La Casa de la Luz, SIMON’s brand flagship in Madrid, was the setting last Wednesday, March 6, 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, organized by Grupo Cador in collaboration with Studio Alliance, brought together leading professionals from the European market.
Juan Ignacio Aranguren, Associate Director – Head of Region/Latin America of Zaha Hadid Architects; Clive Lucking, founder of Studio Alliance; Noelia Cristobal Sáez Bravo, head of La Casa de la Luz, and Nicolás García Ickes, General Manager of Grupo Cador were the participants of the panel moderated by Malina Acedo, International Business Director of Grupo Cador.
“We are witnessing an unprecedented transformation driven by the need to adapt to more flexible work models,” Clive Lucking opened the debate, highlighting the importance of adapting to a post-pandemic world.
Likewise, the founder of Studio Alliance emphasized 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 throughout 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 are looking for these buildings that have some type of internationally recognized certificate.” The general manager of Grupo Cador explained the trend towards an exploration of the circular economy by the owners, who face the “risk of investing in the remodeling of their buildings without any guarantee of being able to rent, given the tremendous competition to get tenants”.
Technology in Success Stories
To maximize capex, technology plays a fundamental role. Juan Ignacio Aranguren detailed how Zaha Hadid Architects have been using it “to understand clients’ existing assets and how to reposition them, but also to position new projects”.
A tangible example is one of its latest buildings in the Galaxy Soho office complex in Beijing, where a specific algorithm was developed to evaluate aspects such as natural light penetration, the shortest path for an employee to their colleagues, to the nearest entrance, the amenities… The objective, to optimize the spatial arrangement, and thus improve the interaction, productivity and well-being of employees.
Another success story is the new Bridgestone Mobility Solutions office in Barcelona, presented by García Ickes during the event. The client needed a space that met its sustainability requirements. To do this, on the one hand, it rented a building with sustainable certification and, on the other hand, it commissioned the distribution, design and construction of its space interior to Grupo Cador to respond to the changing needs of its employees, such as hybrid work, something in which 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 head of La Casa de la Luz of SIMON highlighted its ability to improve energy efficiency and the user experience in hotels. Thus, she pointed out the ability of advanced systems to measure customer habits and design lighting and a space according to their needs.
Climate of Optimism
The meeting highlighted the challenge faced by owners when integrating sustainable and technological solutions into their real estate projects. While there was an optimistic consensus, recognizing 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 more than 44 years of experience and offices in Madrid, Barcelona and Mexico City, Grupo Cador specializes in the design, construction and equipment of spaces in all types of assets: offices, coworking spaces, hotels, restaurants, commercial premises at street level and in shopping centers, training centers, student residences, laboratories and logistics centers.
Likewise, Grupo Cador is one of the 16 members of Studio Alliance, the alliance of experts in workspaces leader in Europe, with a combined turnover of more than 1 billion euros, a work team of more than 1,000 employees and a track record of more than 50 million m2 of projects completed.
About La Casa de la Luz and SIMON
La Casa de la Luz, housed in the Princesa Building, an icon of Fernando Higuera’s brutalist architecture, 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 founding in a small workshop in Olot in 1916, SIMON has grown to become a global leader in the electrical materials sector, present in more than 90 countries. With more than a century of experience, the company has been recognized for its ability to integrate design and technology in solutions that are part of people’s daily lives.