Barcelona will pay up to 70,000 euros to open balconies, windows or gardens in party walls

The grey walls of many buildings in Barcelona can become balconies or gardens. The City Council is promoting grants of up to 70,000 euros for those willing to open new windows or install vegetation. The initiative seeks to change the urban image before 2026. Find out how your community can benefit.

In Barcelona, party walls have for years been an unavoidable presence in many neighbourhoods, from Nou Barris to Sants. Now, the City Council is launching a proposal that could change the lives of those who live alongside these walls: financial aid to open balconies, windows or install vertical gardens where there was previously only brick.

The city is preparing to be World Capital of Architecture in 2026 and wants its streets to reflect innovation and quality of life. Therefore, communities of neighbours that decide to transform their party walls may receive subsidies covering up to 50% of the cost of the work, with a maximum of 70,000 euros if the project includes new openings such as balconies or windows. If the intervention is limited to improving insulation or integrating the wall into the landscape, aid can reach 30% of the budget, up to 30,000 euros.

The most striking example is the Golden Getaway project in Sants-Montjuïc, where neighbours have chosen how to open their wall: some have opted for kitchen windows, others for living-room balconies. The result will be a living façade, with yellow ceramics and vegetation climbing metal mesh, which will bring light and views to homes that previously faced a blind wall.

The initiative is not limited to a single neighbourhood. Each district will have an emblematic intervention designed by young international architects. From traditional rammed-earth techniques to blue façades in Sarrià-Sant Gervasi, the city will see ten unique projects ready in 2027, designed to inspire other communities to join the change.

The City Council thus reinforces a subsidy system that has been running for decades, but which is now adapting to new urban challenges. In addition, those who back sustainability and install solar panels may receive an extra 10% in aid. The aim is twofold: to improve the city’s appearance and the quality of life in homes, allowing the living room to stop being a cave and become a viewpoint over the neighbourhood.

For those who want to know more or begin the process, all information is available on the municipal website. The call is open and promises to transform Barcelona’s image just in time for its major international event.

Party walls have shaped Barcelona’s urban landscape for more than a century. They emerged as a practical solution in an ever-growing city, where buildings were erected next to one another and it was not always known when the next one would arrive. Although for years they were seen as urban scars, in the last decade they have begun to be valued as canvases for art, vegetation or architectural innovation. Today, the challenge is to turn them into useful and beautiful spaces, capable of improving the everyday life and surroundings of those around them.

Barcelona party-wall grants 2026: Up to €70k (50%) for balconies/vertical gardens, €30k for insulation. 10 projects/district (17 party walls): Golden Getaway Sants yellow ceramics/vegetation. €5.3M, architects’ competition <35.