Barcelona sets a date for the future emergencies center of Paral·lel

BarcelonaIt took six years to negotiate the agreement that made it possible, and, if all goes well, it will have taken almost six more to have the new Barcelona Emergency Operations Coordination Centre (Cecor) ready. The mayor, Jaume Collboni, announced this Monday that the City Council's government commission will approve the executive project this Thursday for the Three Chimneys of Paral·lel to host the city's new emergency center, with the aim that the works can begin in the first quarter of 2027 and the building will be completed by the end of 2028. To carry out the transfer and get everything operational, a few more months will be needed.

The works, therefore, will begin four years after the City Council – then led by Ada Colau – closed an agreement with the owners of the Three Chimneys of Paral·lel buildings, Conren Tramway. That agreement implied that, in exchange for the rezoning to be able to build a large office building there – this one, with works already underway –, the company had to compensate the City Council with a series of counterparts. Among them, to cede one of the buildings to the city to transfer the Cecor, currently in a basement on Lleida street, a few meters from the new location.

Collboni recalled that among the compensations agreed at the time for the capital gains that the company gained with the rezoning of the land were the redevelopment of the square and a sum that has been used to buy an industrial warehouse on Blesa street. There, the Poble Sec library, a popular culture center, and the headquarters of the neighborhood's castellers should be built. In total, the company's contribution amounted to 11.2 million euros.

This is only part of the total cost for the City Council of moving the Cecor to an emblematic location, where the Canadenca had been in the past. Collboni has detailed that the operation has a total cost of 36.6 million euros. The project is what had already been announced in 2023, and it will involve transforming the Llac building of the complex – which has been disused for more than a decade – into “the authentic brain of the city in prevention and security”, in the words of the mayor. With the change, the Cecor will go from the current 3,251 square meters to more than 5,000. The project foresees the total rehabilitation of the building, which has a ground floor, four floors and two basements. In the latter, technical and logistical spaces will be located, such as Barcelona's data processing center. Collboni has stated that this will allow for the intensification of the city's “virtual patrolling” thanks to video surveillance and data centers.

A key piece for the new neighborhood

"Coming to the Three Chimneys, we multiply the response capacity and improve the working conditions of the services," said the mayor, who stressed that "there will be more and more frequent emergencies that will have to be responded to" and that "the best way to do so is to have the best equipment." Collboni also pointed out that the Cecor – where the Guardia Urbana, the Mossos d’Esquadra, the Emergency Medical System and Firefighters will share spaces and technologies – will allow 222 people to work there, compared to the 144 who do so currently.

The relocation of the Cecor at the beginning of 2029 will, in turn, allow for another important city project: the construction of the new mini-neighborhood between Poble Sec and Avinguda Maria Cristina, which is to be built by taking advantage of the Fira remodeling. Last December, the municipal government already explained that the council's forecast is that the works can begin in 2029 with the aim that the entire project will be completed in 2033. The forecast is that 500 affordable homes, 48 endowed accommodations, facilities, and green spaces will be built there.