Barcelona’s Sant Gervasi district has begun a cautious return to normal after a collapse linked to L9 metro construction forced the evacuation of eight residential buildings. The Generalitat has authorised residents of two of the furthest properties, numbers 56 and 58 on Sant Gervasi de Cassoles, to return home from Monday. That affects 15 of the 93 evacuated flats. Most families remain displaced as technical teams monitor ground stability and inject cement to secure the area.
The incident occurred 11 days ago, affected around 300 people and led to the temporary closure of 92 flats. The city council has provided hotel accommodation near their homes for 67 residents. The evacuation has also affected 10 ground-floor businesses, including clinics and offices. The sinkhole was detected on 7 July after the interior courtyard of a pizzeria near the L9 works collapsed. The cavity was reported to be about 8 metres in diameter and 4 metres deep. The affected area includes the courtyard behind the well-known pizzeria Verona, disrupting daily life and local commerce.
Authorities have confirmed that buildings analysed so far show no structural damage. Residents of number 54 on Sant Gervasi de Cassoles must wait at least another week. Sensors, initially refused by the building, have only just been installed and need further monitoring. At the time, residents living closest to the collapse were not expected to return before September. The tunnel boring machine remains halted while authorities stabilise the situation.
A later update from the Generalitat’s Department of Territori, reported by El Nacional on 19 October, outlined another stage in the phased return. Residents of 5 Teodora Lamadrid, a building with 15 homes and one commercial premises, would be able to return once ground consolidation and monitoring work was complete. By then, authorisations had been issued for 54 homes and eight businesses, while 18 homes and seven commercial premises were still awaiting approval. The department projected that residents in the most affected area, Rubinstein 2 and 4 and Teodora Lamadrid 3, could return in early 2027, after further inspections and consolidation work, with repairs carried out if needed. The staged schedule reflects the need to assess buildings individually instead of reopening the entire area at once.
The evacuated buildings are numbers 2, 4 and 6 on Rubinstein, 3 and 5 on Teodora Lamadrid, and 54, 56 and 58 on Sant Gervasi de Cassoles. The Generalitat’s Minister of Territory, Sílvia Paneque, said preliminary findings suggested the collapse was caused by insufficient concrete filling a cavity created by the tunnel boring machine. Such cavities are typically stabilised with injected concrete, but here the void reached the surface and created the sinkhole. Paneque emphasised that the construction method had been used for 43 kilometres of the L9 line, with only one kilometre remaining, and ruled out any change to the tunnel’s route. Each building is being assessed individually as work to stabilise the area continues.
Emergency crews responded immediately after the collapse, pouring concrete into the hole for hours into the night. Firefighters, local police and geologists secured the area, while dozens of sensors were installed to monitor ground movement. The affected zone has a history of subsidence, including a fatal collapse in 1962 and a pavement upheaval earlier this year in front of the Mercedarias convent. Barcelona’s complex underground geology adds to the engineering challenges: the tunnel transitions from granite to slate.
Infrastructure failures have also prompted major responses in other Spanish cities. Valencia authorities recently launched a major housing and infrastructure plan following severe flooding in La Torre. The plan aims to rebuild and improve safety standards for affected residents. Details of the initiative are available in the report on Valencia’s post-flood reconstruction efforts.
The L9 metro project is one of Barcelona’s most ambitious transport undertakings, designed to connect outlying districts and improve mobility across the city. Most of the line has been completed without major incident. Monitoring and phased returns are expected to continue until authorities declare all buildings safe. They are taking a cautious approach to protecting residents and limiting further disruption.
