The mayor of Badalona, Rubén Guijarro Palma, and the director of the Catalan Land Institute (INCASÒL), Maria Sisternas i Tusell, have signed the protocol of intentions for the completion of the remodeling of the houses in the Sant Roc neighborhood affected by aluminosis. The objective is to rethink how to close the process by executing the urban actions that remain to be completed after the remodeling, as well as the opportunities for improvement for the neighborhood and the city as a whole, both in the construction of facilities and new homes.
The process of renovating the homes in the neighborhood affected by aluminosis began in the year 2000 and since then close to 100 million euros have been invested in the construction of a total of 935 new homes as well as the urbanization of their surroundings.
The Sant Roc neighborhood was planned to accommodate the population that lived in the shacks of metropolitan Barcelona - mainly people from Montjuïc and Somorrostro came to live -, but also those displaced by the Besòs flood of 1962 who were in shacks in the same area and also in the expropriated Badalonese for the construction of the C-31 motorway. Around the 1970s, the houses began to present problems due to the low quality of construction and materials, such as the use of aluminous cement. It was then that public institutions began to include Sant Roc in a series of programs to rehabilitate it.
In 2000, the City Council and INCASÒL signed the first agreement to start the remodeling of the neighborhood which, to date, has involved the construction and awarding of 895 replacement homes, in addition to the 40 homes about to be delivered, with which totals 935 homes built.
The public investment in origin (1997) in the Sant Roc neighborhood exceeds 85 million euros, with a very important lost fund. Starting in 2012, to finance the various pending phases, the Housing Agency and INCASÒL have mobilized investments through agreements for the remodeling of neighborhoods. This has made it possible to allocate another 13.1 million to remodeling the front of Avenida de Marquès de Mont-roig, where 56 houses in Block O have been built, and 5.1 million for the construction of 40 houses in Block T that will be delivered in summer of this year 2023.
The relocation of the families affected by the houses with aluminosis will have finished with the construction of these two blocks. The demolition of the blocks located in the area framed by Vélez Rubio street, the front of Avenida del Marqués de Mont-roig, Avenida del Congreso Eucarístico, Calle de Málaga, the extension of Calle de Anselm Turmeda and the ends of the four blocks included in the PERI of Sant Roc and its urbanization. It will also be necessary to carry out the urbanization of the spaces between the blocks and the Sant Roc square, the demolition of the fire station barracks and the adaptation of the entire space as a green area and the construction of equipment and homes that are lacking.
Bearing in mind that the current regulation is from more than 20 years ago, both the City Council and the Generalitat raise in this protocol the need to improve it, complying with the established commitments but facing the current needs of housing, equipment and green spaces of the neighborhood and of the city of Badalona. To this end, a protocol monitoring commission will be created, made up of two members from each of the administrations.
