Barcelona has a competitive and diverse economy that accounts for 14% of Spain’s GDP.
The city has become a hub for tech companies and startups and regularly occupies top spots in international rankings. It is ranked the fifth biggest European startup hub according to EU-Startups’s ranking 2020 and the seventh in the fDI and TNW Tech Cities of the Future 2021.
The city hosts international technology events such as the Mobile World Congress, 4YFN and the Smart City Expo, and organisations like Barcelona Activa and Barcelona Tech City work on promoting Barcelona as an international tech hub. Companies and tech talent are flowing into Barcelona, creating an international entrepreneurial ecosystem which has consolidated it as the technological and innovative hub of Southern Europe.
In October 2021, the US company PepsiCo announced the launch of its first digital hubs, one in Dallas and the other in Barcelona. These cities were chosen because of their top-tier talent pool, education systems and regional infrastructures. Indeed, the number of persons employed as information and communications technology specialists in Barcelona grew by 32% between 2015 and 2021, more than three times the pace of total employment in Spain.
Human capital in ICT is a driving force for robust office fundamentals as highlighted by the performance of the 22@Barcelona office submarket.
The district is one of the largest urban regeneration projects in Europe, launched in 2000 to transform Poblenou’s industrial district into a technology and innovation hub by rezoning 200 hectares.
It is the most dynamic district in the city and accounts for a growing share of Barcelona’s office take-up, capturing the largest requirements. Preleasing activity for new office space is robust, which indicates strong pent-up demand.
In 2021, Glovo, Spain’s leading delivery food startup leased 30,000 square metres in Mile 22@ project, a price-certified LEED Platinum development by Freo and King Street Capital Management, with over 38,000 square metres spread across three independent buildings that is planned to be completed by the end of this year.
Investment capital is flowing into the district led by international firms from Germany, France and the US. Investors are targeting mainly core and core-plus assets but also developments.
In 2021, DWS acquired a €128 million office development from Värde Partners through a forward sale agreement. One Parc Central, has over 30,000 square metres and will receive LEED Gold on completion which is expected in the summer.
22@ is also the office area with the highest growth projection in Barcelona, thanks to ongoing development in projects like T3 Diagonal Mar and Diagrame.
Hines and Henderson Park are developing T3 Diagonal Mar, a 3,610-square-metre office building made entirely of timber, with good environmental social and corporate governance credentials and the latest technology. It will be the first fully wooden building of its kind to be constructed by Hines and Henderson Park in Europe. Completion is scheduled for 2022, when it will aim for LEED Gold, WELL and WiredScore distinctions.
Diagrame is a 14,943 square metres Class-A office development set to complete in Q1 2022. The building is pre-certified LEED Platinum and is among the first buildings in Spain to achieve WiredScore certification. This project was forward-sold by Cain International and its partner Freo to Patrizia in 2020.