The mayor of Barcelona, Ada Colau, and the president of FC Barcelona, Joan Laporta, appeared this morning in the Press Room of the Barcelona City Council, just after the City Council’s Governing Commission approved the granting of the building license remodeling of the Camp Nou. During the appearance, they were accompanied by Janet Sanz, Deputy Mayor for Ecology, Urban Planning, Infrastructure, and Mobility, Jaume Collboni, Deputy Mayor for Economy, Labor, Competitiveness, and Finance, and Elena Fort, Institutional Vice President of the club, and Jordi Llauradó, the director responsible for Espai Barça.
The remodeling works of Camp Nou, the epicenter of the Espai Barça, will begin this June, just after the sports season ends. In accordance with the building, the license was approved this morning by the City Council’s Governing Commission.
The works will be concentrated in the first and second stands, in the technological area, in the surroundings of the Stadium, and the exterior urbanization.
The actions inside the Camp Nou will include the demolition of the additional structure of the South Goal, where the Medical Center was located, restoration works, anti-carbonation and waterproofing of the stands, structural finishes, and the improvement and renovation of the broadcasting systems.
In the technological field, the installation of new telecommunications connections is planned, the transfer of the data processing center, the creation of a technical room for the registration of interior telecommunications infrastructures, or the installation of new connections to the TV Compound, the car park of mobile television units.
Actions will also be promoted in the surroundings of the Stadium, with containment works for the lateral car park, the construction of the new intelligent central warehouse, experiential space for information of the partners and marketing of the project, and the transplanting and conditioning of the trees.
Lastly, about the tasks related to the Modification of the General Metropolitan Plan (MPGM) already underway, urbanization works are planned for Menéndez i Pelayo street, and the start of the procedures and the demolition work of the building owned by the club in Traverse de les Corts (old Picadero).
The demolition of the third tier in the summer of 2023
As President Joan Laporta advanced a few weeks ago, given the uncertainties generated by the war in Ukraine, especially regarding the rise in prices of materials and their supply, it has been decided to impose a principle of prudence, minimize risks and protect the income of the next season, but with the minimum possible affectation to the schedule of works. For this reason, it has been decided to plan the demolition of the third stand for the summer of 2023, which will allow time to be gained in the face of current price uncertainty, and guarantee practically total capacity of the Camp Nou next season, since demolition meant having to play the competitions of the 2022/23 season with a 50% reduction in capacity.
With this calendar change, the demolition will coincide with the transfer of activity from the Camp Nou to the Lluís Companys de Montjuïc Stadium. Now, the club and the City Council are working on the conditions for this transfer, which will only mean one or two-quarters of an increase in the duration of the works, which are estimated to end during the 2025/26 season.
In this way, during the 2022/23 season, the works mentioned above would be carried out, making works compatible with the presence of subscribers and the public; the 2023/24 season would see the bulk of the works carried out throughout the year, moving the activity to Montjuïc; In the 2024/25 season, works would be carried out on the Stadium, compatible with sports activities and approximately 50% capacity. During the 2025/26 season, the works would be completed.
It has also been reported that the club has accelerated the bidding process for works, with a schedule that provides for bidding during July and awards no later than October.
A much more sustainable and technologically advanced stadium
The club has announced that in the coming weeks, it will present the final modifications to the initial project to the City Council, the result of the joint work carried out in recent months by municipal technicians and the club’s Espai Barça team to delve into the effect of these improvements on modifying the main building license for the future Camp Nou. It will be from that moment that you can request the modification of this building permit. It must be approved again by the City Council’s Government Commission.
The new Espai Barça project, which was already advanced in the institutional meeting between President Laporta and Mayor Colau, held in May 2021, will incorporate further improvements in terms of sustainability, innovation, technology, and accessibility, in addition to others that will maximize its potential economically and, above all, they will minimize the effects on season ticket holders.
Sustainability becomes the Stadium’s DNA to turn the future Camp Nou into a benchmark in this field. With the new rethinking, a series of improvements have been deepened that will have a direct positive impact on the environment and that have the objective of reducing the ecological footprint of the club, promoting the circular economy, and enhancing the biodiversity of the area. Among these improvements, the commitment to promoting sustainable mobility stands out, facilitating arrival at the Stadium by public transport and favoring electric mobility since up to 60% of the parking spaces will be electrified, including designated areas for bicycles and other Personal Mobility Vehicles.
Along the same lines, energy-saving and efficiency will also be promoted with 18,000 m2 of photovoltaic panels on the new roof to generate electricity equivalent to some 600 homes in the Eixample, and the use of green energy stored in the subsoil, to reduce heating and cooling consumption. Likewise, a geothermal system and a global heat and cold distribution system (District Heating & Cooling) will be installed, which will reduce the contracted energy by 30%, reusing the rainwater collected from the roof. This improvement will allow watering ten times a year all the vegetation of the future campus. In relation to biodiversity, the native fauna is currently protected. The forest mass of the enclosure has increased by 15%.
The future Camp Nou will incorporate state-of-the-art technologies in the technological field, including a 360º screen inside the bowl that will offer a new experience to the public. The vehicle security and access control system will also be improved, and maximum performance will be taken of the possibilities provided by 5G connectivity.
Ongoing financing
The club has the financing for the investment of this start of works. It continues to work to close the best general financing operation for the Espai Barça project for an amount that at no time exceeds 1,500 million euros, as approved by a large majority in the Referendum last December, which ratified the massive support of the delegates in the Assembly on October 17 and 23.
