Portugal 
Italy 
Greece 
1 February 2018 – Expansión
After five months of preparations underground, the construction phase of the 35-storey skyscraper has finally begun. The 180 m tall tower is going to house the IE campus, as well as a horizontal building that will be home to sports facilities, a shopping centre and parking areas.
The starting gun has been fired for the above-ground work on what will become the fifth tower in Madrid. The future skyscraper, measuring 180 m2 tall and comprising 35 storeys, is going to house the new vertical IE campus, which will emerge from a second building, with a base that is going to be 280 m long and 60 m wide, which will form an inverted T-shaped complex, known as Project Caleido.
Inmobiliaria Espacio, the subsidiary of Grupo Villar Mir and Megaworld Corporation, the business conglomerate owned by the Philippine multimillionaire Andrew Tan, are the owners of the company responsible for the construction and operation of the project, with a planned investment of €300 million and which will result in the generation of more than 5,000 jobs during the construction and operation phases (…).
Caleido –designed by the architecture studios Fenwick & Iribarren and Serrano Suñer Arquitectos– will be located in the epicentre of the new financial district in Madrid and will serve to eliminate a blot on the landscape in the north of the capital by connecting Paseo de la Castellana and Avenida de Monforte de Lemos, as well as to revitalise the existing business complex, explains Fernando Serrano-Suñer, one of the architects behind the project (…).
“To date, we have completed the first two phases, involving the demolition work and the construction of the foundations, which are now complete. This week, we will award the construction work, which has been tendered for through a very transparent process, audited by Dypsa”, says José Antonio Fernández Gallar, Director General of Inmobiliaria Espacio.
Third phase
Now, the third phase of construction is going to be launched, involving the building of the tower and the base (…), where the campus sports facilities, a 600-seater auditorium, an indoor swimming pool, libraries, a dining room, a complete shopping floor and a hospital centre specialising in sports medicine run by Quirón will all live alongside 7,000 m2 of green space (…).
Leisure will also play an important role in the complex, with sports areas and events spaces. “We are studying the possibility of including a cinema of some kind, but it would not conform with the traditional style, it would include an e-gaming and e-sport element, something that doesn’t exist in Spain at the moment”.
Moreover, the base will include parking for students and professors, as well as parking for the retail space and another public parking lot, with a total surface area of 42,100 m2 spread over several floors and with capacity for 1,900 parking spaces (…).
In terms of the skyscraper, the 180 m tall building will house 70 classrooms, work and rest areas, as well as double-height spaces to replicate meeting places in traditional campuses (…).
“The project is progressing at a good pace. We have completed the first phase and we are moving forward with the idea that the work will be finished by 2020”, he said.
Original story: Expansión (by R. Arroyo and R. Ruiz)
Translation: Carmel Drake
