El Besòs i el Maresme, in the Sant Martí district, is one of the poorest neighborhoods in Barcelona and needs urgent housing improvements. Many of the nearly 5,000 it has suffer from serious pathologies that have forced them to be propped up or to put up nets to protect people from landslides. For many years, the residents have been waiting for the promised plan to fix their house to be put in place, but so far it has only taken small token steps. Meanwhile, property deterioration is increasing.
The City Council has completed the inspection of a fifth of the homes in the neighborhood, 1,008 from 45 communities, which are a representative sample, as they follow the same residential estate pattern of the 1950s and 1960s. The next step is to rehabilitate those that are in the worst condition, 897 of 48 buildings, according to the report that has been drawn up. The councilor of Sant Martí, David Escudé, reported yesterday that, of these, 204 belonging to the ten blocks of the pilot test of the plan will be addressed in the current mandate, until 2027, with an investment of 11.7 million euros, 10 million of which for the works.
The program covers 32.6 hectares, bounded by Carrer Llull, Rambla Prim, Bernat Metge and Sant Adrià de Besòs. It includes 86 blocks with 203 communities and 4,598 homes. To set the priorities, the seriousness of the deficiencies has been taken into account.
To the ten blocks mentioned before - the first one, number 11 Messina Street, with twelve homes, is ready -, in the next term (2027-2031) those considered priority 1 will be added. There are 38 properties with 693 homes still without a cost estimate. In the report, 354 of 16 priority 2 blocks are added, which would remain for a final phase. Thus, 1,251 houses would be regenerated, although the report details that 1,746 have suffered damage of varying extent. Although he said that the processes will be accelerated as much as possible, Escudé estimated that to complete the entire program it will take four mandates, counting the previous one; so until 2035.
In the pilot test, in addition to the already renovated block, there are two others in tender for works, which are expected to start in April; two more pending the obtaining of a license with the idea that work will begin in the summer and five more behind schedule with drafted projects. There are subsidies (85% for structures, 80% for surrounding elements or 60% for lifts; for vulnerable families they can reach 100%).
The report details that precautionary measures have had to be taken on 30 farms, some of which have been implemented for some time and others arising from the current campaign, where it is urgent to intervene to repair, especially elements of the structure, such as shoring . There are also ten blocks, with 200 homes inspected, that have serious or very serious structural deficiencies. In this category, the extrapolation criterion could be applied. Therefore, the number of households could reach 753.
The inspection also reflects that 19 buildings – 401 homes assessed – have serious or very serious deficiencies in other construction systems, such as facades, roofs and installations, but not structural. In addition, 19 estates (449 houses) have been detected with problems of all levels of severity (mild, important, serious and very serious). 29 communities with aluminous cement have also been identified, which does not necessarily mean that the structures are affected by aluminosis.
