Club Natació Barcelona begins Escullera pool rebuild, with 2027 opening target

Club Natació Barcelona has begun the rebuild of the Escullera pool, taking the first formal step toward restoring one of the city’s most symbolic aquatic venues and Barcelona’s only indoor diving pool. The first-stone ceremony on 28 April 2026 brought together club president Bernat Antràs and senior figures from the Port de Barcelona, the Federació Catalana de Natació, the Real Federación Española de Natación, Institut Barcelona Esports, the Generalitat delegate in Barcelona and the Catalan sports councillor, a clear sign that the project carries weight well beyond one club’s facilities.

The reconstruction matters because it is not just a heritage exercise. CN Barcelona says the new Escullera will add training space and a higher-quality environment for diving and other water disciplines in a city where pool access is already tight. Bernat Antràs said the facility is meant to develop new athletes in an Olympic discipline and will be open not only to club members but also to other clubs, schools and the public. That wider use could make Escullera a meaningful release valve for Barcelona’s strained aquatic infrastructure, especially for base sport, lessons and regular training slots that are often hard to secure.

The pool’s significance goes back more than a century. Construction was approved on 17 April 1921, the facility opened in 1922 and it remained in use until it closed in 2004. Earlier accounts have described it as Spain’s first covered and heated pool and the only indoor pool where springboard diving could be practiced, a distinction that helps explain why the rebuild has been framed as the return of a jewel of Catalan sport. The project also fits into CN Barcelona’s longer modernization push, first presented in 2021 as a 12-million-euro plan. At that time, the club had about 6,000 members and management said it would need roughly 7,500 to move into surplus.

The Port de Barcelona has played a key role in making the investment viable, extending CN Barcelona’s occupation rights from 2027 to 2036 to help protect the project. That backing underscores how closely the rebuild is tied to the club’s future and to Barcelona’s wider aquatic ecosystem. With the first phase targeted for completion before the second quarter of 2027, Escullera is moving toward becoming more than a preserved landmark. If the plan stays on schedule, it will return as a working pool that serves elite diving, club development, school access and public use, while reclaiming a place in the city’s sport infrastructure that has been absent since 2004.