Barcelona approves first phase of Poble-sec sports center project

Barcelona took the first formal step toward giving Poble-sec a new municipal sports home on June 15, approving the opening phase of a plan to turn Pavilion 2 of Fira de Montjuïc into a 3,450-square-meter neighborhood sports center. The project is budgeted at 5 million euros and is meant to replace a long-running shortage of close-to-home training space in Sants-Montjuïc with a facility built for daily use, not just major events.

The conversion would add two multi-sport courts measuring 44 by 23 meters, plus multipurpose rooms on the upper level, changing rooms, bleachers and support services. Barcelona’s planning documents place the work calendar between 2025 and 2027, with the first phase now being drafted as an executive project. The city has framed the hall as a practical piece of neighborhood infrastructure that can absorb more local sport while also modernizing an old asset instead of starting from scratch.

That matters for the five clubs currently using the Pabelló d’Itàlia: CBSAPS, APA Poble-sec, PALMASEC, Terra Negra and Joves Units del Poble-sec. Their use agreements with Barcelona City Council remain in place until the new facility is ready, and the city says the new hall is designed to preserve and expand the activities they already run there. Once the clubs move, the Pabelló d’Itàlia is expected to be demolished.

For residents, the real value of the project is proximity. Barcelona says the new hall responds to long-standing neighborhood demand for nearby sports space, and the location between Paral·lel and Avinguda de Rius i Taulet places it deep inside the district’s everyday catchment area rather than on the edge of the city’s sports map. That should help ease pressure on overcrowded municipal centers around Montjuïc and make it easier for local clubs, school-age athletes and recreational users to book regular court time without crossing Barcelona for it.

The project also fits into the wider remaking of Fira de Montjuïc, a zone tied to the centenary of the 1929 International Exposition. Fira de Barcelona is studying the Montjuïc venue for remodeling toward 2029, and the broader plan around the site includes 500 affordable homes, 48 special-purpose homes, new local facilities and more than 6,800 square meters of green space. By shifting the sports hall into Pavilion 2, the city says it can bring the facility forward by nearly three years compared with a previously planned 2029 pavilion in the residential area, while freeing that land for housing and other neighborhood uses.