Written by As we mentioned last month in May, an article published on “Public initiatives to boost technology based economy in Alicante”,The City Hall of Elche, in collaboration with the University Miguel Hernández, Elche, announced the project to build a technology campus in Elche’s Industrial Park, located midway between the two cities Alicante and Elche.
Last week, this news was published again, but with the exciting addition to the story that the necessary steps for construction of the first phase of the Silicon Valley inspired campus has started. This first phase consists of the construction of two buildings, and if everything goes as planned, it will be completed by mid-2018. The objective of building this technology campus is to create a centre for innovation and technology development that promotes involvement of both big and small companies of the sector, in the area.
This news is another example of how increasingly, the cities of Alicante and Elche are working proactively with the aim of setting a benchmark for being an influential location of technological and innovative companies.
Below you can find an article translated into English from the original published in the newspaper “Diario Información”.
Pimesa kick starts the technology campus inspired by Silicon Valley with the construction of two buildings
The first phase of the enclave is developed on plots that are owned by the municipal company
The intention is that once the projects have been drafted, the spaces can be commercialized
It has been sold as one of the star projects of this mandate. For that reason, the machinery has already been put in place to make the Silicon Valley inspired technology campus in Elche Parque Empresarial as soon as possible. So much so that the City Council, as promoter of the project, together with the municipal company Pimesa, who manages it, have already started the procedures to build the first phase, which will be initiated by two buildings. The goal is to set up a technological post that will smooth the implementation of SMEs and large technology-based and innovation companies.
Initially, the first step for the administrative board of Pimesa has been to approve the specifications of administrative and technical clauses that will govern the award of contracts, for the provision of the technical assistance service for the drafting of projects and construction works management for the first two properties. Furthermore, it is expected to be discussed in the city council meeting sometime next week.
Specifically, the first two properties will be built on a greenfield block with more than 15,000 square meters, and comprised of two plots: one of 2,070 square meters and another of 625 meters, both by Pimesa.
Such is the required speed at which the whole process is called for, the estimated time between drafting the projects, until they are approved, is only four and a half months. With this in mind, the project will kick off in Elche Parque Empresarial, between the streets Círculo Obrero Ilicitano and Antonio José Cabanilles, towards the middle of next year, so that the buildings can be a reality before this mandate is finished. In addition, the idea is that a collaboration agreement with the Miguel Hernández University can be signed shortly, through the UMH Foundation, which will collaborate as a promoter and manager of innovation. In this way, Pimesa is in charge of planning, urban development, real estate development, construction, and commercial promotion of Elche Campus Tecnológico; as well as the professional and specialized management of the project. Among the tasks of the local company Pimesa, is to manage the implementation of Elche Campus Tecnológico within the Association of Science and Technology Parks of Spain (APTE). With this, what they are looking to achieve is that companies located in that area will be able to access public calls for specific funding for technological enclaves. Parallel to this, as stated previously, Pimesa will look to seek adequate funding to ensure the economic and financial viability of the technology campus. For its part, the UMH will be focusing on the scientific and technological activities.
For the time being, and in order not to deviate from that purpose of making the project a reality as soon as possible, Pimesa plans to include in next year’s budget a cost estimation of the two buildings. In parallel, it will start with the promotion of the project, especially with a view to highlighting and attracting investors and companies.
As far as the commercialization of the spaces, it will not be expected that the buildings are raised. Once the project has been drafted, it will begin with the sale of the spaces almost at the same time as the works are being tendered, to maximise progress.
From that point, the following phases will follow. However, the commercialization in this first stage will not be limited to the spaces of the first two buildings. They also want to give entrepreneurs or investors the possibility of buying some plots where they will be able to construct their own buildings themselves.
Elche’s Technology Campus is integrated by nine plots in total, seven of them owned by Pimesa and two others which are privately owned. However, although all lands at that point are for tertiary use, there are special and special plots, which implies that, according to the qualification, different urban parameters are established.
The land, in any case, is distributed in four blocks, each of which includes various building plots for tertiary use and public green areas. The blocks are separated from each other by two different road sections that cross the plot from north to south and from east to west, specifically by the streets Círculo Obrero Ilicitano and Antonio José Cabanilles. The sum of the building plots totals over 43,000 square meters of roof. The buildings, in the end, will be configured in a perimeter around a large public square qualified as a green area by the General Plan, which is fully urbanized, and what they are looking for now is landscaping and equipment.
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