Stories
New Shiseido Office: Japanese Inspiration and Innovation
01 The Opportunity
Cellnex Telecom, a company listed on the IBEX-35, is the leading European operator of wireless communications infrastructures in Europe, present in 15 countries, born in April 2015 as a subsidiary of Abertis.
In 2018, already separated from Abertis and with the clear objective of breaking away from them, Cellnex decided to contact Cushman & Wakefield to search for and create its new corporate headquarters. Since its foundation, its offices were located in the same building as Abertis, in Parc Logístic Zona Franca, right where Barcelona ends and there is nothing but roads, industrial warehouses, highways, roundabouts, train tracks... a somewhat desolate and dehumanized environment. The desire to physically disassociate from Abertis, change the environment, define its own culture, define models and strategies to attract and retain talent, and seek greater well-being for its employees is what drives Cellnex to make this move and create its new corporate headquarters.
Cellnex's relationship with Cushman & Wakefield begins precisely thanks to the good historical relationship that Cushman & Wakefield had with its parent company Abertis.
02 The Solution
To find the solution to Cellnex's Real Estate needs, we defined a multidisciplinary team, created by Agencia Oficinas and PDS, Project & Development Services (with their areas of Workplace Strategy and Change Management, Design, and Project Management).
The operation starts with Agencia Oficinas tasked with finding a new building, and quickly, Project & Development Services (PDS) comes into play to work hand in hand; it was necessary to determine what area they needed to go to the market and look for buildings. The Agency gets to work and, after a few months, the selected building is one that is still under construction: Torre Llevant de Iberdrola, in Zona Franca, where Cellnex will eventually occupy 8 of its 21 floors. Cellnex signs a pre-lease contract with Iberdrola, where PDS, an expert in these types of operations, advises on how to manage a tenant's project within a building project still under construction, with the aim of generating savings in costs and time.
In this case, Cellnex's Project modified Iberdrola's original Project in all the installation items above the false ceiling, in the design of the general building facilities, and in the finishing of the false ceiling, so that Cellnex's interior adaptation works were limited to the installation of partitions and finishes, reducing the execution time of a standard fit-out by a couple of months approximately, as well as the economic savings it represented for Cellnex. In terms of time, all this posed a significant challenge for our team, where architects, engineers, and project managers had to work hand in hand with the property's technicians as well as with the client to ensure that everything was perfectly defined. In parallel with this pre-lease process, we carried out the Workplace Strategy study to define their new occupancy model and the incorporation of new ways of working, all aligned with their new culture.
03 The Results
The result is a modern, innovative, collaborative, flexible, and welcoming workspace. A place where contact with nature becomes a daily and yet unique experience, where the most surprising events can take place, and where clients and suppliers can be proudly received. But above all, it is a space where the Shiseido family can grow with the certainty of enjoying a comfortable, healthy, sustainable, and happy environment for a long time.
It has been a true pleasure for everyone to collaborate with Shiseido on this exciting project.