GAVÀ BEACH FACILITIES

Characteristics:

The town of Gavà has a 3.8 km long beach that is divided into three sections: East (Llevant mar), Central (Central mar) and West (Platja de ponent).

How to get in touch with us:

Centre de Serveis de Gavà Mar, carrer dels Tellinaires, 55.  Tel. +34 93 263 96 70
Local Police +34 93 263 91 40
Gavà Town Hall +34 93 263 91 00
gavamar@aj-gava.cat
www.gavaciutat.cat

Services
Throughout the whole year we aim to look after the beach´s natural resources, facilitate the use of the beach as a recreational space and prevent annoying and antisocial behaviour.

The high season for bathing spans from the second Saturday in June to the second Sunday in September. The Municipality (Ajuntament), in conjunction with other local authorities, organizes the following activities and services:

• Citizen Attention Service (Serveis d'atenció al ciutadà) and tourist information in the Gavà Mar Services Centre (Centre de Serveis).

• Granting of licenses for 3 drinks kiosks and 6 ice-cream stands.

• Security, inspection and life guard patrols.

• Cleaning, maintenance and rubbish collection services.

• Authorization and organization of cultural, recreational and sporting events and raising environmental awareness.

Commitments to:
Information

• Daily and up-to-date information from 10 am to 7 pm about sea conditions and water temperature at life guard stations and the Tourist Office (Oficina de Turisme).

• Weekly information regarding the quality of the water at life guard stations and the Tourist Office (Oficina de Turisme). 

• Information regarding services and tourist attractions in the municipality, sea conditions, transport, accommodation, catering, street maps, cultural and sporting agendas at the Citizel's Information Point (Punt d'Atenció al Ciutadà) in the Gava Mar Services Centre (Centre de Serveis).

• Up-to-date information on the municipal website www.gavaciutat.cat

• Information via notice boards. On all streets leading to the beaches there are notice boards with a summary of the beach rules (fishing timetables, prohibitions, etc.). In total there are 7 notice boards on the beach itself and 5 notice boards on the sea promenade.

 Leisure

• Granting of licences for 3 drinks kiosks with deck chair rental.
  To be set up at the extensions of the streets d'Alcanar, Palafrugell and Palamós.
• Six ice-cream sales points. To be located at the extensions of the streets de Llançà, Begur, Cadaqués, Blanes and Sitges.
• Agenda of particular activities: cultural, sporting, broadcasting, etc..

Equipment
The Promotion and Conservation Service of the Public Space of the Municipalities Association of Metropolitan Barcelona (Servei de Promoció i Conservació de l'Espai Públic de la Mancomunitat de Municipis de l'Àrea Metropolitana) is in charge of the beach equipment and other services and facilities on the Gavà beach. Gavà town council will ensure the correct working of the following equipment:

• Selective rubbish collection points: yellow containers for collecting packaging will be placed at the accesses to the beach.   

• Rubbish bins: a total of 82 rubbish bins will be put along the beach, particularly on the sand. These will be emptied on a daily basis.

• Public lavatories: in conjunction with the first aid points there is a lavatory for the use of paramedics. Furthermore, there are 6 chemical lavatories set up on the streets Alcanar, Sitges, Vandellòs, Palafrugell, Palamós and Premià.

• Walkways: 24 walkways that facilitate access to the sand, two of which are access ramps (that reach the water for people with reduced mobility).

• Flag poles for showing the state of the sea: there will be three that will be located next to the life guard stations. In addition, the Metropolitan Area has installed 8 information triangles on the sand at the end of which the state of the sea can be shown.

• Entrance and exit channel for vessels situated on  Palafrugell street. The demarcation of protected of the bathing area along of all 3.8 km of coastline, with yellow buoys at 100 m intervals and 200 m from the shore..

• Showers: 32 showers and 5 taps for washing feet.

• Childrel's play areas: located between Sitges street and de l'Ametella street (2 set-ups), and between d'Arenys street and Premià street (1 set-up).

• Sports equipment: inside the coastal area, two areas for playing volleyball on the sand of the beach between Sitges street and de l'Amatella street and at the extension of d'Arenys street.

• Daily cleaning of the sand, showers and portable lavatories.

Surveillance, lifesaving and inspections

• Lifesaving and first aid during the high season for bathing (second Saturday of June to the second Sunday of September): 3 life guard stations, 2 lifeguard towers, 1 lifeguard chair and 1 life boat, from 10 am to 7 pm, from Monday to Sunday.

• The lifesaving points are situated at:
  Premià street: life guard station and lifeguard tower
  Palamós street: life guard station
  Roses street: lifeguard chair
  Vandellós street: life guard station
  Vandellós street: lifeguard tower
  

• Water-quality testing.The Catalan Water Agency (Agència Catalana de l'Aigua) will continue to carry out checks on the water quality and jellyfish control.
  The results will be posted on at the life guard stations and at the Tourist Office (Oficina de Turisme) and can be looked up on www.gencat.cat/aca
  

• Specific surveillance carried out continuously by the Local Police. Included in the various measures is a patrol on the sand of the beach. Likewise, the neighbourhood police patrol 24 hours a day. .

• Bimonthly health inspections of the ice-creams and drinks kiosks

Mobility and accessibility

• Beach access by foot with 16 walkways to the sand.

• Adapted access. Adapted accesses for the disabled that reach the water along the walkways are situated at the extensions of Premià street and  Palafrugell street. They are equipped with amphibious chairs.

• Bus lines. In the Gavà Mar Area there are three bus lines: the GA1 (municipal) line, and the L94 and L95, which are part of the Metropolitan Transport Entity (Entitat Metropolitana del Transport). The bus stops are located on the avenue d'Europa and on the C-31 dual carriageway.

• Bicycle lane. A bicycle lane runs along Gavà Mar´s sea promenade. Additionally, Mar avenue has a new and improved bicycle lane which opened in December 2009..

• Parking. All roads in Gavà Mar have car parking places. There are also 154 parking places for motorbikes spread between all the streets adjacent to the beach area.

• Adapted parking. In the Gavà Mar area there are two properly signposted big car parks for vehicles adapted for handicapped persons. There are a total of 23 parking places. Bicycle parking. Along the sea promenade there are 5 to 6 bicycle parks. Similarly, there is bicycle parking on all streets leading onto the beach. There are 85 places in total.

Suggestions, comments and complaints
The users of the beaches have several channels of communication open to them for their suggestions, ideas, comments, proposals and their complaints to reach the local authority:

• Principally mainly via questionnaires, at the town hall's (Ajuntament), the PAC (Citizen Attention Point) and at life guard stations.

• Email address: ajuntament@aj-gava.cat

• Via the local authority (Ajuntament) website

• By calling the telephone number +34 93 263 96 70
  

We welcome all contributions as they always offer the opportunity to improve.

User satisfaction 
Periodically we draw up satisfaction questionnaires for users.

The 2010 seasol's objectives

• Achieve the SICTED and the "Q de Qualitat"  quality labels for Gavà beaches and implement a management system with the aim of contributing to the protection of the surroundings and quality of the beach services.

• Set up quality indicators

• Finish the construction work on the Riera bridge to connect up all of the sea promenade.

• New drinks kiosks designs.

• Create a cultural and sporting agenda..

• Post more information regarding the Gavà beach on the municipal website.

• Create a tourism office.

• Improve the signposting of restaurants in the vicinity and services.

• Signpost and provide information regarding nature reserves to highlight the importance of the sand dunes and indigenous plants.
  
  2011 objectives
  
  • Sailing point on the beach.
  • Improvement of the sea promenade´s lighting.