Barcelona City Council plans to open the former Hospital de la Santa Creu complex more directly to the Raval, creating a clearer pedestrian link between the Jardins de Rubió i Lluch and plaça de la Gardunya in the centre of the neighbourhood. For residents, library users, shoppers heading to La Boqueria and people crossing Ciutat Vella on foot, the change is intended to make this route more accessible and easier to use.

According to the council's Info Barcelona announcement, work is expected to start in summer 2025 and finish in 2026, with a final budget of €820,000. Separately, the council has also approved rehabilitation works inside premises within the former hospital site that form part of the connection, the last step in the reurbanisation of this passage.

The project aims to make the historic site more permeable

La Vanguardia reported that BAAS Arquitectura and h3o arquitectes won the competition to rehabilitate the architectural complex and make it more permeable to the surrounding neighbourhood. The intervention affects one of the most historic sites in El Raval, where the Biblioteca de Catalunya is already based inside the former hospital complex.

The council said the broader transformation centres on opening up the area around the old hospital in El Raval. The route links the gardens inside the historic enclosure with plaça de la Gardunya, beside the rear of La Boqueria market.

The aim is to recover a central space for El Raval and for the city, Ciutat Vella councillor Albert Batlle said when outlining the municipal plans in January.

What work has been approved on the connection route

According to reporting by Metrópoli Abierta based on municipal approvals, the latest works will define the interior finishes of the premises located in the former Hospital de la Santa Creu area that sit along the connection between the Jardins de Rubió i Lluch and plaça de la Gardunya.

That report says the works are designed to recover the heritage character of the buildings and reveal their original structure. The spaces will keep only the minimum installations needed to allow possible future uses, potentially cultural, and will include two accessible toilets and a storage room.

  • The interior rehabilitation works are budgeted at €351,811.
  • The expected duration is six months.
  • The connection project was first drafted in November 2016, according to the same report.
  • A basic and execution project for the reform was awarded in April 2018.

Metrópoli Abierta also reported that the project was updated in 2024, with the revised budget approved in February last year, and that these interior works follow earlier accessibility improvements in the Jardins de Rubió i Lluch, including a new ground-floor passage.

Wider changes planned around Boqueria and the old hospital

In January, Albert Batlle said the council would put out to tender an €800,000 contract for the Gardunya to Rubió i Lluch connection in order to improve the entrance to La Boqueria from El Raval. He also said a second phase would reform 12,000 square metres of the former Hospital de la Santa Creu to house a district library, which he described as addressing the fact that Ciutat Vella is the only Barcelona district without one.

The same announcement included parallel works around the area, with €1.8 million earmarked for reforms to the Jardins del Doctor Fleming and plaça de la Gardunya, including trees, street furniture and a children's play area.

Separate council-approved projects also cover the renovation of the former hospital's main façade and cloister, with a combined investment of more than €2.7 million, according to Ara.

For people who use this part of El Raval every day, the official timetable to check is the council's Info Barcelona notice, which states that the opening-up works around the former hospital are due to begin in summer 2025 and conclude in 2026.

Primary sources: Barcelona City Council, ajuntament.barcelona.cat. Reported by Source Text Link, Rubén Pacheco, Carla Stavraky, Francesc Melcion, A.D.S., Jordi Ribalaygue, metalocus.es, arquitectes.cat, vhir.vallhebron.com, vallhebron.com, afasiaarchzine.com, Exa, metropoliabierta.elespanol.com, Jordi Palmer, arquitecturacatalana.cat, La Vanguardia Barcelona.