Restaura – restoring rather than building
Restaura – restoring rather than building
In a country obsessed with new construction, Restaura is a breath of fresh air, restoring historical buildings and transforming them from dilapidated memories of the past into fully updated homes, offices, shops and hotels.
I think it is fair to say that Spain is a country obsessed with bricks, mortar and cement. No other country in Western Europe has seen so much construction over the past 15 years – not even post-reunification Germany, with its rebuilding of Berlin. The number of houses, apartments, hotels, office blocks, warehouses, shopping centres and cinema complexes built collectively numbers millions, so it is perhaps not surprising that seven of the ten largest construction firms in Europe are Spanish.
Building has been the prime driver behind Spain’s 15-year wirtschaftswunder, driving annual economic growth rates in excess of 3 per cent, providing mass employment and helping to bring hitherto unknown prosperity and consumerism to what was still a rather poor relation in the early eighties. Vast commercial empires have been built on the back of the building boom, with architects, property agents, developers, building suppliers and speculators flourishing too. This is all good, but the thing is: construction is more like a mine than a factory, depleting its resource base – land – as it exploits it.
Spain is a big country, but given time it could become covered in man’s concrete suburbs, which already stretch along large sections of the country’s Mediterranean coast. Will people continue to buy houses if the entire coastline has become an extended city? Already, the rampant rate of (mass-produced) supply has far outgrown demand, and some say helped to reduce that demand. The result is a tremendous unsold housing inventory and the threat of economic slowdown. This is not a plea against construction or development, but as in all things in life it is a question of finding the right balance. In this, companies such as Restaura can play an important role.
Restaura—bringing the past into the present
Founded in 1977, this award-winning Spanish firm is now an international leader in the field of reconstruction, renovation and redevelopment, with scores of projects in Spain and overseas bearing its seal. Originally established by Xavier Solano for the purpose of a private renovation project, the company acquired its first building, a historical apartment block in Barcelona that came complete with existing rent paying tenants. An agreement was reached on how to renovate the building, beautifying and bringing it up to date, to subsequently sell it to the tenants. Restaura assisted in the mortgage-finding process and a successful business model was born.
Since then, the company has grown into an incorporated firm with over 700 completed projects to its name and operations in five other countries, including France. The 1990s saw expansion from Restaura’s Barcelona base into cities such as Madrid, Valencia, Seville and Granada, where individual buildings and sometimes entire blocks were restored to their former beauty, brought up to date with modern infrastructure and facilities, and sold on. The really inspiring thing about Restaura is that it is one of those companies that is commercially viable and successful, yet also does something to benefit society as a whole. The latter results not only from the restoration of beautiful old buildings themselves, but especially from the way in which streets, blocks and suburbs are beautified and revived.
Corporate social responsibility
More effective than most municipal initiatives of the same kind, which invariably suck up tax revenue, it has also enabled many tenants to buy their own – improved – property. It shows that recuperation of old buildings and districts need not always lead to the kind of gentrification that simply sees the original inhabitants removed and the ‘problem’ deposited in new high-rise on the outskirts of town. Indeed, Restaura is proud to call itself a company with a high sense of ‘corporate social responsibility’. They approach projects by first establishing a relationship with the different parties involved, thus creating a framework in which residents, clients and local authorities can all be heard and work together towards a model that has proven its worth.
Not all Restaura projects are equally residential and social in nature. Some involve the redevelopment of buildings into commercial or recreational spaces such as hotels or chic office accommodation, and the company has developed an investment wing that advises investment-driven buyers on the buildings, locations and projects that offer the soundest opportunities for capital growth. Overall, though, the environmental sense made by redeveloping often underutilised and even dilapidated housing stock to help satisfy demand is ultimately a highly sustainable form of property development that can help alleviate the pressure on limited land resources. Put differently: it makes no sense to be plastering virgin land in concrete when so many existing properties stand empty or are falling apart from neglect. Restaura may therefore specialise in renovating classical buildings, but its concept and its environmental relevance will grow in weight with every passing decade of the 21st century.
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Interview with founder, Xavier Solano
In a country so focused on new construction, what drove you to go against the thread and establish a company dedicated to large-scale renovation projects?
At the time, there was an exodus of population to new high-rise in the outer suburbs. Barcelona’s heart was becoming depopulated, so we picked up the challenge to make the old suburbs more attractive to residents, offering the kind of modern facilities and comforts of new suburban housing. To do this without losing the character of the old city centre was the only way to revitalise it. It was an exercise in fusing history and modernity.
Your website speaks of a specific ‘business model’?
When we approach the owners of a building to buy, restore and sell it on, we negotiate with them and, if an agreement is reached, encode it with official documentation and planning permissions. Depending on the kind of project, it is sold to end users or investors upon completion, but there are also lots of cases where existing tenants become the clients who buy the finished product. In those cases especially, we work very closely with the clients as an additional social element comes into the transaction. The ability to successfully commercialise projects of this kind, in which architects, town planners and financing institutions are involved, and which in many cases have a social aspect, is a speciality which we have come to call our specific business model.
What are the criteria used to decide whether a particular building merits being renovated and if there is a market for it?
We look at a set of factors such as location, aesthetic and historical merit of the building and, on a technical level, whether it allows itself to be renovated and modernised. There is a definite – and growing – demand for homes, offices, hotels and even shops in historical buildings set in city centre locations, but quality and modern facilities and infrastructure are an absolute must. They make it possible to have the best of both worlds, enjoying classical style and workmanship along with the latest technologies and even ultramodern interior décor.
Isn’t it extremely complicated and costly to renovate classical buildings?
The key is having good teams of professionals, be they architects, craftsmen, engineers, assessors or marketing people. This is a sector where experience is of vital importance.
Which is a better investment, a new property or a renovated one?
Not what you wanted to hear, but it depends on each individual case. The success of a property investment depends on a set of conditions including its inherent quality, desirability of its location, proximity to a set of local services, added value and quality of life offered, and the marketability of its styling. This needs to be analysed whether a property is newly constructed or renovated – although the winning formula of a renovated home is that it offers all the comfort and style of a modern home but with the character, charm and elegance of a classical one. We can afford to renovate the craftsmanship in many of our classical buildings, but it would cost a fortune to have it made today…
