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Horta-Guinardó reorganises its municipal offices in a century-old building
The municipal headquarters of Horta-Guinardó is preparing for an internal reorganisation that will concentrate more workers and departments in the building at 387 Lepant Street. The refurbishment will mainly affect the first floor and will make it possible to bring together around 90 district employees there.
The intention is for the management office and the main municipal departments to work in the same space. These will include Services for People and Territory, General Services, and Licensing and Public Space, teams that until now have not always shared a headquarters.
The change seeks to reduce this dispersal and facilitate day-to-day work between departments. For residents, the effect should be noticeable above all in more coordinated management of matters ranging from licences and urban maintenance to local services and work in public spaces.
The works include a redistribution of offices and workstations, as well as improvements related to accessibility, working conditions and the building's energy efficiency. The planned budget is around €33,800 and the execution period will be four months.
During that time, the work will have to coexist with the headquarters' usual activity. The aim is to maintain attention to the public and the operation of services while the works progress, preventing an internal reorganisation from making procedures more difficult for people who come to the building.
The move forms part of a broader reorganisation of Barcelona's municipal offices. The City Council recently moved around 550 workers to a new building on Cristóbal de Moura, in 22@, where different departments now share some 8,400 square metres.
In Horta-Guinardó, however, the operation will take place within a headquarters with more than a century of history. The Lepant building has been operating since the beginning of the 20th century and will continue to serve an administrative purpose as it adapts its spaces to a workforce and needs very different from those of its early years.
The refurbishment will be small compared with other major municipal operations, but it will have a very specific daily impact: fewer teams spread across different headquarters and more workers sharing the same building. In a district of more than 170,000 inhabitants, that internal coordination may also end up being noticeable on the other side of the counter.