At its Castellana flagship store in Madrid, the El Corte Inglés group presents new retail concepts and spaces, placing it at the cutting edge of innovation and positioning it as one of Europe’s most modern and dynamic department stores.
Following a refurbishment, the new building has been integrated with the existing premises and the retail complex now covers more than 170,000 square metres. An area of 70,000 square metres is available for retail operations. It also has more than 1,600 parking spaces, offering substantial added value to the centre, located right in the heart of the city in one of Madrid’s key business and shopping districts.
After almost three years of building work, El Corte Inglés Castellana presents a new establishment which has undergone substantial internal refurbishment in order to showcase a distinctive, thematically arranged commercial catalogue. With the inclusion of new spaces, services and brands, the retail centre offers customers an extensive shopping experience.
Health and beauty
Following the success of the Health and Beauty Space opened at El Corte Inglés Callao in Madrid in 2009, the new Castellana centre also features a dedicated relaxation area covering more than 1,300 square metres, offering the best in beauty, personal grooming and health. A vast array of facilities are available to customers, including a dental care centre, a fitness gym, a tanning centre, luxury Turkish baths, and a women’s spa offering a wide range of health and beauty treatments.
El Corte Inglés Castellana also offers customers the chance to choose from a broad spectrum of healthcare options, from personal trainers to body treatments. Choose between aesthetic and sports medicine, different forms of facial and body care, physiotherapy, osteopathy, anti-smoking treatments and holistic healthy ageing programmes. A unique space dedicated to health and personal grooming also features other services including hairdressing, laser depilation and a healthy snacks zone selling healthy drinks such as juices, smoothies and detoxifying teas.
Each section of the new Castellana Health and Beauty Space features renowned brands, such as Hedonai Beauty Technologies, specialising in cutting-edge laser depilation; Ruber Dental, an expert in dentistry and oral surgery; Carmen Navarro, dedicated to aesthetic medicine and treatments; Luis & Tachi hairdressing and capillary treatments; Inacua Sólo Ellas spa and fitness centre for women; Solmania tanning centre; Spe, a sports medicine specialist; and Peakjuice, dedicated to the sale of healthy drinks.
The world of fashion
El Corte Inglés Castellana goes hand-in-hand with those dedicated to the world of fashion. Here visitors will find the latest trends and most original designs along with other styles combining classical elements with a touch of innovation. This is the context for the inclusion of new brands addressing a young, urban market. A total area of 4,200 square metres features the leading names in women’s fashion, including Philosophy by Alberta Ferretti, Alice by Temperley, See by Chloé, Zadig & Voltaire, M Missoni, Love Moschino, Virginie Castaway, Manoush, Ba&sh, BCBG, Heimstone, Klaya and Pennyblack.
There is also space for El Corte Inglés’s own brands, including Fórmula Joven, Sfera, Studio Classics, Gals & Guys, Tintoretto, Green Coast and Easy Wear.
Menswear fashion is growing, with the products available strengthened by the presence of such renowned luxury menswear labels such as The Kooples and Sandro, offering the latest trends in fashion with a fresh and distinctly urban style. Other new brands have also been added, such as El Ganso and Scalpers, offering a more traditional style with the distinctive elements and details of a modern approach to finely crafted tailoring. Brands such as Bellerose are exclusive to El Corte Inglés.
Special services
Alongside the regular services offered by El Corte Inglés, its Castellana store has also introduced a number of special features for the growing number of overseas travellers. Chinese and Russian-speaking staff have been recruited, along with Portuguese-speaking staff. There is also a reception and help desk for visitors to Madrid, to help them shop in El Corte Inglés. Services include assistance with in-store purchases, the VAT refund process and the shipment of goods to customers’ hotels or home.
Payment is also accepted by China UnionPay card, with El Corte Inglés one of the first retailers to offer this payment method.
Architecture
Following the construction of the new building and its integration with the existing premises, El Corte Inglés Castellana has become one of Madrid’s landmark buildings, combining retail space on the first seven floors with office blocks rising to the 22nd floor.
This new architectural arrangement features more than 10,000 square metres of wall space and 379 photovoltaic parasols featuring almost 16,000 solar power cells. The shopping centre itself boasts 90 escalators, along with 11 internal lifts and four panoramic elevators offering views over Calle de Raimundo Fernández de Villaverde. These are just some of the figures reflecting the significance of a building equipped with the latest developments and technologies in order to achieve greater energy efficiency and respect for the environment.
In this regard, use has been made of the capacity of the glass cylinder comprising the office block, along with its orientation, and the façade has been fitted with a curved module of photovoltaic panels and a modular solar control system, guaranteeing clean electrical energy is generated for both the offices and the shopping centre itself. This photovoltaic installation generates enough power to light up 19,200 LED light bulbs for 10 hours, avoiding emissions equivalent to 180 tonnes of carbon dioxide.
Energy-saving systems have also been fitted, with programmes which can automatically switch lights on and off to optimise consumption depending on the time of day, and twilight sensors. Communal areas are fitted with movement sensors which automatically switch lights on. The air conditioning system uses devices equipped with the free-cooling system, offering improved energy savings. All this goes hand-in-hand with the use of energy-saving, high-performance light fittings throughout the building, along with water efficiency systems.
The building has a total of 27 floors, including five basement car park levels and four floors divided into two blocks which are given over to machine rooms, air processing units, machinery for the lifts, ventilators, heating and refrigeration units. These facilities occupy floors seven and eight – above the retail centre – and floors 20 and 21 – above the office block – along with the backlit cylinder which sits atop the building.
The overall design conveys an attractive image dominated by translucency and movement. This is achieved through the use of glass elements and metal panels which employ perforated, textured sheeting to project different images depending on the perspective from which one views the building.
