The urban campus that Tech Barcelona wants to promote throughout the city is beginning to take shape. Given the success of the first space it promoted in Palau de Mar, Pier 01, the association has wanted to replicate the model in other unique buildings in the Catalan capital, bringing together emerging companies, corporations, and investors under one roof. The expansion also responds to the need to expand the available space for startups, after Pier 01 became too small almost on the day of its inauguration in 2016.
It has been on Via Laietana where this expansion of Tech Barcelona is materializing. A building that until a few years ago had been the headquarters of the Department of Digital Policies is being transformed to become Pier 07 and host startups from the health and life sciences sector. The new hub is expected to be ready in the last quarter, after having undergone a comprehensive rehabilitation since December 2020. With 6,000 square meters of surface area, spread over ten floors, it will have capacity for 500 workers.
20% of the space ---two floors--- is already allocated, and Tech Barcelona is studying candidates to occupy the rest of the building. The CEO of the entrepreneurs' association, Miquel Martí, points out that the focus is on technology companies that provide solutions for the biotech and healthcare fields. But the range is wide, Martí emphasizes. For example, it can also accommodate proptech companies that imagine what the homes of an increasingly aging society should be like.
Relevant personalities from the health sector, such as the founder and president of Trifermed, Sergi Trilla; the partner of Alta Life Sciences, Montse Vendrell; the director of Innovation at ISGlobal, Joan Bigorra, and the venture partner of Nina Capital, Jorge Juan Fernández, have contributed to its development. Work has also been done with Novartis, Ferrer, Grupo Mayo, the Vall d'Hebron research institute (VHIR) or the Bellvitge hospital. "It is a project that aims to be systemic and in which everyone feels welcome," defends the CEO of Tech Barcelona. The project has the support of Acció.
The new hub is not designed for companies that need laboratories, as it does not want to compete with research centers or science parks. "Let science stay there and business concentrate on Pier 07," Martí emphasizes. One model it does clash with is that of the Barcelona Health Hub, a space dedicated to health companies located in Sant Pau, with a strong focus on telemedicine. Tech Barcelona contributed in its early stages but eventually distanced itself due to different approaches.
Tech Barcelona has partnered with Núñez i Navarro for the renovation, in a relationship that was born with a long-term vision and that should serve to develop future Piers, Martí explains. The real estate developer and construction company has been the one to make the investment to adapt the building, allocating about seven million euros.
There is no desire to compete with research centers or science parks: "Let science stay there and business concentrate on Pier 07"The head of the rehabilitation project at Núñez i Navarro, Daniel Soria, explains that the work aimed to enhance the building's sustainability, as well as emphasize light and use natural materials such as wood. The renovation has served to achieve LEED Gold, Well Gold, and WiredScore certifications. It came from some closed, dark, and old spaces, and the aim has been to create open and spacious areas.Additionally, green spaces have been designed, both on the upper terraces and on the interior ground floors, with green walls and native plants, and some thirty solar panels will be installed on the roof, with a power of 11.2 kW.
Built in the 1930s, the protection of its interior courtyards and facades has been respected. Now, work is underway on the rehabilitation of the interior facade, which faces L'Oli street. By the end of June, work is expected to begin on the one facing Via Laietana. One of the improvements achieved with the works is the visual connection that has been established between both streets, through the shutters on Via Laietana. Space has also been reserved on the underground and ground floors to accommodate commercial uses.
It remains to be defined how the workspace will be configured once the rehabilitation is finished. It will feature a multifunctional auditorium, terraces for common uses, coworking, and private office spaces. Beyond the coworking space managed by Tech Barcelona, tenant companies will be able to decide the distribution of their corresponding areas, without clashing with the association's philosophy.
Before Pier 07, there was Pier 03. It was the first to be created after Pier 01 and was conceived as a hub specialized in blockchain. A few minutes from Palau de Mar, in the Els Porxos d'en Xifré building, the theme did not quite find enough critical mass and ended up becoming an extension of Pier 01. Thus, the Via Laietena building will become the first differentiated from Pier 01 and with a very specific focus on a specific sector. The next hub will be the one being developed in the Barcelona Stock Exchange building, says Martí. Recourse to European funds to finance them is not ruled out, but Tech Barcelona does not want to wait for their arrival to execute its projects.