The old Clesa factory, which has already appeared in the history books of architecture, is included in the category of monument in the Catalog of Cultural Assets (BIC). The Community of Madrid will initiate the procedures to grant the greatest possible protection of cultural heritage to this masterpiece of industrial rationalism, designed in 1958 by Alejandro de la Sota, as approved by the Official Chamber of Architects of Madrid (COAM), the Academy of Fine Arts of San Fernando and experts on modern Spanish heritage such as William Curtis and Kenneth Frampton. This was announced by the Minister of Culture, Tourism and Sports, Mariano de Paco, this Thursday during the control meeting to the regional government after a question from the socialist Mar Espinar.
The factory was to be renovated by the Dutch company Kandans Science with the aim of setting up laboratories, offices and a small cultural center, which made up barely 12% of the area. The project was promoted by the City Council of Madrid, the owner of the land, which transferred the land to the said company for 75 years after an international urban planning competition, but the BIC statement calls into question the future of the said venture. The highest monument protection recognition brings with it a new obligation: the permitted uses must be compatible with the improvement of the property, as can be seen from other current files, but there is no general regulation. The regional government has not yet clarified whether this move will have an impact on Kadans’ plans.
De Paco explained that in October 2022, the General Directorate of Assets issued an initial report hostile to the BIC statement. The study, carried out after a visit by regional officials, found that the property had lost its industrial value as neither the original machinery nor the milk processing tanks remained. Other valuable elements such as carpentry, stairs and railings were also gone. Faced with the refusal to increase the protection of the building, the Liebre por Gato platform, which brings together 30 neighborhood organizations to protect cultural heritage, then lodged the appeal, which led to a second technical report. This time he recommends maximum protection in his conclusions.
Antonio Giraldo, urban planning spokesman for the Madrid Socialists, describes the restoration of the cultural heritage as good news. “It is possible that this new Clesa situation is not compatible with the Kadans project. In any case, this is a question that the city council must clarify. We appreciate that so many professional associations and from the cultural world have heard. “What we are now asking is for the city council to play its role and assign the building a use in line with its heritage values, a new cultural centrality in the north, an area that needs these types of facilities,” explains the city council. In the plenary session this Thursday, his colleague Mar Espinar described the previous justifications for the refusal of property protection as “very poor”.
Metrovacesa acquired the dairy after Clesa filed for bankruptcy a decade ago. Just a few years later, the real estate developer transferred the factory complex to the Manuela Carmena city council, in return he changed the industrial use of the remaining property, a necessary prerequisite for the planning of towers there. Alejandro de la Sota’s property, which was only partially protected at the time, was classified as a unique site in urban planning regulations, with the intention of building the “Northern Slaughterhouse” there. After the 2019 local elections, the new urban planning councilor Mariano Fuentes (Ciudadanos) ignored this project. He wanted to make Clesa a paradigm of public-private collaboration.
The new company took part in the “Reinventing Cities” competition, which specializes in the recycling of abandoned urban areas. For the first time, a building with high monument value was presented in the competition. Of the 13 members of the selection committee in 2021, five were municipal engineers. And only one member of that jury specialized in modern architecture, a movement to which the factory is a part. Among the members of the winning project, financed by Kadans with 34 million euros, was Metrovacesa, again linked to the factory in a paradoxical variant of the circular economy. The renovation presented was the subject of numerous criticism from the union, which warned of irreparable damage to the original.
What influences the most is what happens next. So you don’t miss anything, subscribe.
Subscribe to
Almost two years later, on March 28, the Cibeles plenary session called on the Community of Madrid to declare Clesa a BIC, following a request from the Hare for Cat platform. Only the PP and the Ciudadanos voted against it. Council member Fuentes, who has since retired from political life, nevertheless vigorously defended the project, which he presented in numerous interviews as an example of his work on the city council. Sociologist Vicente Pérez, responsible for urban planning at the Regional Association of Neighborhood Associations (FRAVM) – integrated into Liebre por Gato – believes that the new classification of Clesa represents “another setback” for the exedile. “This is a clear victory for civil organizations against the nonsense of some,” he explains.
Fuentes was the protagonist of his latest scandal in July, when it was announced that he would sign for real estate developer Vía Ágora, to whom he had transferred five properties a few days before leaving office. The Fraud and Corruption Office archived the revolving door case reported by Psoe and Más Madrid weeks later, as the company withdrew the job offer after verifying that the exedile “is affected by temporary administrative restrictions,” he said in a statement. Three different laws stipulate that at least two years must elapse from the time a senior official leaves office before he can sign for companies in areas under his jurisdiction.
Subscribe to our daily newsletter about Madrid here.