Barcelona’s Fira de Barcelona has shared a virtual video showing plans for Hall Zero, the new exhibition hall under construction at its Gran Via venue in L'Hospitalet de Llobregat. The project is part of the wider expansion aimed at strengthening Barcelona’s position for major congresses.
The new building will add 40,000 square metres of exhibition space, taking Fira’s total to about 300,000 square metres from the current 260,000. The full structure will provide 135,000 square metres of usable space, large enough to contain the Palau Sant Jordi arena. The total budget, including construction, land and urbanisation, is €365 million.
Hall Zero is being designed by Fermín Vázquez of b720 and Japanese architect Toyo Ito, who previously worked with him on Barcelona’s Porta Fira Towers. Vázquez told El Periódico Barcelona in an earlier interview that the aim was to create a leading pavilion in Europe and to fit smoothly into L'Hospitalet’s urban fabric.
The building will include a large vertical lobby, a two-storey main hall for exhibitions, and a 12-storey office tower to be shared by Fira and the Generalitat. The ground floor will hold the main hall, the tower entrances and an exhibition area with its own services. The first floor will connect to the rest of the venue through a red walkway, known as the central axis, and will also include spaces for high-level meetings.
The second floor is planned for congresses, with auditoriums of different sizes. On the third floor, a main hall and a large open-plan space without columns are planned for concerts, conferences or sports events. The project also includes an elevated garden terrace on the top floor.
Fira expects construction to finish by the end of 2026. After that, the project will go through the administrative phase, including permits, fire service checks and approval from L'Hospitalet City Council, before the first occupancy certificate is issued. If the timetable holds, the first event could take place in autumn 2027, with full integration into major international trade fairs expected by 2028, including the Mobile World Congress and Integrated Systems Europe. For more Catalonia-wide business and civic updates, see our news coverage.
