- Bending Spoons, an Italian leader in IT, among the top ten companies in the world for app downloads and award-winning employer, will move in Corso Como Place by the end of 2021
- The building, constructed from wood and steel, is a symbol of innovation and sustainability allowing for a 20% reduction in CO2 emissions and being WELL and LEED Gold certified
- The redevelopment of the surrounding areas and the creation of a new square will create a link that will connect the pedestrian walkways linking Porta Volta with the Microsoft headquarters, and Fondazione Feltrinelli with the Porta Nuova area
Milan, 25 September 2019 - COIMA SGR S.p.A., Italy’s leading Real Estate investment, development and management company, and Bending Spoons, the Italian hi-tech company, award-winning employer and top developer of applications in Europe for the iOS platform with over 200 million downloads and 300,000 new users per day, signed the preliminary agreement for the lease of Corso Como Place in Porta Nuova, which will become the headquarters of the IT company. The lease will have a term of nine years and will cover the entire office space component of the building (approximately 3,400 sqm. across three floors).
The delivery of the space is expected in the second half of 2020, when customization works will be started for the actual transfer of personnel by the end of 2021. Following the recent agreement with Accenture, which will occupy the Corso Como Place Tower, all available office spaces in the Corso Como Place complex have been leased twelve months before works’ completion.
The building that will host Bending Spoons, featuring four floors, a rooftop terrace and a height of 21 meters, will feature a light steel structure and X-Lam laminated wood floors, as well as internal shields featuring wooden slats that can be automatically adjusted according to external lighting conditions allowing for significant energy optimization. This solution makes it possible to modify and reconfigure the building without the need for demolition, by simply "removing" or "inserting" portions of the wooden slabs. It offers the possibility of a reconfiguration of uses, in accordance with the strategic principle of circular economic. Wooden architecture is one of the most sustainable building solutions, which allows for the minimization of CO2 emissions deriving from the production and use of cement, also functioning as an emissions storage system.
Corso Como Place will allow for a 20% reduction in CO2 emissions with respect to the building of reference of the ASHRAE legal framework based upon LEED modelling, and was achieved by using Cradle-to-Cradle certified materials, an approach following on principles of circular economy in real estate development. Both the tower and the new building in front of it will be LEED Gold certified thanks to solutions aimed at reducing the building's energy needs and use of renewable sources, such as geothermal energy and solar energy, guaranteeing 65% coverage through renewable sources for heating, cooling and hot water requirements.
In addition, Corso Como Place will be the first office building in Milan to receive the WELL Gold level certification. This certification places the wellness of occupants at the centre of the project thanks to the adoption of architectural, technological and management solutions certified by an independent entity and the constant monitoring of a range of parameters using an infrastructure of sensors.
Thanks to a native Internet of Things (IoT) technological infrastructure, made up of a network of over 800 sensors, Corso Como Place will be one of the first buildings to monitor internal environmental parameters, automatically calibrating itself to guarantee optimal conditions of comfort for users. It will also be able to offer tenants advanced services through simple smartphone applications with different functions that can be developed on an open digital architecture such as, for example, the localisation of colleagues’ desks, the booking of parking spaces, meeting rooms or free work stations.
The growing interest of high tech companies in the Porta Nuova area demonstrates ongoing expansion that starts from Microsoft's headquarters in Porta Volta, passes through Bending Spoons in Corso Como Place, continues to IBM's new headquarters in Piazza Gae Aulenti, characterizing the entire area as a technological and digital hub in Milan. "We are very happy to build our future in Milan, and in this space. We strive to make Bending Spoons an excellent place to work and we imagine the new offices as a fundamental step in this direction," remarks Luca Querella, co-founder of Bending Spoons.
“With the elimination of the fencing that isolated the complex from the rest of the district and the construction of new pedestrian spaces, Corso Como Place represents the regeneration of a key block for the reconnection of the areas situated between Microsoft and Piazza Gae Aulenti. From here, as well as through the public spaces of BAM, and the upcoming developments of Porta Nuova, it will be possible to create a single cycle and pedestrian area capable of extending up to the Central Station and the Farini Railway Yard," commented Manfredi Catella, Founder and CEO of COIMA SGR.
The close relationship between the site and its urban surroundings, which will express itself in the form of a new square open to all residents, is also reflected in the continuity of open spaces across the district as the materials reflect those used in Corso Como, via Vincenzo Capelli, piazza Gae Aulenti and in the connective spaces of Porta Nuova. The use of trees and shrubs balances the strong mineral connotation of the area, limiting the heat island effect. Most of the trees were placed at the edge of the square with the aim of defining its perimeter: the components of the project are a green stretch of trees along Via Tocqueville and Via Bonnet, a square that expands the space dedicated to retail and an area equipped for meetings and outdoor work activities. The redevelopment of this area is part of the broader development of Porta Nuova, which will add another 100,000 square meters of public spaces to the already existing 500,000 created by COIMA in the last decade.
In terms of sustainability, the project sees the application of COIMA Roots metrics, COIMA’s holistic approach to real estate development which aims to generate, measure, monitor and provide sustainable, economic and social long-term performance through precise key indicators based upon ESG parameters.
With the new headquarters of Bending Spoons, COIMA confirms its position as the Italian leader in the construction of headquarters for leading national and international brands, having developed more than 20 headquarters totaling 200,000 sqm over the last ten years. Porta Nuova further boosts its credentials as a national innovation hub with more than 30 brands present with over 35,000 professionals: the sectors represented include 38% financial services (UniCredit, BNP Paribas, AXA, HSBC, China Construction Bank, Unipol SAI, Bank of New York Mellon, etc.) , 21% technology and telecommunications (IBM, Microsoft, Samsung, Amazon, Google, LinkedIn, Fintech, etc.), as well as professional services (Accenture, KPMG), pharmaceutical services (Santen, Amgen, Angelini), fashion (Versace, Moschino, Nike), engineering & energy (Maire Tecnimont) and research (Fondazione Feltrinelli). The number of workers in the Porta Nuova area is expected to rise by over 30% by 2022, with further growth expected following the arrival of new management offices.
The Corso Como Place redevelopment is being realized through the Porta Nuova Bonnet real estate fund, whose investors are the COIMA Opportunity Fund II development fund, which constitutes the largest urban regeneration investment fund dedicated to Italy, and the listed real estate company COIMA RES. Curated by the London-based studio PLP Architecture, the project was developed by COIMA SRL.
In the transaction, COIMA was adviced by the law firm Shearman & Sterling.
