The Institut Català del Sòl has begun the demolition of blocks 59 and 60 in the Sant Roc neighborhood, in Badalona, between numbers 200 and 210 of Marquès de Mont-Roig avenue. The buildings, constructed with aluminous cement, are part of the residential substitution process that began more than two decades ago in this area.
The demolition starts after the relocation of the affected families has been completed, a process initiated in the year 2000 that has forced buildings with problems detected as early as the 1980s to remain standing for years. The operation has involved the construction of 879 homes and an investment of approximately 100 million euros before reaching the final demolition phase.
The last families left in June 2024 and the demolition will end in 2027
The company Construcciones y Desmontes Ribera Navarra is carrying out the work on blocks 59 and 60, with completion scheduled for September. After that, it will be the turn of blocks 57 and 58, whose demolition must be completed before the end of the year.
All demolition work planned in Sant Roc will conclude in the first quarter of 2027 and has a budget of 700,000 euros. The action is concentrated around Marquès de Mont-Roig avenue, one of the axes that structures the neighborhood.
The last families received the keys to their new homes in June 2024, in a ceremony attended by the Minister of Territory, Ester Capella, and the mayor of Badalona, Xavier Garcia Albiol. With that procedure, the residential relocation prior to the start of the demolitions was closed.
"We are doing an act of justice" - Ester Capella, Minister of Territory, Generalitat de Catalunya
The plan was born from an agreement in 1998 and was finalized with the planning of 2007
The aluminosis problems in Sant Roc homes began to emerge in the 1980s, but the project was not finalized until 2007, when the specific modification of the Metropolitan General Plan was approved. That development stemmed from a public agreement signed in 1998.
In addition to replacing the affected buildings, the urban renewal plan proposes a transformation of the neighborhood between the sea and mountain areas. The objective is to eliminate the barrier effect created by the blocks parallel to Marquès de Mont-Roig avenue and to improve the internal connection of Sant Roc.
The properties that are now beginning to disappear were built in 1962 to house residents of shantytowns in metropolitan Barcelona, people displaced by the floods of that same year, and neighbors expropriated for the construction of the C-31 highway.
The official forecast sets the demolition of blocks 57, 58, 59, and 60 to be completed in the first quarter of 2027 with a total budget of 700,000 euros.