Barcelona will have a new hospital and infrastructure for the Life Science sector at 110-130 Sancho de Ávila. This project is the result of an agreement between Colonial, Sanitas and Mapfre for the construction and subsequent lease of an advanced facility in the city's 22@ District. The Marina Hospital, which forms part of Colonial's asset transformation strategy, is expected to start operating in 2027.
Colonial will use its experience in urban transformation in this project, which will include a refurbishment of the building that housed the former T-Systems headquarters, following sustainability and energy efficiency criteria. This change of use of the building from offices to healthcare services seeks to maximise both the real estate value and the social and economic return.
Albert Alcober, Colonial's COO, explains that "This is a healthcare facility, to which Colonial will apply all its know-how in the development of sustainable real estate assets. The complex will have the highest standards of technology, sustainable building and energy efficiency to become one of the most sustainable facilities in the Life Science sector in Europe". In addition, he stresses that "the new building, which in its day opened the positioning of 22@ as a technological district of international reference, with the pioneering arrival of T-Systems as the first technological company to bet on the district, will now become the key to its urban transformation and enrichment as the first health infrastructure that contributes to the generation of urban fabric for the citizens and for Barcelona, with districts that grow and enrich their lives with quality and proximity services".
Colonial is committed to the transformation of buildings and mixed uses.
For his part, Pere Viñolas, CEO of Colonial, points out that "The project allows Colonial to maximise the value of our assets and multiplies its economic and social return". Viñolas adds that this project is part of the Alpha X Plan, through which the company plans to invest more than 380 million euros in four major building transformations in Barcelona, Madrid and Paris that focus on generating mixed-use assets.
In this way, the Alpha X Plan, presented in May, includes a total investment of more than 77 million euros between the refurbishment and fitting out of the former T-Systems offices, with around 50 million euros earmarked for the Colonial works.
The new health centre will offer a complete healthcare service, including 120 beds, eight operating theatres, all medical specialties and an emergency service available to citizens of any insurance company and private clients. It will have equipment such as nine ICU beds, 12 emergency boxes, two endoscopy rooms and a nuclear medicine unit, as well as 60 consultations for specialists and 10 for physiotherapy and dentistry.
The centre, which will extend over more than 17,800 square metres distributed over seven floors above ground and one below ground with parking, will not only offer healthcare services but will also open up to the city through Life Science initiatives, creating more than 1,200 direct and indirect jobs and serving more than 200,000 patients a year. Colonial will retain most of the current structure, maintain ownership of the property and after its transformation will lease it through a contract. The transaction has been advised by Cushman & Wakefield.
