Finestrelles Shopping Centre will be opening tomorrow with a commercial offer of 103 spaces from leader brands in fashion and restaurants, on a surface of 39.250 sqm. Located in Esplugues de Llobregat, the mall will attract more than 8,5 million yearly visitors from Barcelona and the region of Baix Llobregat. An Alcampo hypermarket, a gym from the Duet Fit chain, Media Markt and a Decathlon store are the largest Finestrelles Shopping Centre flagships, counting also with various Inditex group brands such as Zara, Bershka, Pull & Bear and Oysho. Other fashion stores that will be opening are H&M, Mango, Kiabi and New Yorker amongst others. The offer for customers is completed with a large variety of restaurants amongst which we may find leaders such as McDonald’s, La Tagliatella, KFC, Blue Frog, Dunkin Coffee and Starbucks.
“We have put much effort in achieving a varied and attractive commercial and restoration offer that is comfortable for our different customers at Finestrelles Shopping Centre”, says Víctor M.Gómez, CEO of Equilis Spain, the Belgium developer group that has invested 120 million euros for the building of the mall. The economical impact is also important, since it will generate 1150 direct jobs, majorly for the Baix Llobregat region.
Excellent Location. Finestrelles Shopping Centre is located in a privileged area, between one of the main entrances to Barcelona and the towns of Baix LLobregat. Within a 20 minutes radius, 21 municipalities with a potential demand above 2,5 mm people. Situated in Can Vidalet of Esplugues de Llobregat, there is a great accessibility with public transport, with the Tram stop in Ca n’Oliveres, just in front of the entrance to the shopping centre.
There are also public and private services on the catchment area the offer large potential client flows: university campuses in Diagonal, the Scientific Park of Barcelona, the Palau of Congresses of Catalunya, and Rey Juan Carlos I hotel, the Sant Joan de Déu hospital and the Barcelona Football Club premises. It also counts with a parking of 1250 slots that will open 365 days/year, being the first two hours for free. An architectural space thought as an oases within and urban Environment.
The project has taken into account every detail. The design reunites a vision of modernity with luminous open spaces, creating the oases within an urban area. The technical team is led by architect Íñigo Arnaiz, and is formed by 6 architects, 4 technical architects and 4 industrial engineers. Their conception of the space is that of an enlargement of a public space into the private environment, similar to the creation of a city within a building. The building of the shopping centre had to overcome the height differences of the land, which were more than 14 turning these into an opportunity by increasing the inside mobility into 3 different levels by floor that connect to the street exits.
The construction began at the end of 2016 and will be finished almost two years after. A unique sculpture will be part of Finestrelles Shopping Centre The mall with count with a sculpture by Carlos Albert named “Flight 2018”, a unique piece of art that is already part of Finestrelles Shopping Centre. With the simple resounding of its composition it represents the essence of the project symbolizing growth and encounter for visitors and for those who have contributed to its happening.
Carlos Albert is part of the outstanding group of Spanish sculptors that use metal as their artistic main expression method. The result of it, as stated by the specialised critics, is a live projection of a tradition that with Albert becomes contemporary. Albert has participated in multiple shows and international exhibitions that have contributed to the awareness of his art, which is also formidable, as the one he has just prepared for the Outdoors Contemporary Museum “Art in the Forest” in Vietnam.
A Spanish reference for sustainability
Finestrelles Shopping Centre will be a reference for sustainability in Spain. “At Equilis we design the impact our buildings will have regarding the environment, both for industrial areas recovery and on the local economy”, says Víctor Gómez. Furthermore he explains that the new space of Esplugues de Llobregat will enable an energy saving above the rest of shopping centres, it is being built with maximum sustainability level materials and will handle waste at CO2 emissions below regular standards. It has also been designed to avoid architectural barriers.
The project will be awarded with BREEAM Certificate (Building Research Establishment’s Environmental), both for the building and for the management of its construction. Established by United Kingdom, it is the world’s longest established method of assessing, rating, and certifying the sustainability of buildings. Previous to this, the construction has already received the BREEAM certificate “Very Good”, assessing that during the process all environmental criteria have been followed.
