A study visit to Barcelona and the neighbouring town of Sant Boi de Llobregat helped the Big Buyers Working Together (BBWT) New European Bauhaus Community of Practice (NEB CoP)  gain new insights on how NEB principles can be applied in practice in many different contexts. These visits built on the lessons learnt from the NEB CoP’s visit to Horta, to engage in dialogues and discussions with private stakeholders alongside public institutions.

In Barcelona, the focus was on nature-based solutions, circular resources and regenerative design, while in Sant Boi de Llobregat the community learned more about blue and green infrastructure and social housing renovation. The Institute for Advanced Architecture of Catalonia (IAAC) is, for example, a partner in the EU-funded GreenInCIties project, addressing climate adaptation and mitigation through nature-based solutions (NBS). By connecting NBS to social and spatial quality the project aligns itself with NEB principles. Examples include the creation of sports areas where seating, stairs, and landscape elements are designed as integrated green structures, as well as green construction strategies emphasising vegetated facades, intermediate floors and reuse of on-site materials.

The project proposals have allocated a dedicated budget for prototyping, and also include technical specifications. Construction is managed by a private company, with standard tenders applied only to non-innovative elements. Innovative components are developed directly with project partners, with municipal approval required for the installation of new materials. During the final year of the project, efforts will focus on translating these innovations into practical procurement criteria.

IAAC has also been involved in the NEB-labelled transformation of the L’Olivera building in Sant Boi de Llobregat. The project focuses on converting the entire ground floor into a single open space for social interaction and visitor learning. The building will host digital fabrication workshops, including laser cutting and 3D technologies, supported by dedicated funding and developed with the city through a six-month programme involving multiple entities. In parallel, another project with IAAC and Politecnico di Milano will reuse street pavement materials to create new elements for the adjacent square, with Sant Boi acting as a pilot location.

The discussions during the study visits highlighted among other things that innovative solutions often take time to reach municipalities; public procurement processes and frameworks need to find ways to enable and support innovation, and to include specific provisions for it. As lowest-price criteria still dominate across Europe it is important to support public buyers to use existing frameworks more creatively. In Barcelona, the Nest City Lab, a culture Lab for sustainability facilitating lifestyles that reduce our ecological footprint, is a great example of how much is possible even without dedicated funding.