The mayor of Madrid, José Luis Martínez-Almeida, accompanied by the delegate for Works and Facilities, Paloma García Romero, and the councilor of Centro, Carlos Segura, visited Prado 30 this morning, where the City Council has just started structural consolidation works that will allow the subsequent implementation of a municipal cultural space and a health center to be built by the Community of Madrid.
The project, to be carried out by the Works and Facilities Area, has a budget of 3.9 million euros, with 48% funded by the Madrid City Council and 52% by the Community of Madrid, based on the surface area that the future facilities will occupy. In total, the building has a constructed area of 3,397 m2.
During the visit, Almeida highlighted the transformation that the Prado 30 project will bring, which responds to «a demand long advocated by the residents». As he explained, the intervention will provide the neighborhood with «better and more modern facilities,» representing a clear «example of what is useful politics for the residents of the city of Madrid.»
The works, expected to extend until the summer of 2026, will involve the consolidation and structural reinforcement of the building; improving accessibility and fire evacuation in the building with two new communication cores; the demolition of elements for the recovery of the interior courtyard; expanding the building on the upper floor, which will recover the surface of the volume demolished for the courtyard recovery; restoring and repairing the protected facades; replacing the exterior joinery with similar ones with better thermal and acoustic performance; restoring the entrance hall on the ground floor and the imperial staircase that provides access from the ground floor to the first floor, and the demolition of all interior elements (partition walls, false ceilings, installations, etc.), leaving the building raw for the implementation of future facilities.
With this project, which has the approval of the Local Commission of Historical Heritage, the Madrid City Council takes another step in the process of putting a building that was occupied between May 2017 and November 2019, when it was evacuated by the municipal government of José Luis Martínez-Almeida, at the service of the residents.
Joint work of the City Council and the Community of Madrid
Once recovered, the Community of Madrid requested the partial transfer of the building to be able to establish a 1,758 m2 health center, while the City Council will dedicate the remaining 1,638 m2 to establish a cultural space. In order for both projects to materialize, the City Council granted a subjective demanial mutation without transfer of ownership in favor of the Community of Madrid and the building was assigned to the Centro district.
The Madrid City Council and the Community of Madrid studied the different options for carrying out the work, weighing the uses to which the building will be destined and the particular urbanistic protection situation. From the analysis of the building, it was concluded that the required works are not just a mere adaptation of spaces, as it is necessary to proceed with the structural consolidation, envelope rehabilitation, and building expansion in order to accommodate the intended uses.
This intervention presents a great technical complexity due to the structural reinforcements and foundation work, so the technical services considered it unfeasible to do it in parts. This circumstance, combined with the fact that the City Council has a framework agreement for this type of interventions, advised, in the interest of the efficiency of the action and the prompt public use, that it be the City Council who undertakes the works related to the structural elements of the building.
Although the demanial mutation decree provided that each party carry out their part of the work, it was concluded that, for the reasons stated, it was not possible from a technical standpoint in the structural part of the project. Therefore, it was decided to address the work as a whole in the structural part and finance it by both administrations in proportion to their effective use. To this end, the conditions of the demanial mutation were modified so that, also from a legal and patrimonial point of view, the action has the necessary support.
Once the structural consolidation work is completed, the City Council will carry out the project to adapt the cultural space for its use by the City Council and the Community will carry out the work on the health center./
