Barrio de Quarto clears environmental review and targets 2028 for the start of works
Barrio de Quarto, the new neighbourhood planned on land owned by the Diputación de Sevilla (Seville Provincial Council) at Cortijo de Cuarto, has taken a decisive step: the Junta de Andalucía’s Regional Ministry of Sustainability and Environment has issued the scoping document for the strategic environmental assessment, and the analysis identifies no impacts that would prevent the project from going ahead. If the timetable holds, the first earthworks would take place in 2028.
What the Junta recommends
The document sets out three recommendations: updating the flood-risk studies linked to the River Guadaíra — the most recent date from 2009 — environmentally restoring certain areas, and creating a green corridor linking the site to the nearby natural surroundings. No specially protected species of flora or fauna were found; the only record nearby is a foraging area for the lesser kestrel.
164 hectares and 5,500 homes
The site lies between Bellavista, the Guadaíra river terrace and Fuente del Rey: 164 hectares with 5,500 homes, some 3,000 of them public or subsidised and aimed at families and young people, 100,000 m² of offices and retail, and 65 hectares of green space and land for public facilities. The prices under discussion are around €115,000 to buy and €350 a month to rent.
What the dialogue with environmentalists changed
Sevilla Activa, the Provincial Council’s public company, has incorporated into the project the observations of Ecologistas en Acción and several Bellavista community groups. The most significant: the residential area planned at El Algarrobal, opposite the Fuente del Rey lagoon, has been dropped so that this land can act as an ecological corridor between the lagoon and the Guadaíra river terrace. “There was a road in the middle; it was impossible to connect one area with the other ecologically,” explains Pilar Pérez, general manager of Sevilla Activa. A seasonal lagoon — a wetland with no formal protection but real environmental value — will also be retained and made permanent through a water-recycling system, since in winter it is a stopover for migrating birds.
Mobility
The mobility scheme relies on a main road with traffic-calming measures, friendly to pedestrians and cyclists, and on closed internal loops: vehicles enter and leave at the same point, so that no car cuts through the residential areas in search of alternative routes. All outbound traffic is directed southwards, without affecting the A-92 roundabout, and the neighbourhood lies within easy reach of the future Metro line.
Timetable
The changes will be included in the initial approval document to be submitted to the city’s Urban Planning Department (Gerencia de Urbanismo) at the end of October. Public consultation will follow, along with a further round of review by the culture and environment authorities and the River Basin Authority (Confederación Hidrográfica) before final approval. The law sets a maximum of fifteen months between the two.
The urban layout of Barrio de Quarto is the work of the joint venture UTE Factoría Idea – EDDEA. Reporting by Reyes Rocha, Diario de Sevilla, 5 October 2026.
