The tower and buildings of the General Residence of the 12 de Octubre University Hospital will no longer be part of Madrid’s urban landscape, of which they had been a part since 1973. After more than a year of work, the demolition of this iconic complex was completed this July. It took 20 trucks making more than 4,000 trips to remove the 80,000 cubic meters of debris resulting from the demolition.
This marks the completion of another phase of the Hospital’s Infrastructure Modernization Plan, which began after patient care operations were moved to the new building in December 2024. Regarding the demolition, the managing director of the 12 de Octubre Hospital, Carmen Martínez de Pancorbo, stated in a video from the Madrid Health Service: “It has undoubtedly been a highly complex process, requiring a great deal of oversight givenour location and the difficulty involved in demolishing a tower with more than 18 floors.”
The demolition was carried out in several phases, beginning with the gutting and dismantling of the interior of the General Ward in early 2025. It was not until November that the dismantling of the structure began. At that point , the tower’s height made it necessary to use Spain’s largest demolition crane, with a 62-meter boom. The demolition has concluded with the removal of the remaining buildings of the hospital’s former General Residence.
The next steps in the comprehensive renovation of the 12 de Octubre Hospital
The lot where the General Residence was located will be transformed into a plaza with green spaces and gardens. These will connect the various buildings of the hospital complex and will also link up with nearby parks. The intention is for them to serve as recreational and therapeutic spaces available to the public, as well as to patients, their families, and hospital staff.
However, we will have to wait to see the results of the renovations. In addition to the redevelopment of the site, work continues on remodeling the units located in the basements of the former General Residence, such as Pathological Anatomy and Radiation Oncology. The final phase of the project is expected to extend through 2027.