BLOC4BCN is a centre for promoting Cooperativism and the Social and Solidarity Economy in Barcelona which will start operating in the first quarter of 2024. Work began in the summer of 2021 and Barcelona City Council has invested more than €10.3 million in refurbishing and adapting the building. The 4,500 m² site can accommodate over 60 business projects related to technology and digital services, healthcare, energy, housing, mobility, culture, tourism, sustainable textiles, local commerce, and sustainable food and agroecology.

The building refurbishment and adaptation work for Bloc4BCN, the largest hub for promoting cooperatives in Europe, located in Can Batlló, is now complete. The work, which included adapting the building, began in the summer of 2021. It has involved an investment of €10.3 million by Barcelona City Council, which has handed over the former factory building to the Bloc4 Association.

The Bloc4 Association comprises the Confederation of Cooperatives of Catalonia, the Catalonia Federation of Worker Cooperatives, and the Coòpolis Association which manages the Barcelona Cooperative Association (Ateneu).

This public investment in the rehabilitation of the building has resulted in the allocation of 4,500 m² to the expansion and strengthening of the Social and Solidarity Economy in Barcelona and Catalonia.

Bloc4BCN is a public-cooperative project funded by Barcelona City Council and the Catalan Government, which falls within the framework of the Barcelona 2030 Strategy for the Social and Solidarity Economy.

Both the Catalan Government and Barcelona City Council will contribute to the funding of BLOC4BCN’s activity through various programmes. The site can accommodate over 60 business projects related to technology and digital services, healthcare, energy, housing, mobility, culture, tourism, sustainable textiles, local commerce, and sustainable food and agroecology.

Its objective is to contribute to the socio-economic development and transformation of Barcelona and of Catalonia as a whole by promoting and raising awareness on cooperativism, the incubation and acceleration of cooperatives, enhancing intercooperation, local and international connections, and alliances with other cultural, educational, and business entities.

A building designed with environmental and social sustainability in mind

Those involved include Vicenç Beneitez Rodríguez, architect and project manager, Aleix Alexandre Masjuan, the project execution manager, and Anton Andreu Bruguera, the Bimsa building work coordinator.

BLOC4BCN in Can Batlló occupies a gross floor area of 4,527.35 m² spread over two floors. The structure consists of two volumetric elements: the first, a broad industrial body featuring a sawtooth roof, and the second, a narrow section with a flat roof, facing the interior street.  The comprehensive refurbishment is based on the desire to preserve and highlight the distinctive features of industrial architecture – order, repetition and structural simplicity – and to maintain the building’s historical and architectural values. This intervention involves enhancing the original elements of the facade while preserving the interior spatiality with a roof structure featuring large-span metal trusses. The aim is to preserve the spirit and character of the former industrial site in order to promote the activity of Can Batlló’s old industrial streets.

The roof, due to its visibility, is essentially the fifth façade of the building. It has been renovated by means of an ornamental project involving the restoration of the original ceramic tiles. The inclusion of horizontally integrated photovoltaic panels, forming a substantial pergola on the flat roof, will facilitate the generation of sustainable energy.

Existing elements such as wood, roof tiles, clay bricks, metal structures and encaustic floor tiles have been recycled and reused.  The main entrance to the building will be located in the central part of the west façade, in the space where the lobby will be situated, providing direct access to the ground floor, the main staircase, and the lift for reaching the first floor. There are also two alternative entrances, one on the north façade and another on the south façade.  The ground floor lobby will host the building’s front desk as well as the primary vertical connections, administrative sections, communal spaces, meeting rooms, and technical facilities (toilets, installations, etc.). There will also be work areas or modules, classrooms, spaces for business incubators and workshops. Storage rooms and facilities will situated beneath the stairs leading up to the first floor.

The first floor follows the functional layout of the ground floor, featuring shared, communal, and technical spaces (meeting rooms, recreation areas, infirmary, toilets, etc.), as well as access to the roof. The industrial module houses the spaces dedicated to business incubators, coworking areas, and secondary spaces for workshops.

On a different note, like all municipal facilities, the auditoriums and the front desk are equipped with an induction loop for individuals with hearing impairments.

Workspace for projects

Bloc 4 BCN Cooperative Space provides cooperatives and entities from the social and solidarity economy with a working, networking and creative environment in which they can receive expert guidance and the necessary training to strengthen and grow their projects. Four different options are offered depending on the needs and different stages at which the various entities find themselves.

Incubation programme

The incubator is for collectively created projects that are less than three years old and require intensive support to ensure their initial growth. 

Acceleration programme

Designed for cooperatives that have been in existence for up to six years and need to explore a specific aspect of their business or enterprise model.

Intercooperation

This programme is aimed at cooperatives and entities from the social and solidarity economy looking to establish a strategic hub where they can develop new services and markets, conduct diagnoses, and collaboratively and innovatively address social challenges.

Semi-industrial workshop spaces

For social and solidarity economy projects engaged in semi-industrial activities that require an equipped space tailored to their needs.

The activities that will be developed there

Bloc4BCn is a meeting place, support hub, and driver for the Social and Solidarity Economy in the city, with a metropolitan impact and which also acts as a catalyst nationally and internationally.

The facility will also offer access to Barcelona Activa services:

• First, by acting as a local branch called Sants-Montjuïc Activa, with specific employment and economic activity support programmes for the district. This space represents an opportunity to provide the residents and stakeholders of Sants-Montjuïc with resources and services from Barcelona Activa, primarily focusing on support for job placement, career guidance, and advocacy for labour rights. It will provide support to unemployed people, those with particular difficulties in finding work, migrants or those in vulnerable situations.
• It will also offer Barcelona Activa services supporting the social economy and cooperatives in a city-centric approach that will complement other services offered by Bloc4BCN. In 2023, Barcelona Activa services specialising in Social Economy, including training and support, served over 4,000 individuals and 400 projects and businesses.

For more information: bloc4.coop

https://ajuntament.barcelona.cat/economia-social-solidaria/ca/estrategia-essbcn2030