Urban Planning, Ecological Transition, Urban Services and Housing

Having provided work for thousands of people, provisional terraces created during the pandemic are now starting to become permanent. Various prototypes have been developed, all designed in Barcelona, to adapt terraces in different locations. The modular platforms are safe, accessible from the pavement, hard-wearing and easy to maintain and keep clean.

The prototypes will now go through an evaluation period. Once authorised, they will start being installed at bars and restaurants from the end of July. Eleven definite terraces will be installed in June on what were formerly parking spaces or chamfers.

The open-source designs fit in easily, offering hard-wearing solutions with vegetation around their perimeter. Four companies are manufacturing the prototypes at present, but any furniture producer will be able to make them once the designs are approved.

Subsidies for bars and restaurants wishing to install them

The installation of the platforms will be progressive, according to demand, and with restaurateurs to bear the cost. A transition period will be in place for provisional arrangements and definitive terraces to coexist until June 2022, when the designs will become obligatory. Bars and restaurants wishing to continue with terraces on road surfaces will be obliged at that point to install a permanent platform.

As a way of helping restaurateurs to consolidate terraces, two million euros has been earmarked for a subsidy call this summer, to help fund the cost of purchasing and installing platforms.

Special permits during the pandemic

In all, 3,668 permits have been granted in a year for new terraces and extensions to existing ones, meaning an additional 10,000 tables and nearly 40,000 chairs. The spaces used, such as parking spaces and chamfers, have also helped free up nearly 30,000 square metres of asphalt, regaining it for use by citizens. In the economic sphere, according to a study by the University of Barcelona, the installation of provisional terraces has saved at least 1,875 jobs.