“It is a very important day for us, especially because of the fight we have carried out for thirteen years; now we are beginning to see the light, because the material is degrading,” said Juan José Díaz, president of the Badia del Vallès Residents’ Association.
Backed by a decade of community pressure and regional government funding, workers in Badia del Vallès began removing asbestos from more than a hundred apartment blocks, launching an unprecedented municipal overhaul aimed at eliminating the hazardous material entirely.
The abatement project commenced on Porto Street, a 300-meter-long L-shaped corridor where contractors targeted rooftop chimneys on residential buildings. Transport vehicles delivered heavy equipment to the site ahead of the launch, kicking off an initiative that municipal officials expect will span several years and remove more than 350 tons of toxic material during its initial phase.
Decades-Old Construction Legacy Sparks Public Health Push
Built during the 1970s under the Franco regime, Badia del Vallès was designed to rapidly accommodate incoming populations with thousands of official protection housing units. Construction crews relied heavily on prefabricated fiber-cement products containing asbestos across multiple architectural elements, including roofing, drainage pipes, and ventilation shafts. While the materials offered speed and affordability at the time, their natural degradation over the subsequent decades created a significant public health hazard.
Asbestos fibers pose severe risks when inhaled, prompting health experts to warn for over ten years that aging installations must be safely extracted. In June, the Catalan Parliament approved a unanimous law establishing 2032 as the final horizon to eradicate nearly four million tons of remaining asbestos across regional structures. Badia del Vallès now leads that statewide transition.
Municipal Funding Ensures Zero Cost for Residents
The multi-million-euro undertaking relies on a 4.1 million euro subsidy approved in 2021 under former regional president Pere Aragonès. The funding arrangement ensured that local residents would not have to pay out of pocket to resolve the environmental and public health crisis. Josep Martínez Valencia of Badia del Vallès, highlighted the joint efforts of neighborhood organizers, the municipal council, and the regional administration.
“It is a great day for Badia,” Martínez Valencia said, noting that the city aims to become the first locality in Europe entirely free of asbestos within its built environment. Situated between Barberà, Cerdanyola, and Sabadell, the municipality is simultaneously experiencing its first major growth phase in decades, featuring planned developments for two large supermarkets, a gas station, and two residential facilities—one for students and one for senior citizens—integrated near the Sant Pau de Riu-sec area.
The current phase targets 127 community associations to remove pipes and balcony panels. Three specialized contractor firms were selected through a public tendering process, with the remaining two companies scheduled to join the active works next month.
Navigating Complex Bureaucracy and Planning Hurdles
Despite the funding approval in 2021, the timeline generated anxiety among residents as the physical extraction work faced repeated delays. Municipal authorities attributed the lag to the immense logistical complexity of mapping and executing the project safely.
Before any removal could begin, officials required a comprehensive census. This resulted in the creation of the Asbestos Map, an exhaustive study co-financed by the municipal council and the local residents’ association. Following the mapping phase, the city managed project tenders and contracted specialized firms certified in fiber-cement encapsulation.
Future Phases and Unfunded Roof Replacements
While the first phase secures funding for interior pipes and balcony enclosures, a second major challenge remains unresolved: replacing the asbestos-laden roofs across 38 apartment blocks situated on Mallorca, Menorca, and Eivissa streets, as well as Mediterrània, Costa Blava, and Costa Brava avenues.
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