Barcelona will invest €4.2 million in the remodelling of the Municipal Sailing Centre

The complete remodelling of this sports centre created for the 1992 Olympic Games and the creation of a new multi-purpose hall will be completed in the first quarter of 2024

Every year, some 18,000 people enjoy the Centre’s nautical activities such as paddle surfing, kayaking and scuba diving. More than 110,000 schoolchildren have taken up sailing since it was launched

Popular nautical activities are one of the main focal points of the Olympic Port’s transformation project, together with the blue economy and gastronomy 

Barcelona City Council has presented the renovation project of the Municipal Sailing Centre (CMV), which involves an investment of €4.2 million. The project, funded by Barcelona de Serveis Municipals (B:SM) as part of the Olympic Port’s transformation, and managed by the Barcelona Institute of Sports (IBE), includes the complete remodelling of this sports facility, which aims to promote popular water sports as one of the central features of the new Olympic Port project. The call for tenders for the works begins in October and the work is expected to be completed in the first quarter of 2024.

The first deputy mayor and chairman of B:SM, Jaume Collboni, said that “the Olympic Port continues to make progress in its transformation with a view to the 2024 America’s Cup. Inaugurated in 1992, on the occasion of the Olympic Games, the Municipal Sailing Centre was designed with the aim of becoming a meeting point for water sports and the citizens, and it is with this aim in mind that Barcelona City Council is undertaking this reform. We want the citizens to reconnect with the sea and to do it from here, from the new Olympic Port we are working on”. 

In the same spirit, the councillor for Sports, David Escudé, said that “the aim is to ensure that the CMV continues to be the gateway to water sports activities for Barcelona’s inhabitants. The refurbishment of this emblematic space for the nautical world is now essential, precisely at this key moment for sailing in Barcelona with the upcoming America’s Cup 2024”. 
 
The Barcelona Institute of Sports is working to promote yachting among the citizens and, in particular, among younger people. Every year, around 18,000 people use these facilities where they practise sailing, paddle boarding, kayaking and scuba diving: 1,200 with annual memberships and more than 1,600 on an occasional basis. The rest are children and young people, many of them from schools in Barcelona and the metropolitan area, and in the summer, participants of the Olímpia Nàutic Summer Camp. Since it was launched, more than 110,000 pupils from schools in the metropolitan area have taken up sailing.

A refurbishment based on the criteria of efficiency, sustainability and accessibility       

The refurbishment of the CMV building is part of the project to transform the Olympic Port, which is progressing at a steady pace, following the completion of the works on the Shelter Dyke (Dic de Recer). The commencement of the works on the new access that will connect the city with the port, as well as the new Gastronomic Balcony, due to become a reality in the summer of 2024, are also part of the project.

With the aim of making water sports accessible to the citizens, the CMV plans to carry out a complete refurbishment of the building in order to increase its range of services, as well as to adapt all the facilities according to criteria of efficiency, sustainability and accessibility. For this reason, the project is approached from two different angles. Firstly, the improvement of its facilities; and secondly, the construction of a new multi-purpose room, located in the upper part of the building. 

The new multi-purpose hall, managed by Barcelona de Serveis Municipals (B:SM), is conceived as a daily space, adaptable to the needs of the users of the port, the CMV and the Barcelona City Council itself. This room will have good accessibility and an unbeatable view of the sea, overlooking the Shelter Dyke, and the launching of sailing boats from the ramp in the centre’s outer courtyard.

The refurbishment of the CMV also includes the repair of the different pathologies that have appeared over the years, such as the carbonation of the concrete and the water filtrations caused both by the rainwater tanks and by the dilatation joints of the building itself.

In addition to all this refurbishment, at the end of next September, work will begin on the restoration of the Shelter Dyke, which will enable four double-decker docks to be set up right in front of the CMV. This dyke, together with the Moll de Mestral, will house the city’s first centre for the blue economy. The renovation works of the Sailing School will begin in January 2023. These latest works, budgeted at €1.2 million, will be completed in four months. 

CMV forms part of the Blue Pavilion project

Led by the Barcelona Institute of Sports, the CMV is part of the Blue Pavilion project, the great public space of reference for practising sport on the seafront. There are, in total, five kilometres of coastline that stretch from Port Vell to Port Fòrum, and these include around 40 different sporting activities, all sea-related. 

The Olympic Port’s transformation progresses with the 2024 horizon

The remodelling of the CMV is a further step in the transformation process of the Olympic Port. This transformation, spearheaded by B:SM on behalf of Barcelona City Council and with the 2024 America’s Cup as a deadline, has as its priority to make the Olympic Port an open space that integrates the citizens and makes them participants in everything that happens there. And this is where the CMV plays an important role. 

The actions planned for the CMV are in addition to the construction of the new accesses and the configuration of the new areas dedicated to the white economy, which are already under way, and the new gastronomic area that will be located in Moll de Gregal. Three initiatives that will make it possible to create an Olympic Port that is open to the city and promotes sailing and the generation of economic activity related to the sea. 

30 years of CMV history    

This facility was founded in 1992 as the Barcelona Municipal Sailing Centre. Designed as part of the sports facilities built by the Barcelona City Council for the 1992 Barcelona Olympic Games, its aim has always been to become the sports platform providing access to the sea for the citizens of Barcelona and for any sailing enthusiast. Since 2012, the CMV has grown as a nautical centre and incorporates new activities such as paddle boarding, kayaking and scuba diving.

Its range of services is aimed at all audiences, both for individuals, companies and organisations, as well as for educational centres. The Sailing School is managed by the Catalan Sailing Federation.

Further information:
Barcelona Municipal Sailing Centre