Metro de Madrid will debut its headquarters in 2020

The acting president of the Community, Pedro Rollán, visits the construction site of the new facility next to Plaza de Castilla. It is designed as a Nearly Zero Energy Building (NZEB) due to its design strategy and materials. The works began last April and have a budget of 26 million euros. There will be a second phase of the project that includes facilities such as a Transport Museum. Rollán highlights that the new complex, the Integral Transportation Center, “will allow the relocation and concentration of Metro’s main administrative and control services.”

 

The acting president of the Community of Madrid, Pedro Rollán, today supervised the progress of the construction works of the new headquarters of Metro de Madrid, located next to Plaza de Castilla and called the Technological Administrative Center. The building is expected to be ready by the end of 2020 after the works started last April. The first employees will start arriving in 2021.

 

After the completion of the new headquarters, a second phase of the project will be launched. The new buildings and facilities that will be included will form an Integral Transportation Center that “will allow the relocation and concentration in the near future of Metro’s main administrative and control services,” explained Rollán. Thus, it will house almost all the office staff of the company – more than 1,000 employees – currently spread across different premises.

 

This project has a budget of 26 million euros, with 20 million allocated to the construction of the building and the remaining 6 million for the implementation of various building facilities.

“Thanks to the concentration of services, greater synergies will be achieved and a reduction in costs in the production and operation of Metro de Madrid, as well as greater efficiency in organizational performance; logistical savings and in real estate rental; greater effectiveness in daily activity; and a reduction in response times for incident resolution,” detailed the acting president of the Community of Madrid.

NEW HEADQUARTERS AT PLAZA DE CASTILLA

 

The entire plot has already been excavated – the former garages of Metro Line 1 – reaching two underground floors. In addition, the foundation of the perimeter concrete walls has started, geothermal wells have been executed, and a crane has been installed near Plaza de Castilla, which will soon be joined by a second one on the opposite side along Magnolias Street.

 

The Avenida de Asturias depot occupies a block of over 18,000 square meters, was built in 1965, and remained active until 2013. From late 2016 to early 2017, six buildings, the track bed, the catenary, the vehicle access ramp, the pedestrian access staircase, floors, and sanitation, as well as a natural terrain platform leveled to a similar level as the original depot and the retaining walls of the perimeter streets located at a higher level, were dismantled.

 

FUTURE INTEGRAL TRANSPORTATION CENTER

 

The Integral Transportation Center will be completed during the project’s second phase and will include new buildings, such as a building called the Network Operation Control Center (CCOR), which will bring together the current Control Post and the Operations Center for Maintenance and Monitoring of Installations and Communications (COMMIT).

In addition, another building will be allocated to the Regional Transport Consortium, a Transport Museum will be established, a parking lot with more than 300 spaces, a large garden, and outdoor areas in central spaces, and a changing vegetative cover according to the different seasons of the year.

 

From a sustainability perspective, the new headquarters is designed as a Nearly Zero Energy Building (NZEB), complying with European directives that require this energy performance in public buildings constructed from 2018 onwards.

 

Thus, it incorporates design strategies and material choices to reduce the heat island effect – especially on the roofs through shading elements and vegetation – along with a decrease in energy and ecological footprint by reducing energy demand and natural resource consumption. Additionally, it will have high-efficiency installations, such as geothermal energy, and the parking lot will have electric vehicle charging and bicycle parking facilities.

 

 

 

EVOCATION OF THE RAILWAY PAST

 

The idea is that, despite the innovation and new technologies brought by the project, the new buildings will evoke the railway past of the location. Thus, the improvement of the service’s functionality is complemented by the creation of a space that will preserve the legacy of the former garages and can also be enjoyed by citizens.

 

“This place will recall the metropolitan railway culture, emphasizing the presence of Metro in a space that recalls its history, highlights its evolution, and confirms its modernity,” explained the acting president of the Community of Madrid.

 

The move to this facility is motivated by the sale of Metro de Madrid’s current headquarters on Cavanilles Street to the Residencial El Andén del Retiro Cooperative. The sale price was 28.8 million euros, of which 8.8 million euros were stipulated to be paid in cash, while the remaining 20 million euros would be a payment in kind consisting of the construction of the new headquarters by the buyer.

 

For the design of the project, Metro de Madrid launched an architecture competition through an agreement signed with the Official College of Architects of Madrid. The winning proposal was prepared by the ‘Jardín 1’ team.