The City Council reported that construction work has begun on the first 41 apartments to rehouse families living in precarious conditions on the former grounds of Barcelona’s Trinitat Vella prison.
These new homes are located in the Sant Andreu district of the Catalan capital. There are also plans to advance the construction of the second block of apartments (53 more homes), once the prison is completely demolished.
In the initial phases, the Municipal Institute of Housing and Rehabilitation of Barcelona, IMHAB, plans to build 129 apartments. The works were made possible thanks to the agreement reached between the Generalitat and the City Council last year.
In the agreement, the issue of the transfer of the former Wad-Raso and Trinidad Vieja prisons to the Free Trade Zone was taken up again.
It should be recalled that the start of construction was delayed due to delays in the transfer of the two plots of land for the construction of the new apartments. They were detained because there were traces of heavy metals in the subsoil of the plots, a situation that had to be verified and corrected.
The former Trinitat Vella prison grounds
The Trinidad prison was inaugurated in 1964. It was built for the exclusive use of women and under the direction of the Crusades.
However, during its 57-year history, it was adapted for various uses: first for women, then for young people and finally, as an open center. In 1983, the women prisoners were transferred to the Wad Ras prison in the Pueblo Nuevo neighborhood of Barcelona, which became the new provincial prison.
It has been partially demolished since 2009.
The advantage is that this land is now owned by the Barcelona City Council, which made it possible to begin the initial phase of construction of housing for people affected by the rehousing process.
In the phases that are programmed and according to the prison transfer process, the rest of the programmed buildings will be built on the prison plot and in the surrounding areas.
The housing units are expected to be completed by the third quarter of 2024 in order to relocate the families in need and also to renovate the area.
The works, which finally started in October, are the first step in the whole process of building a total of half a thousand new homes on this site.
The homes will also become affordable rental apartments and spaces where new lives are built under a safe roof. They will be an adequate housing solution for families in precarious conditions.
The first phase is expected to be completed in the third quarter of 2024, for which a budget of eight million euros is available.
