Sant Adrià de Besòs City Council has given provisional approval to an Urban Improvement Plan that would allow a new Inditex corporate campus on the Besòs coast, just north of Barcelona. The project is tied to wider regeneration around the coastline and the Tres Xemeneies area.
The plan covers nearly 90,000 square metres, with about two-thirds set aside for the future campus. Council officials say it could bring around 1,500 workers to the municipality and create a new economic focus for the area.
Councillor for Territory José Gras called the approval “a very important step” and “decisive”. He said the plan would transform Sant Adrià de Besòs economically and socially, and noted that more than ten reports from different bodies were favourable, including the Metropolitan Transport Authority, the Catalan Water Agency and the Barcelona Metropolitan Area.
The campus is planned as four main buildings, one for each brand, for Massimo Dutti, Bershka, Oysho and Lefties. Each building would have a ground floor and four upper floors, with offices, product development areas, pattern-making workshops, pilot store zones, audiovisual production facilities and corporate services.
The wider scheme also includes the full reurbanisation of Platja Avenue, the clean-up of land previously used by the Ugiquimica industry, and a new free public car park with 600 spaces, split between surface and underground levels. The plan also preserves and restores the protected chimney of the former Celo factory.
The vote passed with support from the PSC, ERC and one non-aligned councillor. The PP and Vox abstained, while Sant Adrià En Comú voted against. Gras also said the plan sets a maximum height of 27.5 metres on an avenue 60 metres wide, and argued that the area can handle extra traffic thanks to rail, tram, bus, cycle and pedestrian links.
The Urban Improvement Plan now goes to the Territorial Urban Planning Commission of the Barcelona Metropolitan Area for further processing. Final approval depends on the definitive demarcation of the supramunicipal consolidated urban fabric, a required step for the planned large-surface commercial activities. For more local coverage, see our Community and Sport pages.
