The Telecommunications Market Commission (CMT) has acquired a building currently under construction in the 22@Barcelona district to house their headquarters in Barcelona. 

The new offices, scheduled to be finished in the second half of 2010, will measure approximately 12,200 m² and will be located at 56 Bolívia Street. With this acquisition, CMT will own an emblematic building that is representative of their values and meets their space and security needs in order to develop their daily activities.
 
CMT bought the property from GRUP IMMOBILIARI CASTELLVÍ, after considering different alternatives and carrying out an exhaustive study of the Barcelona real estate market. During the process of analyzing possible locations the determining factors were price, location, available space and the corporate image of the building. The initial project for the building was developed by Batlle i Roig Architects.
 
CMT will invest a total of 62.5 million euros in the purchase of the land and construction of the building. Part of the financing for this operation was obtained after CMT reached an agreement with the Directorate General for State Assets to hand over their old headquarters at 37 Alcalá Street in Madrid, receiving 37 million euros in compensation.

10 floors and adjoining warehouse
The project will have a total surface area of 12,200 m², distributed in two spaces. The first space is the main building, which will have 10 aboveground floors, where the different departments of the CMT will carry out their daily activities, as well as offices for the President, the Board and the Commission Secretariat.
 
The second space is a historical warehouse adjoining the main building, which was originally a textile factory and will be renovated, conserving the original structure. In this warehouse CMT will have an auditorium with capacity for 330 people and an international meeting room. Likewise, this space will also house a crèche to help Commission staff balance their family and professional lives.
 
Definitive headquarters with strategic location
With the acquisition of this new building, CMT will have their definitive headquarters in Barcelona. Since November 2005 they have been temporarily renting office space in the Mapfre Tower. This way, the new offices will be strategically located in the 22@Barcelona district, which is currently expanding and becoming one of the economic and cultural axis of the city. In fact, the 22@Barcelona district houses an important technology cluster.
 

The new CMT headquarters in Barcelona
 
Some history…
The area where the new CMT headquarters will be located, currently known as the 22@Barcelona district, was home to Barcelona’s textile industry in the 19th and 20th centuries. This industrial zone has been recovered by local institutions and has now become the new technological center of Barcelona. The 22@ district houses companies working in telecommunications and new technologies, as well as universities and centers for continuous training, research and technology transfer.
 
The land where the new CMT building will be located was originally acquired in 1896 by textile industrialist Josep Canela i Recasens in order to construct “stables on the ground floor and a machine room and boilers and smokestack for a textile factory.”  The project originally envisaged one ground-level warehouse and was later expanded to include other warehouses and facilities.

The initial warehouse is still standing and will be incorporated into the new CMT headquarters. This historical building will house: 
- An auditorium with capacity for 330 people
- An international meeting room with capacity for approximately 120 people
- A crèche 
 
Location and accesses
The CMT building is located in the Can Tiana block of the 22@ district, parcel 2, delimited by Bolívia, Ciutat de Granada, Sancho d´Àvila and Badajoz Streets, all of which are located in the Poble Nou neighborhood, which belongs to the Sant Martí district. 
 
The area can be reached using public transport (metro, bus and tram) or by the “ronda litoral” ring road, which connects the 22@ district with the Barcelona metropolitan area. Soon the new Glories inter-modal transportation center will provide a fast, comfortable connection between the 22@Barcelona district and the Prat airport. The Sagrera train station is also being built nearby and will house the new High Speed Train station coming soon to the district.
 
The building and its layout
The terrain and the building under construction have been acquired from GRUP IMMOBILIARI CASTELLVÍ. The initial project for the building was developed by Batlle i Roig Architects to create a unique office building facing Bolívia Street and connecting with the existing industrial buildings in the center of the block. The building will house offices, distributed in 10 aboveground floors, 3 underground floors for parking and a number of patios and terraces.

Further information: prensa@cmt.es