The transformation of La Model will be extended until 2035
The first works will begin this November, nine years after the release of the last prisoners
BarcelonaBarcelona presented this Friday a new calendar for the transformation of La Model. Nine years after the last inmates left the Eixample prison, the City Council has announced that it has just put out to tender the contract for the construction of the first facilities in the complex, with the aim that the works can begin in November of this year. To complete the remodeling, however, it will still be necessary to wait at least two terms. The horizon set by the municipal government foresees that the project will not be completely finished until 2035.
The new calendar represents a delay of seven years compared to the last projection that the municipal government – in this case led by Ada Colau – had made public four years ago and which involved having the transformation of La Model ready by 2028. From the City Council, it is pointed out that this lag has to do with the need to first resolve the situation of the two schools in the complex: Entença – which after years in various provisional locations was installed in La Model and for which a definitive location was not found until this term – and Xirinacs, which is part of the first package of facilities to be built.
Along the way, the metropolitan general plan (MPGM) also had to be modified, a change that was not definitively approved until the end of 2023. The councilor for L'Eixample, Jordi Valls, and the chief architect of the City Council, Maria Buhigas, defended the plan this Friday to move forward with a project they consider will be one of the most important in terms of facilities in the city, alongside Glòries and Can Batlló. Despite extending the timeline, Buhigas assured that the development of the project in four different phases will allow it to be carried out with maximum diligence. "We have built the shortest path possible to advance as quickly as possible in the transformation of La Model," she said.
The first of these phases is the one that was put out to tender this Friday to build the Institut Escola Xirinacs – currently in temporary buildings – a sports pavilion, a groundwater tank, and an energy center. All these works will be awarded this autumn in a single package for an amount of 29.5 million euros so that the works can begin in the autumn. Regarding the school, the council's calculations are that students will be able to move into the new building in the 2028-29 academic year. In the case of the pavilion – which will be semi-underground and accessed from Provença street – the forecast is that it can also be inaugurated during 2028. In a second part, this first phase also includes the start of the works for the Memorial and the urbanization of the surrounding area.
The second phase – which runs from the end of 2027 to 2032 – includes the tenders, the drafting of projects and the execution of the works for the municipal nursery school; the space for young people and cultural entities; the completion of the works for the Memorial and the Panòptic Center – which will become a covered central square with multipurpose uses and exhibition space – and the first public endowment housing for young people, the elderly, and temporary emergency accommodation, which will be built by taking advantage of the structure of the old prison galleries. During this time, the transfer of the Entença school to its new site next to the Hospital Clínic must also be completed. The current forecast is that they can start the 2029 academic year there.
A 200 million euro project
Regarding the third phase, scheduled between 2030 and 2035, the forecast is to address the projects and works for the elderly residence and a facility, as well as the urbanization of a large part of the surroundings. The transformation still has a fourth phase to which no date has been set. It concerns two more prison galleries that also need to be converted into public housing and regarding the timeline for which the City Council does not want to commit for now.
In addition to pacing the work, the planning of the construction in four different phases is also a way for the City Council's coffers to face a macro-project like this one, which will be financed entirely with public money. The current calculations of the council are that all of this could end up representing an investment of around 200 million euros.