Last update: 11/05/2021

 Madrid, 26 July 2019 - PRESS RELEASE
Banco Santander executive chairman, Ana Botín, this morning presented the project for transforming the bank's two most iconic buildings in the capital city of Cantabria: the building on Paseo de Pereda, which is the bank headquarters, and the building on Calle Hernán Cortés, to provide the city with modern spaces for culture, technology and entrepreneurship. Gema Igual, mayor of Santander, and Miguel Ángel Revilla, president of the region, also spoke during the event, along with David Chipperfield, Antonio Cruz and Antonio Ortiz, the architects responsible for remodelling the buildings.

The financial institution submitted its application for the related building permits to the City Council this week.

During the presentation, Ana Botín stated: “Our challenge is to ensure that Santander, a bank of the twentieth century, continues to lead the banking sector of the future. And our headquarters has to be an example of this: of our capacity to innovate, of our modern approach, our focus on people, as well as a way of representing our history and roots, both locally and globally. And I also want it to reflect our city: open-minded and modern, transparent and warm, which knows how to evolve from its tradition and adapt to changes”.

To carry out the remodeling of Edificio Pereda (the building on Paseo de Pereda), we are working with architect David Chipperfield, known for the extension of the Royal Academy of London and his work in the Neues Museum and the James-Simon-Galerie on the Berlin Museum Island, as well as in the Neue Nationalgalerie in the same city. The transformation work on the building on Calle Hernán Cortés will be done by Antonio Cruz and Antonio Ortiz. Their architecture firm was responsible for the restoration of the Rijksmuseum in the Netherlands, the railway stations in Basel and Seville and the design of the Wanda Metropolitan Stadium in Madrid.

The estimated time frame for completion of this project, which will turn these buildings into a cultural, intellectual and institutional reference point for the city of Santander and for Cantabria and will help to foster their economic and cultural progress, will be 20 months for the building on Calle Hernán Cortés and 36 for the one on Paseo de Pereda. The works are expected to start within the next year, after having obtained the corresponding municipal permits. The total investment will be EUR 60 million. It is expected that, on average, 150 workers will participate in the execution of the works, in addition to collaborating with companies from Cantabria. Likewise, 50 jobs will be created directly in relation to the operation of both buildings.