Spanish LaLiga football club Barcelona is set to carry out renovation work at its Palau Blaugrana arena before the venue is replaced as part of its Espai Barça project.
The 7,500-seat arena serves as the home of Barcelona’s basketball and handball clubs. The venue, which first opened in 1971, will be replaced by a new arena that can seat between 10,000 and 15,000 fans.
Before work begins on the new arena, the existing facility will undergo a facelift, with refurbishment work set to be carried out this season.
Spanish newspaper El Periodico reports that Barcelona has approved an investment of €1m (£855,000/$1.1m) to carry out works relating to the arena’s scoreboard, public address system and electrical system. A new hospitality area will also be created for VIP fans.
The new arena, which will form part of the wide-ranging Espai Barça project, is not set to be completed until the 2025-26 season. Barcelona last month approved a financial model of up to €1.5bn for Espai Barça, which also includes an expansion of the Camp Nou stadium to a capacity of 105,000.
It is hoped that the new Palau Blaugrana will attract major basketball events to Barcelona, such as EuroLeague’s Final Four. There are also plans for the arena to host concerts and conventions.
As well as the new Palau Blaugrana and the Camp Nou expansion, Espai Barça will deliver the wide-ranging Campus Barca development. The first part of the project saw the opening of the new Estadi Johan Cruyff in August 2019.
Barcelona revealed last month that the club had invested €145m in the Espai Barça project since 2014 but only completed five per cent of the work. The club stated that the project has become “outdated” in financial terms since it was first approved seven years ago.
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