The tower on Diagonal Avenue, which for several decades has been the headquarters of Banc Sabadell, is in the midst of a transformation process, both inside and outside. For change, even the name will change, becoming from today renamed Diagonal Vertical.
The metamorphosis takes place on the 55th anniversary of the inauguration of the building designed by Santiago Balcells and Francesc Mitjans, the same architect who designed the Camp Nou and the Estel building, both also immersed in the remodeling process.
In the case of the Sabadell Tower until yesterday and today Diagonal Vertical, the comprehensive rehabilitation of the interior gives rise to a new stage of the property in which the arrival of new tenants is expected when the works finish in autumn. The Hines real estate group, which bought the building from Banc Sabadell, has invested 20 million euros in the renovation and is already marketing the space vacated by the bank.
The general director of Hines in Spain, Vanessa Gelado, assures that “law firms and companies in the financial sector have already shown their interest” in settling in the building located at number 407 Diagonal Avenue. The structure of the building, with 24 floors and nearly 500 square meters per floor – more vertical than horizontal as its new name indicates – makes this format of various tenants more comfortable instead of installing a single company spread over many floors.
The new companies that settle in the skyscraper will have two new entrances to the building, one on Diagonal and another on Balmes Street, which will lead to a new lobby on the third floor, where there will also be a cafeteria, interior terrace, meeting rooms. of meetings and more informal gathering spaces. From there there will be access to the office floors. Workers will also be able to access an underground floor with a gym, changing rooms and parking for bicycles and electric scooters.
The jewel in the crown will be the 24th floor, where there is a terrace with 360-degree views for the enjoyment of the building's workers and for holding events. There was an exclusive swimming pool that some privileged people enjoyed in the 70s and that since the 80s became a water cistern at the direction of the firefighters and will continue to be that way.
While the interior will be radically different, citizens will not notice any difference in the renovated façade when the work is completed. The same manufacturer that installed the exterior glass 55 years ago has taken over the current ones in a laborious process to replicate exactly the same color as the original but with double glass and adapted to the new criteria of energy efficiency and acoustic insulation. The transformation of the building is the work of the architectural studio Batlle i Roig and the interior design studio Buckley Gray Yeoman.
Despite the name change, the Sabadell bank brand will be maintained at the top of the skyscraper since the entity is still present with offices on the lower floors and on the top floor, where it maintains the institutional representation office for the bank's senior managers.
