Sagrada Família awaits Barcelona's decision on access staircase

The public deed that Pope Leo XIV and Cardinal Joan Josep Omella signed the night the Sagrada Família dazzled the world records a moment that will go down in the history of the construction of what many consider the cathedral of Europe. The notarial act certifies the completion of the tower of Jesus and lists the pending works with the forecast of finishing them in 2036. Topping the list are the facade of Glory and the access staircase, a work that, despite the kind words and the current good institutional relations between the Sagrada Família and the Barcelona City Council, is not progressing at the expected pace.

The Sagrada Família has a license to build the verticality of the facade, which means they can erect the four bell towers and the first row of the imposing portico designed by Antoni Gaudí. And work is already underway on the foundations of these pinnacles. To continue advancing in the construction of what will be the main entrance to the basilica, the Sagrada Família needs another municipal building permit.

The Construction Board of the temple has already sent its project to the Consistory. The proposal includes the access plaza to the portico and the access staircase to this plaza, which implies demolishing the building that Núñez y Navarro erected on the other side of Mallorca street and other lower buildings between this block and València street. The operation affects around 400 homes, some without tenants.

Negotiations to resolve these impacts date back to the time when Jordi Hereu was the mayor of Barcelona, and since Esteve Camps has been the delegate president of the Construction Board (since 2011), he has met with successive mayors to address the thorny issue. Under Ada Colau's mandate, after more than two years of intense negotiations, the works were finally regularized (it was then that, among other issues, the Sagrada Família obtained the license for the verticality of the facade), and a monitoring commission was agreed upon to address the staircase. At that time, the municipal government was not in any hurry.

With the arrival of Mayor Jaume Collboni, a more favorable scenario opened up for the Sagrada Família, or at least apparently. Collboni and the Eixample councillor, Jordi Valls, visited the basilica in the spring of 2024. The government team set out to find a consensual urbanistic solution during the mandate, and as a sign of that will, municipal officials – including the Councillor for Urbanism, Laia Bonet, and the chief architect Maria Buhigas – met with representatives of the affected neighbors. However, little was revealed about that meeting.

The City Council has maintained since then that its priority is the relocation of residents and that the indemnities or compensations must be borne by the Sagrada Família. For its part, the Construction Board of the basilica, which has always shown its willingness to dialogue and reach agreements with the neighbors – it has sufficient financial muscle and land where it can build housing – expects the City Council to position itself first and give guarantees that the project can be carried out. That is, it expects concrete steps to be taken to modify the current urban planning and guarantee the viability of the works.

And so it has been from Collboni's first institutional visit until today. Although both parties have met on several occasions, the last one three months ago, the City Council has not publicly specified any calendar and declines to explain how the negotiations are progressing, neither with the Sagrada Família nor with the neighbors. And the months go by. The Sagrada Família expects that, beyond declarations full of good intentions, the City Council will decide and act accordingly. Playing in favor of the basilica now is the impact of the completion of the tower of Jesus, and against it, the clock: one year before the municipal elections, making a decision that urbanistically affects around 400 homes is increasingly uncomfortable for the municipal government.

Meanwhile, the works on the basilica, which is now 80% complete, continue on other fronts. The main milestones include the completion of the chapel of the Assumption, scheduled for next year, and the interior of the tower of Jesus, which is expected to be visitable in 2028.