public Health Agency (AESAP). The city council of the Catalan capital will present its bid this Friday for the agency to be based in the city, according to reports. The Newspaper And this has been confirmed by ACN. The Ramon Llull building, located on the grounds of the Escola Industrial, is the space Barcelona is proposing to host the state health agency. The proposal also has the support of the Catalan government.

This Friday is the last day to submit bids to host AESAP, for which cities such as Granada, Zaragoza, and Lugo, among others, have also been proposed. In its proposal, the city council led by Jaume Collboni argues that the Ramon Llull building is very well connected by public transport and is located in an emblematic area of the city, in the Eixample district. It is close to Sants station, which offers connections to the airport and high-speed rail. The report acknowledges that a complete renovation of the building requires significant work, but assures that with "minimal interventions" a 500 m² space can be ready by the second half of 2026. The document also notes that the Industrial School grounds house the paraninfo, a historic auditorium. The building in question was for decades an emblematic university residence, the oldest in Catalonia, where writers such as Bartomeu Rosselló-Pòrcel, Salvador Espriu, and Carles Riba, as well as Pompeu Fabra, lived, and which was visited by Federico García Lorca. The residence closed in June 2022.