One of the most important future projects for the city is unstuck: the expansion of Hospital Clínic. The commission formed by the different administrations involved has confirmed the viability of moving the healthcare complex to the sports fields of the University of Barcelona (UB), on Diagonal. "It is the most suitable," concluded the Department of Health, the Barcelona City Council, the Barcelona Provincial Council, the UB, and the hospital itself.
The new location has been evaluated from various points of view, such as urban planning and mobility. The extent of available space and its capacity to concentrate healthcare activity, teaching, and research in a single space has also been analyzed, with the aim of configuring a multidisciplinary health park, a model currently preferred in the sector.
The result has been that the UB fields will allow the center to expand and integrate the different activities to have one of the most important biomedical campuses in Europe and a great knowledge hub. With an area of 290,000 square meters, it is expected that the Faculty of Medicine will also be moved and research buildings will be installed. The new location also opens the door to reconnect this area of Barcelona, still to be consolidated, with the neighboring municipalities of L'Hospitalet de Llobregat and Esplugues de Llobregat, giving an opportunity to the forgotten Can Rigal and enabling the creation of a new neighborhood.
Likewise, with the departure of the Clínic from the Eixample, space will be freed up in a completely consolidated district characterized by high density and a lack of green space and public facilities. In this regard, the commission has agreed to propose new uses for the hospital's current location to cover needs for medical, educational, and Fire Department facilities. It has also decided to maintain hospital care at the Clínic's Villarroel headquarters, as well as at Platón and Maternidad, with the aim of covering the reference population.
"This is the first step to create a cutting-edge, intelligent center, a national and international reference," the different administrations have remarked. Once this phase is overcome, work teams will be set up to concretize the project from a technical and financial point of view, and to define its calendar. Modifications to the Metropolitan General Plan will also have to be undertaken to make the expansion possible.
More than 20 years unresolved
The relocation of Hospital Clínic to gain more space is an issue that has been unresolved for more than 20 years. Its current location, in Eixample Esquerra, became too small a long time ago, as well as outdated, considering that it was conceived at the beginning of the 20th century. All of this prevented the growth of a cutting-edge and expanding facility, as well as the incorporation of the latest innovations and technological improvements.
After several failed proposals to move it, in February 2021, a commission made up of administrations and experts was created to evaluate the possible new locations the center could have. In a process that has been prolonged, the commission pointed out half a year later that the UB tracks were the best positioned location to move the Clínic, to the detriment of the other locations that had been put on the table. The other options evaluated were the old fire station on Provença street, next to the hospital's current location; the Industrial School complex; the old Modelo prison; the Maternitat complex, where the Clínic currently provides several services such as maternal and child care and ophthalmology; the Fira de Barcelona Plaza Espanya complex, and the Bruc Barracks on Diagonal.