Limak won the competition to build the new Camp Nou despite receiving the lowest technical score.

BarcelonaImportant news regarding the bidding process that ended with Limak being awarded the contract for the Camp Nou renovation. After it was confirmed that the Turkish company benefited from a relaxation of the specifications to build the new Barça stadium, now the program What's at stake? SER Catalunya provides relevant details about the awarding of this contract, worth nearly €1 billion. Despite Limak winning the competition over the other two finalists (Ferrovial and Fomento de Construcciones y Contratas), the Espai Barça technical team's rating at the Ottoman company was 50 out of 100, by far the lowest of the three options.

The professionals who formed part of this group of experts (architects, engineers, financiers, and designers, among other profiles) considered that Limak did not justify the construction schedule presented, a schedule that today, three years after the competition and with the stadium under construction, is almost a year behind schedule. Another negative point in the evaluation, also according to SER Catalunya, is that the winning construction company was asking for €200 million to begin work, when the other companies could have started with only €12 million. Despite the technical team's score, Espai Barça officials relied on other criteria to ultimately award the project to Limak. The club's version of this information is that the technicians' assessment was "not binding" but rather "consultative in nature."

Both key executive pieces in the final result of the contest were Joan Sentelles and Lluís Moya, President Joan Laporta's closest confidants. In its final report, Limak went from 50 to 74 points precisely because of its promise to complete the stadium within a more ambitious timeframe than the other construction companies, which received 58 (Ferrovial) and 40 (FCC). Limak edged out the second-place finisher by 16 points, exactly the 16 points the Turkish company had over Ferrovial in the "guarantee and justification of deadlines" section. The winning company promised only one season of exile on Montjuïc and the installation of the roof of the new Camp Nou before the reopening, which was in line with "the club's interests." The reality is that Barça has begun its third season at the Lluís Companys stadium and the roof of the Barça stadium is expected to be erected in the summer of 2026. For their part, Ferrovial and FCC initially planned two seasons at Montjuïc to accommodate the proposed costs.

More than 300 days late

Regarding penalties for delay, the contract documents between Limak and Barça specify an amount for each day of delay in relation to the initial delivery date (November 30, 2024). However, the club has opted not to enforce them because they could do so as of July 1, 2026, when it was anticipated that there would be causes beyond the control of the construction company, such as a lack of material supplies, a lack of personnel, and the inability to work all day and all week. Furthermore, the agreement could be terminated if penalties total 96 million euros, 10% of the project's budget (960 million euros). Currently, the delay exceeds 300 days (300 million euros if the compensation is 1 million euros per day, as announced by Laporta).