MADRID'S huge IFEMA exhibition centre is set to be expanded into the next town with three new pavilions at a cost of €180 million.
The globally-famous trade fair hall, which houses the international tourism industry event FITUR at the beginning of each year and is currently hosting the official Pink Floyd exhibition until October 27, will start its planned spread next month, hopping over to the other side of the M-11 ringroad into the up-and-coming Valdebebas neighbourhood and stopping just short of Real Madrid's Ciudad Deportiva ('City of Sports') stadium.
Three pavilions – including a conference centre and a multi-purpose community hall – will total nearly 20 acres in size on a 125-acre plot, will include parking spaces for 2,300 cars and 500 industrial and commercial vehicles, and will be built in two phases.
The first of these is expected to be complete by June 2021, costing €125m, and the second, which will involve building the third new pavilion, is scheduled to be finished by September 2023 and cost €55m.
This third pavilion will be the largest, at around five acres in size with parking for 400 vehicles.
All the funds needed for the massive extension will come out of the IFEMA's profits from hosting trade fairs and exhibitions.
Whilst a sizeable outlay, the €180m due to be spent over the next four years is a promising investment, since the three new pavilions will allow for extra events to be held that will bring in an additional €1.2 billion a year, on top of the current €4.4bn it currently earns annually.
The IFEMA is jointly owned by Madrid city council, the Greater Madrid regional government and Madrid Chamber of Commerce – each holding 31% of the shares – and the Montemadrid Foundation, which inherited what remained of the now-defunct Caja Madrid bank's social and humanitarian wing, and which holds 7% of the shares.
Photograph: The inside of the IFEMA exhibition centre during the UNIGOLF trade fair (Ifema.es)
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