Meshes on balconies, nets on other facades, humidity, specific landslides and broken cornices are some of the evidence of the poor condition of the Plaza Reial in Barcelona. To stop the degradation process that has plagued the square for years, the City Council has presented a comprehensive rehabilitation plan that includes all the facades and porches. The objective is to recover the original image of the square, including its original, more intense and bright colors. The City Council will be in charge of all the procedures and procedures and will open a line of subsidies to cover up to 45% of the cost of the works to the owners.
It is planned to tender and award in early 2025 to begin work in the middle of the year. “The estimated cost is 3.2 million, part of it will be covered with subsidies by the City Council and another part by the owners through fees. It is a collaboration between private parties and the administration,” explained the chief architect of the Consistory, Maria Buhigas. The expected duration is about 18 months. The Institut Municipal del Paisatge Urbà (IMPU) will be in charge of drafting the executive project, at no cost to the owners. Then, the Institut Municipal d’Urbanisme (IMU) will charge the cost of the works in several installments to each owner based on the dimensions of the façade.
In parallel, and through the IMPU, the City Council will open a line of subsidies of up to 45% of the amounts that each owner has to pay (with a limit of up to 50,000 euros per facade). After several previous meetings, this afternoon the municipal government presented the plan to the owners and merchants of the square: “They are aware of the advantages of having the City Council take charge of all the procedures,” Buhigas assured.
The City Council contemplates the rehabilitation of all facades and porches without exception, including the wide variety of owners who live in this square: neighborhood communities, individual owners with homes, offices, tourist apartments, studios, a hotel, shops, restaurants. .. The latter will also be eligible for subsidies to renovate and adapt the exterior of the premises.
This comprehensive rehabilitation of Plaça Reial – the last one dates back forty years – will provide continuity to the redevelopment works of the Rambla, in a global action that aims to revitalize this entire stretch of Ciutat Vella.
The action will be carried out by declaring the square an area of ??urban regeneration. “We have been working on the project for some time, we have previous studies of the current state of conservation and what they were originally like,” explains Buhigas. In fact, the tender for the previous works was carried out in October 2022. At that time the City Council expected to begin the comprehensive rehabilitation between 2023 and 2024.
