2023-06-06 06:41:01
The definition of luxury has several meanings in the RAE (Royal Spanish Academy) and almost all of them are related to quality, abundance, excellence, the exclusive… But more and more for some people, luxury is being able to enjoy silence , of the peace and well-being that the contemplation of nature in its purest and most authentic state provides. In a world where immediacy and urgency are the main protagonists, finding a simple but exclusive environment, simple in its essence, but with all the comforts of a luxury hotel is a more sought-after getaway. And this is what he is about new project Vivood Cerro Alarcón. A location 40 minutes from Madrid, in the heart of the Madrid mountains in a natural environment between the municipalities of Navalagamella and Valdemorillo.
The project is led by Vivood, a hotel company that already has a similar asset located in Benimantell (Alicante). It is a landscape hotel embedded in the wildest nature of the area. The complex is surrounded by medlars, ancient olive trees, almond trees… An environment of tranquility that becomes a true refuge for its guests. Daniel Mayo, CEO and founder of the company, has demonstrated during these eight years that this model works and now seeks to expand it throughout the Iberian Peninsula. And the effort was awarded as the best nature hotel in Europe.
“We were very clear about our essence: betting on a different luxury, based on disconnection, silence, relaxation… I always defended that the concept of luxury had to be reinterpreted, because in reality luxury is what you suffer from in your day to day. Currently, you don’t need a gold faucet, but turn off your mobile, disconnect, be quiet, enjoy a moment of peace with your partner… And that is what we have been doing for eight years in Alicante. A project with a very important sustainable base, highly respecting the tradition of the environment, promoting local commerce… “, he explains in idealista / news.
Opportunities in Malaga, Lisbon, Mallorca and Madrid
After the pandemic and with a proven business model after being named the best nature hotel in Europe, this entrepreneur understood that it was time to extrapolate his idea to other locations. “A year and a half ago we decided to look for new land. We identified the eight main Spanish airports and we draw a radius of 100 km around them. We have detected opportunities in Malaga, Lisbon, Mallorca and Madrid”asserts.
Precisely, this last square is the one that has aroused the greatest media interest for being in the capital of our country. The new Vivood project will be developed on an urban plot in the Cerro Alarcón Urbanization, just 50 kilometers from the center of Madrid in an unprotected natural area located between the municipalities of Navalagamella and Valdemorillo. “The project is in process, we are not going to build tomorrow. It is a complex project that requires municipal and supra-municipal licenses,” warns Mayo.
The plot where the project will be developed is an old abandoned yacht and social club in a dilapidated state of conservation, which long ago belonged to the area’s villa development. At present, the complex is a dilapidated concrete jumble, old buildings in ruins and in a terrible state of preservation. In its time, this social club had 6 tennis courts, a horse riding area, several swimming pools and a yacht club. Today everything is destroyed and accumulates a high level of dirt and discomfort due to the advanced state of abandonment.
“We look for little-obvious rural areas. We reward quality more than quantity and that is why we manage hotels with fewer than 100 rooms. For this project we want to build 60 units with an industrialized system to reduce the carbon footprint”, explains the founder of Vivood. “50% of the rooms will be built using a 2D model (panels that are finished being assembled on site) and the other 50% with a 3D system (modules that are built directly from the factory)”, he affirms. “In our first project in Alicante, the first 25 rooms came with this 3D system in which the beds and curtains were already assembled. ..”, he adds. “This type of construction allows a large part of the facilities to be dismantled if at any time the hotel ceases its activity,” he clarifies in this regard.
The plot where the tourist center will be installed already has an urban license for hotel use and has water connections as there was a building prior to this project. Even so, Mayo seeks to optimize the resources of the area. “We have a system that allows us to recycle almost 50% of the water used. We would reuse that water for irrigation, the cisterns…”, explains Mayo, in addition to defending that it will provide the complex with its own resources to guarantee the least environmental impact in the area.
The complex not only seeks the tranquility and peace of the clients, but also respect for the environment and its nature. “We intend to consume 30% of the building area and reject almost 70%,” says Mayo. “We don’t want a hotel that generates a grass garden, we want it to integrate into the native nature of the area. That’s why we don’t want to cut down trees, but rather the opposite, we want to plant more sustainable and native forest mass to give that feeling of being wrapped in the wildest nature”, he narrates. Currently the wooded area of this plot poses a high risk of fire in a highly protected area due to the widespread abandonment of existing trees on the plot.
Based on this philosophy, the CEO of Vivood explains the plans that the company has for the different areas of the plot. “We don’t want to touch a single tree on the first line of the plot, the one closest to the swamp. The hotel is designed to touch as little vegetation as possible. When we finish building we will reforest because we are interested in large trees. The best endorsement of this practice is that we have already done it in our hotel in Alicante when we planted a large loquat plantation, we conserved ancient olive trees, we planted a large number of almond trees…”, he relates.
Boost for local commerce
May also highlights the positive impact it would have for the area. “We bet on local commerce and we look for them to be our suppliers of cheeses, honey, sausages, wines… In Alicante, for example, we have all these products within a radius of 150 km. We are also committed to local and quality hiring”, affirms the entrepreneur. Other positive aspects are the services that the new complex will offer to the residents of the area. “There will be open services for clients outside the hotel: a gym, a wellness center, two restaurants or a panoramic terrace,” he lists.
Taking advantage of one of his maxims, tranquility, Mayo reassures those neighbors who might think that this hotel was going to alter the imperturbability of the area. “We look for hotels that are not overcrowded in areas with a low population density (in this case there are about 3,000 inhabitants) because precisely we don’t want the environment to interrupt the peace of our clients”, he explains. Clients looking for this type of tourist space seek tranquility, calm and serenity and are the first to be interested in staying in spaces where silence and peace are guaranteed.
Discrepancies with a group of ecologists
The project is currently in a phase of processing licenses and within this period a neighborhood and ecological movement against this project has emerged. This is the ‘Verdemorillo’ association, which denounces that this complex will settle in a protected area.
“Any action, even if the shore is not protected, will have a significant impact on the rest of the reservoir, which does have environmental protection,” he says. Jose Angel de la Banda, president of the environmental organization in a statement collected by Público. “We believe that it is bordering on illegality,” he adds. In this sense, the association defends its position based on decree 26/2017 issued by the Ministry of the Environment of the Community of Madrid.
Likewise, a self-proclaimed “group of owners concerned about the Vivood project” are mailing brochures in the chalets near the plot where the project will be carried out with serious accusations, which are listed, but not justified. As they are anonymous letters, the dimension of the this group “It could be a neighbor or a few who have nothing to do and dedicate themselves to creating hoaxes about the project,” says a resident of the area consulted by idealista/news.
In these letters, arguments are used such as that the project is suspicious because the bungalows “are only for adults” and they even accuse the company of money laundering and of developing the project in a special protection area, something that Mayo categorically denies. “This project is outside the ZEPA zone (special protection zone for birds) and ZEC (special conservation zone). We adjoin these zones, like any villa in this urbanization, but the plot is not within them. In fact, The plot is urban land and already has a previous construction (the social club in ruins). We will have the greatest sensitivity due to the area in which it settleswe will make all the consultations that are necessary and we will process everything as indicated by the corresponding estates ”, he explains.
“We are not the owners of the land, we are hotel managers who seek to regenerate the area, but if it can’t be done, I’m not going to go against anyone”, he clarifies. “We do not manage any execution period. It will come out when it has to go out, ”she ends. After knowing the facilities in situ, it is clear that any project that is undertaken on this plot, if it has the corresponding permits, will be better than the current state of the facilities.
“The social club has been closed, abandoned for years and is increasingly dangerous for everyone because nobody has taken care of the trees for years or cleaned the plot. Any night someone lights a bonfire it could cause a catastrophe. The decision now is not whether we like this or that idea. The opportunity is bet on a project that will recover a degraded and dangerous area or resign ourselves to ruin and the danger to human lives posed by the current state of the Club. Opposing residents must substantiate their accusations with real evidence and documents. I would at least ask them not to be so cowardly, to step forward and with their first and last names show how many they are and what arguments they have. Mailing lies from anonymity, without proving a single one of the arguments they use to oppose the project, only demonstrates the meanness of whoever is promoting it,” says a resident of the area.
idealista/news has tried to contact the Navalagamella City Council on up to four occasions to find out the position of the council, but as of the date of publication of this article, no response has been received.
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