The Spinal H2O Camp for people with spinal cord injury will be held again at the Three Chimneys

• The main objective of the Spinal H2O Campus is to empower people with a disability caused by a spinal cord injury, to promote their autonomy and personal independence.

•  The Institut Guttmann and the Sunnaasstiftelsen Foundation of Norway have collaborated with Front Maritim del Besòs to carry out one of the sporting activities, landsailing, on the grounds of the Three Chimneys in Sant Adrià del Besòs.

•  This type of initiative contributes to the construction of more accessible cities and more inclusive and humanised societies, and opens up new tourist destinations for wheelchair travellers.

Barcelona, 12 September 2023. The Institut Guttmann, a leading organisation in the rehabilitation of spinal cord injury in southern Europe, and the Sunnaasstiftelsen Foundation of Norway, have collaborated with Front Maritim del Besós, of which the leading Spanish real estate developer Metrovacesa is a member, to develop the Camp Spinal H2O campus, which was held in Barcelona in the first week of September.

The aim of this initiative is for people with a recent spinal cord injury to experience a very active and participatory model of life for a week, taking advantage of the facilities and amenities offered by a city like Barcelona and its surroundings. Participants test their skills through new activities, set themselves challenges, learn and share with each other, with the ultimate goal of adapting as much as possible to their new way of life and with the maximum tools that will allow them to have a satisfactory life when they return to their usual environment.

Front Maritim del Besós, in its aim to boost the economy and the local community of the Three Chimneys area throughout its urban transformation process, has collaborated with the temporary transfer of the land for the practice of one of the activities, landsailing, a sport that consists of travelling over large flat areas on a cart with three wheels and driven by the power of the wind thanks to a sail.

The scarcity of flat land is a disadvantage when it comes to developing this activity. For this reason, the Three Chimneys area is a great opportunity for this sport to continue to reach more people. On this land, located in Sant Adrià del Besòs, there are 32 hectares of industrial land on which an urban regeneration project is planned with a new mixed-use residential neighbourhood, which will become a pole of economic dynamism for the area and landscape recovery of the coastline through a large park on a metropolitan scale.

The group that has participated in this initiative is made up of 60 people from Spain and several northern European countries, of whom 21 have a recent spinal cord injury, 14 are people with a spinal cord injury of longer evolution and 25 are professionals from different fields (nurses, occupational therapists, physiotherapists, physical educators, assistants and volunteer doctors).

The Institut Guttmann is a hospital specialising in the medical-surgical treatment and comprehensive rehabilitation of people (adults, young people and children) with spinal cord injury, acquired brain damage or other disabilities of neurological origin. Its main objective is to provide specialised, comprehensive, continuous, personalised care of the highest human, scientific and technical standards.