Barcelona gets an “Inventory of Premises” for economic activities at ground level

The database is available for the general public as well as economic players and stakeholders on this website and in Open Data. The data come from the fieldwork carried out in 2016. The inventory will provide the basis for developing a comprehensive system of information on economic activities and spaces that will be constantly updated.

Barcelona now has an Inventory of Premises devoted to economic activities at ground-floor level which provides all the data on the uses they are put to, mainly including services and the retail trade. The data are available for anyone to consult on the Commerce website “Inventory of Premises” and in Open Data.

This inventory will be the basis for a new system of ongoing information on city premises that should enable interested parties to know what the city’s stock of establishments is in real time. The fieldwork carried out in the course of 2016 and its subsequent analysis shows that the city of Barcelona has a total of 78,033 ground-floor premises, of which 77.2% (60,265) are currently used for some activity, 6.1% are not used for any activity and there is no precise information on the other 16.7%. Over half (53%) of the establishments are used for service activities, while a third (38)% are used for the retail trade.

This is a database for developing a comprehensive system of information on economic activities and spaces. Moreover, the aim is for the inventory to offer information that is constantly updated.

The data were presented to representatives of the various commercial and professional associations at a roundtable meeting attended by the Councillor for Business, Tourism, Commerce and Markets, Agustí Colom, who underlined the inventory’s value in enabling the Council to influence and transform the situation of ground-floor properties devoted to economic activity. He also stressed the value of a tool that will make it possible to display the results of local authority initiatives and take decisions regarding where progress is needed.

Commercial activities and services

Catering services (restaurants, bars and hotels), the everyday food trade and personal equipment are the three categories that concentrate nearly 40% of all retail and service establishments in the city.

The retail trade is mainly concentrated in the Eixample, Ciutat Vella, Sant Martí, Sarrià-Sant Gervasi and Gràcia districts, which account for 67% of all establishments (See a detailed analysis of the Barcelona premises inventory data).

In the case of services, Eixample is the district that concentrates most activities (a quarter of the city total), although there are important activity points in Sant Martí, Sants-Montjuïc and Sarrià-Sant Gervasi.

There are 42 facilities classified as municipal markets with 3,312 establishments, of which 88.1% are active. Of these, 2,310 belong to the retail trade, 6 are services and the rest come under the heading of “others”. As regards shopping centres, there are 903 establishments in the 10 centres the city currently has. And 98.6% of the shopping centre premises are active. The districts with the most commercial establishments in shopping centres are Eixample, Les Corts, Sant Andreu and Sant Martí. Sixteen shopping arcades have also been identified with a total of 382 establishments (with 66.5% active).

Of the 78,033 ground-floor premises in the city, 4,745 (6.1%) have been identified as currently unused but which could be used for some activity as they are for rent, sale or transfer. As for the other 13,023 premises, there is no precise information available. What is known is that 3,106 are used for other purposes, such as housing, garages or some other kind of facility.