Real estate developers have paralyzed 11 office projects in Barcelona’s 22@, the technological district of Poblenou, with a total of 142,000 m2 of surface, a reduction that will allow the area to adapt to the drop in office hiring, of 33 % in the last three years, which has caused the increase in teleworking after the pandemic and the financial crisis that affects the technology sector, the most important in the area.
According to data presented by Javier Bernardes, managing partner of offices at the consulting firm Cushman
The projects that have been paralyzed in general did not yet have a building permit, but two developers have chosen to paralyze works in progress: Shaftesbury, in a project in Cristobal de Moura, and InmoCaixa, in a project on Ávila street.
Currently, there are twelve new construction and rehabilitation projects in the area, covering 109,000 m2, distributed in half in the two sectors of the district, of which this year 61,000 m2 are expected to go on the market.
“Supply returns to levels more adapted to demand,” acknowledged Bernardes. Before the pandemic, an average of 110,000 m2 of offices were rented per year in the district, and this figure was reduced by 33% after Covid. According to Cushman data, in 2023, 47,000 m² were rented in the district, 20% of the total contracted area in Barcelona (246,000 m²), but in recent months hiring has been reactivated.
Enric Urreta, president of the 22@Network Barcelona Association, asked that the City Council promote urban planning changes to include more services and facilities in 22@. “We must continue to maintain the competitive attractiveness of the city,” he assured, since most of the innovative companies that arrive in Catalonia settle in the area.
In this sense, Bernardes, who is also president of the Urban Planning and Territory Commission of the 22@Network Barcelona, ??demanded “flexibility of urban planning regulations” and especially that the Generalitat modify the regulations that regulate coliving to be able to build them on tertiary land (the intended for offices).
“There is a lack of housing throughout Barcelona, ??but we also need to have it in 22@: employees now do not want long trips to get to the office”, a factor that has once again boosted the offices located in the center of Barcelona.
In the case of 22@, he recalled, the modification of the urban planning rules that was approved in 2021 will allow the number of homes to go from 8,000 to 17,000 in the area, but only newly built homes can be protected, so that only free housing can be created with “You climb”, increasing the height of buildings already built, something that is very difficult in the area due to the water table.
According to Bernardes, “if we create an attractive environment that combines the different uses of housing, services, equipment and recreational activities, the offices will be full.”