Something like a new Poblenou, we calculate. The “Prim area”, as the City Council calls it, is one of the few remaining industrial zones within the municipal boundaries of Barcelona and now, thanks to the redevelopment project announced by the City Council, it will undergo a process of radical change to become, practically, a new neighborhood for the city.
The area, known as the area of Prim, in the district of Sant Martí, will be a new neighborhood with 2,089 municipal housing units out of a total of 3,360 apartments planned. This initiative is part of the major urban transformation being promoted around the future Sagrera intermodal station, which foresees the construction of up to 15,000 new homes.
1,000 more homes, dozens of factories less: where the new neighborhood will be
To build these apartments, the City Council will have to demolish dozens of factories and industrial buildings that still occupy the sector. For this reason, the City Council has initially approved the project for the reparcelling of the sector, which will allow land management to begin and prepare the plots for future construction. If the planned deadlines are met, final approval will be reached at the beginning of 2026, the first demolitions will take place in 2027 and construction work will begin in 2029.
The new neighborhood will be built between the Sant Martí ring road, the Pont del Treball Digne, Santander and Cantàbria streets, Rambla de Prim, Via Trajana and Jaume Brossa street. The nucleus will revolve around a large public square located next to the Can Riera farmhouse and the riera d’Horta, which will be the main meeting place for the neighborhood.
In addition to housing, the urban plan contemplates the construction of 21,656 m² of public facilities that will include a bressol school, a health center, a civic and cultural center, a sports pavilion and the expansion of the Institut Salvador Seguí. This set of services will cover not only the new neighborhood, but also neighboring neighborhoods such as La Verneda i la Pau and Sant Martí de Provençals.
The design of the area was the result of a participatory process and a public ideas competition that was won by the Sínia-Tokio project, by the Forgas Arquitectes studio. Their proposal stands out for the integration of the natural landscape with the existing heritage and for offering a high quality public space.
The development of the Prim area is part of the Sagrera urban macro-project, the biggest transformation of Barcelona in recent decades. This will include a linear park of almost 4 km on the railway slabs, more than 500,000 m² of tertiary uses and green areas connected to the new residential areas. The entire area surrounding the new station is expected to accommodate up to 30,000 new residents.