Small changes in dawdling Barça project

Article posted by Coliseum, May 11^th, 2021

Image: FC Barcelona

The President of the Spanish professional football club FC Barcelona, Joan Laporta, led an institutional representation of the club at the Barcelona City Council recently. Laporta initially held a private meeting with the Mayor of the City, Ada Colau, to speak about small changes in the Espai Barça project in order to be able to get going on the works shortly, which will require some adaptations.

‘FC Barcelona’ stated that after being elected President of Barça on March 7^th, on May 6^th, the first institutional meeting was held between Mayor Colau and President Laporta, a meeting which was joined by the Deputy Mayor, Janet Sanz, in the Mayor’s office.

Futbol Club Barcelona, commonly referred to as Barcelona and colloquially known as Barça, is a Spanish professional football club based in Barcelona, Spain which competes in La Liga, the top flight of Spanish football.

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William T. Mannarelli, Director, Real Estate and Espai Barça, FC Barcelona, Spain, is a Member of ‘Coliseum’s’ Strategic Committee.

The Espai Barça development plan goes well beyond modernization and reconstruction of its home venue Camp Nou. In addition to increasing the capacity of the current stadium to 105,000 from circa 99,000 and completely revamping the current structure of the Camp Nou, the Espai Barça project entails building a new Palau Blaugrana with a capacity of 15,000, an additional court with a capacity of 2,000, an ice rink, a new social area, a new commercial area, revamped club offices, La Masía (read FC Barcelona’s youth academy), and an additional 5,000 parking spots.

The 99,354-capacity Camp Nou is a football stadium in Barcelona, Spain. It opened in 1957 and has been the home stadium of FC Barcelona since its completion.

‘FC Barcelona’ stated that the representatives of FC Barcelona, led by Joan Laporta, Vice-President of the institutional area Elena Fort, the Manager in charge of Espai Barça, Jordi Llauradó, and the incoming CEO, Ferran Reverter, met at the Saló Consolat del Mar with the Deputy Mayor responsible for Ecology, Urbanism, Infrastructure and Mobility, Janet Sanz, the Urban Planning Manager, Laia Grau, the Chief of Staff to the Deputy Mayor, Marc Rius, and the Deputy Mayor’s Advisor, Roger Clot.

FC Barcelona told the City Council that it is willing to promote a series of small architectural changes in the Espai Barça project to make it more sustainable and lend a futuristic touch to it.

The representatives of the club argued that with the project hanging fire, it has become obsolete, and that the upgradations that are to be made could make the wallet thinner. In this context, FC Barcelona asked the City Council to expedite the official procedures and permits that will be required for the development that should have got rolling years back.

On the above aspects, both parties were unanimous in their understanding because it is not only a project for FC Barcelona, but for the entire City.

During the meeting, the possibility of Barça occupying the sports facilities sitting on the Montjuïc Mountain (hill in Barcelona) during a period in which the stadium would be closed to the public was discussed. The idea that the club has is that while the work is being carried out, the stadium will never be less than at 80,000 capacity. However, it has been noted that, for a short period of time, the Camp Nou will not be able to host fixtures or spectators, which will force the club to provisionally search for a new home, and this will most likely be the Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys.

The 55,926-capacity Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys is a stadium in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. Originally built in 1927 for the 1929 International Exposition in the City, it was renovated in 1989 to be the main stadium for the 1992 Summer Olympics.

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