Barcelona Reacts to Shifts in Commercial Property Market

Companies choose efficiency over prestigious city centre addresses.

Reports from commercial property estate agents show that demand has moved from city centres to new economic areas that are generally located on the outskirts of large cities. In the same line, a sizeable number of larger companies that were located in the centre of Barcelona have taken advantage of modern developments located in these new areas.

According to reports, nearly two thirds of new leases signed in Barcelona in 2010 were for premises in new business areas over more central locations, with a notable upwards trend in the first quarter of this year. In these new economic zones, companies have found affordable cutting-edge services, property and infrastructure, as well as accessible public transport.

The choice to move to these zones has also been influenced by the greater flexibility of spaces available, with tailored options and imaginative solutions that help save ongoing costs and decrease moving expenses, while increasing worker productivity and efficiency.

Companies that have selected these new environments have prioritised attributes like efficient use of space and energy savings over the traditional criteria of location and prestigious addresses.

Another draw of these new areas is the activity concentrated in them, with specific sectors and clusters where companies work together, carry out research and share services - further reducing costs. This cluster dynamic provides easy access to talent and networking with professionals from the same sector, as well as integrating the different stakeholders that foster innovation: technologically advanced companies, universities and life-long learning centres, and research and technology transfer centres. Therefore, the favourable environment becomes the centre of the value chain, which fosters knowledge synergies, innovation processes and allows for increased competitiveness of the whole business fabric.

Catalonia and Barcelona are strongly committed to this model, which centres on economic growth based on the innovation and creativity that is firmly established in the knowledge economy.

The Barcelona Economic Triangle (BET) project, led by the Government of Catalonia and the Barcelona City Council, is made up of three large areas (Besòs, Llobregat and Vallès) that form a huge ‘economic triangle’ and bring together strategic sectors of activity, like nanotechnology, information and communication technology, medical technology, energy, mobility and aerospace, among others.

Barcelona-Catalonia to be presented at ExpoReal as southern Europe's main centre for innovation.

This is the third year running that the Catalan Government and Barcelona City Council have jointly participated in ExpoReal to publicise the BET project. The aim is to promote projects relating to land for economic activities within the Barcelona wider area to an international market, and to showcase some of Catalonia's more innovative business opportunities.

Visit us at Expo Real at the stand A2 410.

For further information, contact Susanna Collado on +34 935 541 984 or scollado@parcdelalba.cat