Parc de l'Alba takes off with new offices

After years of paralysis, construction activity has returned to the Parc de l'Alba.

Thomas Osborne
Thomas Osborne
22 December 2022 Thursday 21:37
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Parc de l'Alba takes off with new offices

After years of paralysis, construction activity has returned to the Parc de l'Alba. The urban complex, known for housing the synchrotron (a large electron accelerator), has left behind the political blockade and this November has approved a new Urban Master Plan that allows the construction of new buildings.

For this reason, the owners of the park –Incasòl (51%) and the Cerdanyola del Vallès City Council (49%)– have just granted the first license to build a large office building. The winner is Angularis Hub, a real estate developer controlled by David Garrofé, former general secretary of the Cecot employers, the engineer Tech Engineering and Ruisánchez Arquitectos.

“We have designed a high-performance building that aims to be the cornerstone of the entire Parc de l'Alba. It will have a capacity of 7,400m2 and will be able to accommodate 500 workers between office spaces, co-working spaces and innovation laboratories”, says Garrofé, who controls two thirds of the capital of Angularis.

The CEO estimates that the building will start its activity in the summer of 2024 and indicates that various companies and institutions in Vallès are already negotiating rental contracts with the company. The total investment will be 18.5 million euros contributed through own funds and bank loans. "Part of the money will be used for the construction of the building and another part has been invested in the acquisition of land from a large construction company that was forced to auction the land because it entered a competition," says Garrofé, who prefers not to reveal the name of the company or the price of the land.

With this new office building, the Parc de l'Alba resumes construction activity after several years of blockade by the Cerdanyola City Council. The project's initial objective was to bring together a group of first-rate companies, homes, and technological infrastructure. On a 2.1 km2 piece of land, he started up the synchrotron and encouraged the arrival of some companies, such as a CaixaBank data center, the headquarters of Natura Bissé, Sener and Stradivarius.

However, the growth of the park ran into the refusal of the City Council both in the mandate of the PSC and, above all, of Compromís (CUP). Since 2010, the council wanted to review the construction of thousands of homes since they had to be built next to the old landfills of Can Planas and Elena. Later, he also called for the construction of more social protection housing. Once the petitions were unsuccessful, this November another Urban Master Plan was approved giving the green light to the arrival of new homes and offices such as the one that will inaugurate Angularis Hub