News
Can Ruti to expand with a hotel and a residence for students and researchers
The Can Ruti health campus is preparing to grow far beyond hospitals and laboratories. The new urban development plan for Badalona includes a hotel and a residence for students and researchers with around 200 places in total, designed to address one of the area's everyday problems: finding accommodation close to the campus.
The expansion covers more than 74 hectares around the Hospital Germans Trias i Pujol and the Serralada de Marina. The plan adds new land for healthcare, teaching, research, and economic activity, aiming to strengthen a biomedical hub that already brings together some of Catalonia's leading research and healthcare centres.
The area set aside for economic activity will be located next to the Institut Guttmann and will allocate around 20,400 square metres to offices, restaurants, shops, and accommodation. Within this area, a hotel of about 6,000 square metres and a residence of approximately 4,000 are planned.
The hotel would have around 120 rooms and would be especially aimed at relatives of patients, healthcare professionals, researchers, and people who need to stay on campus for several days. The residence would provide around 80 rooms for students and staff linked to academic and scientific activity.
Accommodation is a particularly sensitive issue at Can Ruti due to its location, far from the centre of Badalona and heavily reliant on public transport and private vehicles. For those staying temporarily, having a room on or near the campus can avoid daily commutes and ease some of the pressure on access routes.
The planned growth goes far beyond these two buildings. The development plan allows for a significant increase in land for hospital services, research, and teaching, as well as the addition of new green areas and open spaces within the complex.
The project also aims to attract new projects and companies linked to biomedicine. The presence of Germans Trias, the Institut Guttmann, and other scientific centres has already made this part of Badalona one of the main hubs for health research in the metropolitan area, but the lack of complementary services still limits its ability to function as an integrated campus.
The change could significantly alter daily life on the Can Ruti hillside. More researchers, students, and visitors will also mean greater demand for transport, restaurants, and services, but the addition of accommodation will allow some of this activity to stop relying on constant trips to the centre of Badalona or Barcelona.