After years of paralysis, construction activity has returned to 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 approved a new Urban Master Plan that allows new buildings to be built.
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 successful tenderer is Angularis Hub, a real estate developer controlled by David Garrofé, ex-secretary general of the employers' association Cecot, the engineer Tech Engineering and Ruisánchez Arquitectes.
"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 7,400 m2 and will be able to accommodate 500 workers between office spaces, co-working spaces and innovation laboratories", says Garrofé, who controls two-thirds of Angularis' capital.
The CEO estimates that the building will start operating in the summer of 2024 and indicates that several 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 credits. "Part of the money will be allocated to the construction of the building and another part has been invested in the acquisition of the land from a large construction company that was forced to auction the land because it entered competition", he details Garrofé, who prefers not to reveal the name of the company or the price of the land.
With this new office building, Parc de l'Alba resumes construction activity after several years of blocking by Cerdanyola City Council. The initial objective of the project was to bring together a group of companies, housing and first-class technological infrastructure. On an area of 2.1 km², he launched the synchrotron and encouraged the arrival of some companies, such as a data center for CaixaBank, the headquarters of Natura Bissé, Sener and Stradivarius.
However, the growth of the park ran into the City Council's refusal 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 Ca Planas and Elena. Later, he also called for the construction of more social protection housing. After the requests were stopped, this November he approved another Urban Master Plan giving the green light to the arrival of new homes and offices such as the one that will inaugurate Angularis Hub.
