INTRODUCTION
The county of Valles Occidental has reached in the last years a population close to 862,369 inhabitants, thus representing both an 11% share of the Catalan GDP and almost a 3% of the Spanish GDP. It is also both the third region with more number of allocated spaces and the first one in total land dedicated to carry out Economical Activities in Catalonia.
There are - amongst others – a variety of facts that strengthen the county’s economy such as its excellent location within Catalonia, Spain and the so-called Mediterranean Arc, its increasing young work force population with a good education level, its important network of small and medium enterprises (SME’s) entrenched to the territory or its entrepreneurial tradition and enterprising dynamism that historically have made and currently make the region a powerful economical hub.
Moreover, there is a high level of industrial and economical diversification and specialisation, a significant exports vocation, and finally a first-class network of Universities that guarantees innovation and adds value to an economy based in better knowledge and sophisticated technology.
Valles Occidental has 135 Economical Estates. That translates into a 21% share of the total Economical Estates in Barcelona’s Metropolitan Area and into an 8% share of total registered Economical Estates in Catalonia. These spaces do not merely have an Industry and Business use of land, but otherwise, allow other Economical Activities linked to the tertiary sector or even mixed uses including Logistics, Retail or Services.
The total land dedicated to these types of activities is of 5,230.70 hectares, which corresponds to an almost 9% of the region’s overall land, a 26.4% of the building land available for development and a 40% of the current urban land at Valles Occidental. Moreover, nineteen of the twenty-three towns in the region possess Economical Estates as the ones described in this introduction.
This Business & Industry Estates Brochure comes about as a result of a thorough compilation of information regarding each Economical Estate in the county. Features like urban execution and consolidation, productivity, accessibility, mobility, basic and advanced services, telecommunications or management models have been analysed.
All this thanks to different information sources and the technical know-how provided by the local administrations.
Hence, we would like to introduce you to this Business, Industry and Economical Estates’ Brochure seeking not only to provide you with the relevant information to identify the economical areas of our region, but also to serve as a platform, promotion and a quick and efficient tool to search these spaces that generate industry and occupation.
Vallès Occidental, January 2011
