The Port Vell begins a profound transformation with a total of 19 initiatives

These 19 projects, which are being carried out between 2023 and 2024, will modify the physiognomy of the most civic area of the Port of Barcelona, providing it with new spaces and new services for people to enjoy.

The 19 actions represent a first phase in the great transformation that the Port Vell must undergo in the coming years and will all be completed before the inauguration date of the 37th America’s Cup, which will take place on the 22nd of August 2024. Subsequently, once the competition is over, the Port of Barcelona plans to open up more spaces in the port area for public use and to give new uses to existing buildings that will now be refurbished, such as the sheds on the eastern quay.

The 19 projects to be developed in this first phase of the transformation of the Port Vell are:

• Restoration of the northern estuary trellis.
• Construction of the Nova Bocana promenade.
• Construction of the new Mirador building.
• Development of the esplanades of the new port estuary.
• Refurbishment of the sheds on the eastern quay.
• Extension of the San Sebastián breakwater.
• Remodelling of the fishing area.
• Adaptation of new spaces for the Nautical Institute.
• Demolition of Cinesa.
• Remodelling of the Maremagnum.
• Refurbishment of the historic Portal de la Pau building.
• Transfer of the operations of the Barcelona Nord and Drassanes docks to the Adosado dock.
• Refurbishment and protection of the metal structure of the Jaume I Tower.
• Construction of the America’s Cup House – IMAX Building.
• Remodelling of the World Trade Center Barcelona.
• Implementation of a nautical bus service between the Drassanes and Levante docks.
• Refurbishment of the Barcelona Swimming Club (CNB).
• Refurbishment of the Aquarium.

To promote and speed up this transformation, the Port of Barcelona has given the Port Vell Urban Development Department, headed by David Pino, new powers in the areas of planning and concessions and more economic and human resources as of the 1st of January this year. “We need more muscle in the fundamental management tool of the Port Vell, the Urban Development Management. That is why, today, at the Board of Directors of Port Vell, we have announced the expansion of competencies and the economic and human resources necessary to support all the projects we are going to develop in this area”, explains the President of the Port of Barcelona, Lluís Salvadó. At the same time, the Port of Barcelona has also reinforced its Coordination Office for the America’s Cup and has integrated it into the structure of the Port Vell Urban Development Management.

Lluís Salvadó recalls that “we are making a very important management effort in major actions that will be finished in a record time of 15 months”. Agility has been a constant in the work carried out by the Port of Barcelona since the city was chosen to host the America’s Cup 2024, as the director of the Port Vell Urban Development Management, David Pino, explains.

The delivery of the bases to the 6 teams in the men’s competition is ahead of schedule and 5 of these teams are already working on their bases. These are the bases of INEOS Britannia, Alinghi Red Bull Racing, Luna Rubia Prada Pirelli, NYYC American Magic and Emirates Team New Zealand. The Orient Express Racing Team, the last team to sign up for the competition, is currently working on the land to be occupied by the team. This summer we will have the America’s Cup in Barcelona, with all the teams sailing in our waters”, guarantees David Pino.

A look beyond

Once the 37th edition of the America’s Cup is over, the Port of Barcelona will continue to work hard to make the in-depth transformation of the Port Vell a reality, with projects such as the refurbishment of the Moll d’Espanya and the opening to the public of the Drassanes and Barcelona Nord docks, which will be accompanied by the refurbishment of the Sant Bertran sheds, where BlueTech Barcelona will be located, a new blue economy innovation centre that will house start-ups, international maritime institutions, innovation centres of large companies linked to logistics, transport, port activity and training centres such as the Barcelona Logistics Institute. All these developments will contribute to the promotion of the Blue District, an area of sectoral innovation located mainly in the Port Vell area, where facilities such as Pier01 and the Barcelona Nautical Faculty, among others, already operate, spaces with which the Port of Barcelona has open lines of collaboration. The Port of Barcelona is once again vindicating its role as a leading international innovator.