The Government Commission agreed to change the existing planning classification due to the outright rejection from local residents and organisations to a new hotel in Ciutat Vella. Full Council had already called for the planning use to be revoked on two occasions, in 2010 and 2016. By redesignating the building for use as a teaching facility, the buildings next to the Palau de la Música will be able to meet the future needs of the district better, all parties involved having to respect and adapt to the designated use.

According to the Deputy Mayor for Ecology, Urban Planning and Mobility, Janet Sanz, it’s about urban justice: “There will be no hotel in the heart of Ciutat Vella, just as local residents have been speaking up for and as set out in the Special Plan on Tourist Accommodation, which identifies this zone as a place to live in dignity”. Sanz also underlined the importance of urban coherence. “It means regaining a facility for the neighbourhood and linking it to local residents’ needs”, she noted.

The move consists of a modification to the General Metropolitan Plan (MGPM), changing the use from a previous version (2009) which designated the buildings next to the Palau de la Música for hotel use. That same year, however, coinciding with the judicial intervention at the Palau, the new management at the entity disregarded the construction of an adjacent hotel.

The new MGPM will now go to the Commission for Ecology, Urban Planning and Mobility and Full Council before being definitively approved by the Catalan government’s Sub-commission for Urban Planning in Barcelona.