Tag: new financial district

2 February 2015 – Expansión

The Castellana Extension / The plan is to create a new trendy area in Madrid to rival Canary Wharf in London and La Défense in Paris.

A sustainable area, with every kind of facility – a landmark axis for Madrid. These are some of the foundations upon which the new real estate development in Chamartín, in the north of Madrid, have been created.

“It is an ambitious proposal that draws clear parallels with urban regeneration projects in other European capitals, such as the changes brought about by Canary Wharf in London, La Défense in Paris and Potsdamer Platz in Berlin”, explains Flavio Tejado, Director of the Technical Office of the company Distrito Castellana Norte and Head of the engineering firm Arup in Spain.

The company is one of a group of more than 30 entities that have worked on the project, including professional services and real estate firms, lawyers and the architect studio Rogers.

The ambitious Castellana Norte project will be structured in four parts: the first one, called Parque Central, will be closed to Plaza de Castilla, and will include 6,300 homes and a park covering 24 hectares. “It is an area where the (current) housing stock barely amounts to 1%”, say its developers.

The second, called the business area, will boast 878,150 square metres of offices and 87,425 metres of public facilities, two metro stops (with 4.4 km of new track) and one train station, which will complete the Cuatro Torres complex located in the adjoining area. “We want it to be a space that is full of life not only from Monday to Friday, (but also on the weekends) and so there will also be shopping centres and hotels”, said Antonio Béjar, the Chairman of the company Castellana Norte, on Friday.

The new development will also involve the lengthening of the Paseo de la Castellana, with the construction of 10,000 homes and the new public facilities will also provide services to the existing neighbourhoods of Fuencarral and Begoña. In addition, there will be a tram service, which will operate through the middle of the new section of the Castellana. In addition to an office complex, the development with have a technological area, measuring 180,350 square metres, which the developers expect to appeal to number of companies and to generate new economic activities.

The extension of the Castellana will improve access to the city for the area with the regeneration of the North Junction and the M-40, and the integration of the Cuatro Torres area with developments in Las Tablas, where several large companies, such as FCC, Telefónica and BBVA have their head offices. All of this will create a renewed financial district in the Spanish capital to rival those of its European counterparts.

Original story: Expansión (by R. Ruiz)

Translation: Carmel Drake