Bloc4BCN ready to open as Europe’s biggest centre for the promotion of cooperatives

Renovation work is completed on the Bloc4BCN building at Can Batlló, offering over 4,500 square metres to house 60 cooperative projects in the social and solidarity economy. Initiatives based at the building are linked to the spheres of digital technology, care and support for people, energy, housing, mobility, culture, tourism, sustainable textiles, local commerce, sustainable food and agroecology.

10/01/2024 12:36 h

Ajuntament de Barcelona

Use of the building has been granted to Associació Bloc4, an organisation made up of the Confederació de Cooperatives de Catalunya, the Federació de Cooperatives de Treball de Catalunya and the Associació Coòpolis, managed by the Ateneu Cooperatiu de Barcelona and including projects in four categories:

  • Incubation programme for fledgling projects
  • Acceleration programme for cooperatives of up to six years
  • Inter-cooperation programme
  • Semi-industrial workshop spaces

Different Barcelona Activa services will also be based in Bloc4BCN:

  • Sants-Montjuïc Activa proximity antenna
  • Social economy support for cooperatives

This facility is one of the ten city projects making up the Barcelona Social and Solidarity Economy Strategy 2030, designed to reactivate and strengthen an economy for life in the city.

A historical building with social and environmental sustainability criteria

The renovation project began in the summer of 2021 and involved an investment of 10.3 million euros. The intention was to maintain the building’s architectural and historical values while conditioning it for new uses, applying social and environmental sustainability criteria. Vicenç Beneitez Rodríguez was the architecture and director of the project, with Aleix Alexandre Masjuan overseeing the execution of the work and Anton Andreu Bruguera as the construction coordinator for Bimsa.

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