Madrid Nuevo Norte, previously known as Operación Chamartín, is an urban redevelopment programme in the Spanish capital city of Madrid, managed and promoted by Distrito Castellana Norte. After a decades-long administrative struggle, construction works are set to finally begin in 2021 and may only be completed by 2045. The project, if executed in its entirety following current plans, will reshape approximately 2.65 million square metres of land and create 241,700 new jobs.
Timeline
The project was first conceived in 1993 by state-owned rail transport enterprise Renfe and the Ministerio de fomento, at the time primarily as an extension to Chamartín railway station with subsequent rearrangement of the adjacent neighbourhoods. However, the project soon faced its first serious obstacles, as land owners fought their expropriation in court, a legal process that would ultimately take 15 years to be completed. The project's realization was further impeded when in 2004, tragedy struck in the form of the Madrid train bombings. Coincidentally, the attack took place on the exact same day the initial phase of the then-Operación Chamartín was to be approved, with an event of this scale being virtually the only thing that would still be able to deter the implementation of the plans. As the following years saw a general slowdown in urban construction projects due to the economic fallout of the Financial crisis of 2007–2008, among those being many previously planned extensions of the Metro network, Operación Chamartín once more had to take a back seat for several years. Only in 2015, after Manuela Carmena had won the municipal elections, was the project revitalized. Some diplomatic problems between the new mayor and some participating enterprises like the bank BBVA followed, as the former insisted on adding more residential apartments and green spaces to the plans and would have rather kept the involvement of private contributors to a minimum, for a time promoting an alternative proposal which would have been significantly less ambitious, but also cheaper and faster to realize. However, as this iteration of the plan was rejected by both participating enterprises and legislative bodies, the parties involved ultimately came to a compromise that, while incorporating many of the proposed changes, remained largely faithful to the project's original scope, with its name being changed to Madrid Nuevo Norte. On 29 July 2019, the project was approved, receiving unanimous support from all parties represented in the Madrilenian townhall. With another round of mostly minor revisions to be implemented, the regional government under Isabel Díaz Ayuso on their part approved it on 20 March 2020, with construction works set to begin in early 2021 as of July.
Scope of the project
Madrid Nuevo Norte stipulates the creation of 348 new office buildings and 11,700 apartments. Additionally, the skyline of the northern city's business district, which is currently still dominated by the Cuatro Torres, will receive at least three more skyscrapers at a height of 190 to more than 250 metres. At a projected height of approximately 330 metres, the highest of these buildings would become the tallest building in the European Union upon completion. In terms of public transport, the plans include a short additional metro lineconsisting of three new stations. A new Cercanías station is also to be constructed, most likely above the northernmost of the metro stations. Chamartín railway station will be significantly extended and modernized, turning it once more into the main reference point of the Spanish high velocity rail networkAVE.
Reactions
Common criticisms of the project have historically often focused on it having the potential to further increase already existing income disparities within the city proper, with southern districts like Villaverde and Usera being significantly less wealthy than their central and northern counterparts., an architect and former socialist politician, criticized the programme for being a private venture rather than a public one, polemically calling for it to be renamed "Cortijo BBVA". Echoing a chorus of more positive domestic and international voices, German business newspaperHandelsblatt has called the project a "key economic stimulus", citing a poll indicating overwhelming popular support for the project among Madrilenians. Lorena Vargas of described it as an essential step to help Madrid catch up to other major European capitals like London or Paris.
