In Barcelona’s metropolitan area, El Prat de Llobregat City Council will demolish 17 abandoned flats in Sant Cosme after declaring them in ruin. The three blocks, on Riu Anoia Street at numbers 24, 26 and 28, were previously used as a large-scale cannabis factory and now pose an imminent risk of collapse.
The council declared the buildings ruinous last March and ordered the owners to either renovate or demolish them. After the deadline for permits passed without action, the local authority opted for forced demolition.
Municipal technicians have put the demolition cost at 185,000 euros. The council plans to recover that amount from the property owners once the work is done. The flats were also the site of a major police operation in 2023, when more than 200 officers from the National Police, Mossos d'Esquadra and Guardia Civil took part in the raid.
That operation found 12 large plantations inside the blocks, along with 2,700 cannabis plants. Officers also seized an airsoft submachine gun, a blank-firing pistol and cartridges. Endesa technicians estimated the electricity fraud at 212,000 euros in 2023 alone, with the site using as much power as 174 homes.
After the raid, the council sealed the buildings and used 60 tonnes of concrete to stop re-occupation. Technical reports said the site carried an imminent fire risk because of the poor state of the electrical network, and described the buildings as economically ruined. A June 2025 report from the municipal architect also noted advanced deterioration and a fire in April.
Sant Cosme has long been linked to drug activity, but it is also a neighbourhood shaped by regeneration. Built from the mid-1960s by the Obra Sindical del Hogar, it was designed to rehouse families from Montjuïc’s shantytowns and people affected by the Llobregat floods of 1962 and 1967. The area now has more than 3,000 social housing units, plus a civic centre and other municipal services.
The demolition is the latest step in that long-running process. El Prat has not yet responded to questions from Metrópoli about the work. For readers following local housing and neighbourhood change, see our community coverage and sport coverage across Barcelona.
