The Gavà Cooperators Union, inaugurated in November 2022 after its rehabilitation, exceeded 12,500 users during its first year of operation, according to data from the City Council.
The enclave was designed by Josep Lluís Sert and Josep Torres Clave, founders of Gatcpac, before the Civil War. The Franco regime seized it and it never had uses similar to the original idea. Now it is a place to promote the social and solidarity economy, cooperativism, the circular economy and social innovation, evoking in a certain way the objectives for which it was created.
“It has been used very interestingly and openly to citizens,” said the mayor of Gavà, Gemma Badia. "The initial and cooperative spirit of this space has been preserved and at the same time progress has been made towards innovation," she added.
After a few years of disuse, in 2016 a participatory process was carried out to decide what to dedicate the space to. With funding from the Metropolitan Area of Barcelona (AMB) and the European Union, the rehabilitation involved an investment of more than one million euros. And the Union of Cooperators is one of the architectural heritages that form part of the restoration program of the AMB.
According to data from the Consistory, 2,444 people received information and individualized guidance and another 7,688 participated in the activities and exhibitions that have been carried out at the Unió de Cooperadors.
The Gavà City Council reports that one of the most used services was the laboratory, a space dedicated to experimentation with, among other technologies, 3D printers and scanners. In fact, this area achieves 35% of total users.
