The Generalitat has bought half of the headquarters of the Bank of Spain in Barcelona, located in the central Plaza Catalunya in the Catalan capital, for 58.4 million euros. The purchase was signed this Friday in an event in which the president of the Generalitat, Salvador Illa, and the governor of the Bank of Spain, José Luis Escrivá, participated. The Generalitat will keep the upper part and the BdE will rehabilitate the “lower part”, which will make possible “an in-depth reform” of the property.
The Bank of Spain also wants this central property to be “more open and closer to citizens” and plans to sign a protocol with the Generalitat to promote financial education. Specifically, the Generalitat will acquire a total of seven plants, which occupy an area of more than 13,000 square meters, for those 58.4 million euros. In this way, the Government advances in its strategy of reducing the bill it pays for the rent of its offices by investing in owned properties.
Before different departments of the Generalitat arrive, it will be necessary to carry out a renovation in the building to which they will allocate some 36.9 million, although the transfer is not planned until 2033. With the transfer and the release of rent payments, the Generalitat could save about 4.5 million a year and in the long term the savings would be more than 98 million every ten years.
After the sale of seven plants (from the second to the eighth), the Bank of Spain will concentrate its ordinary activity on the rest and will grow with the new artificial intelligence (AI) laboratory, which Escrivá has promoted to be installed mainly in Barcelona. Precisely this Friday the bank will present the Delta project, the Experimentation and Laboratory of Applied Technologies department, which will be directed by Ignasi Belda, former general director of the Barcelona Science Park.
