La Casa de la Luz, the flagship brand of SIMON in Madrid, was the setting on Wednesday, 6th March for a round table that promised to define the future of real estate asset positioning under the title ‘Shaping the Future: Asset Positioning through Sustainability and Technology’.
The event, organised by Grupo Cador in collaboration with Studio Alliance, brought together prominent professionals from the European market.
Juan Ignacio Aranguren, Associate Director – Head of Region/Latin America at Zaha Hadid Architects; Clive Lucking, founder of Studio Alliance; Noelia Cristobal Sáez Bravo, manager of La Casa de la Luz, and Nicolás García Ickes, General Manager of Grupo Cador were the panellists moderated by Malina Acedo, Director of International Business at Grupo Cador.
“We are witnessing an unprecedented transformation driven by the need to adapt to more flexible working models,” Clive Lucking opened the debate, highlighting the importance of adapting to a post-pandemic world.
Furthermore, the founder of Studio Alliance emphasised how sustainability is becoming a crucial factor in the selection of spaces by companies, despite its legislative challenges. “If each country interprets it differently, how does the owner, who may have a portfolio across Europe, react?” he posed to the audience.
Nicolás García Ickes also pointed out the growing demand for sustainable buildings: “most of the time, it is the clients who seek out these buildings that have some type of internationally recognised certification.” The General Manager of Grupo Cador explained the trend towards an exploration of the circular economy by property owners, who face the “risk of investing in the remodelling of their buildings with no guarantee of being able to lease, given the fierce competition to secure tenants.”
Technology in Success Stories
To maximise capital expenditure, technology plays a crucial role. Juan Ignacio Aranguren detailed how Zaha Hadid Architects have been using it “to understand the existing assets of clients and how to reposition them, but also to position new projects.”
A tangible example is one of their latest buildings in the Galaxy Soho office complex in Beijing, where a specific algorithm was developed to assess aspects such as the penetration of natural light, the shortest path for an employee to their colleagues, to the nearest entrance, the amenities… The aim is to optimise spatial layout, thus enhancing interaction, productivity, and the well-being of employees.
Another success story is the new office of Bridgestone Mobility Solutions in Barcelona, presented by García Ickes during the event. The client required a space that met their sustainability requirements. For this, on one hand, they rented a building with sustainable certification, and on the other, they commissioned the layout, design, and construction of their interior space to Grupo Cador to meet the changing needs of their employees, such as hybrid work, where technology played an indispensable role.
Sustainability is also in vogue in the hospitality sector. Noelia Cristobal Sáez Bravo contributed to the conversation from the perspective of lighting technology. The manager of La Casa de la Luz by SIMON highlighted its ability to enhance energy efficiency and the user experience in hotels. Thus, she pointed out the capability of advanced systems to measure customer habits and design lighting and space according to their needs.
Climate of Optimism
The meeting underscored the challenge faced by property owners in integrating sustainable and technological solutions into their real estate projects. However, there was an optimistic consensus, recognising that sustainability and technology are fundamental in the planning and design of projects, not only to meet current demand but also to ensure the long-term viability of real estate assets.
About Grupo Cador and Studio Alliance
With over 44 years of experience and offices in Madrid, Barcelona, and Mexico City, Grupo Cador specialises in the design, construction, and furnishing of spaces in various types of assets: offices, coworking spaces, hotels, restaurants, street-level retail spaces and in shopping centres, training centres, student residences, laboratories, and logistics centres.
Furthermore, Grupo Cador is one of the 16 members of Studio Alliance, the leading European workspace expert alliance, with a combined turnover of over one billion euros, a workforce of more than 1,000 employees, and a track record of over 50 million m2 of completed projects.
About La Casa de la Luz and SIMON
La Casa de la Luz, housed in the Edificio Princesa, an icon of brutalist architecture by Fernando Higuera, and transformed into a flagship space by SIMON, reflects this commitment to innovation in lighting and sustainability, being the perfect setting for this dialogue on the future of real estate spaces.
Since its foundation in a small workshop in Olot in 1916, SIMON has grown to become a global leader in the electrical materials sector, present in over 90 countries.
With more than a century of experience, the company has been recognised for its ability to integrate design and technology into solutions that are part of people’s daily lives.
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