IE Business School is set to invest around â?¬14 million in the former convent of Santa Cruz la Real in Segovia to convert the building and the adjoining land into an international business university equipped with state-of-the-art technology. The project aims to make IE University a European benchmark for quality.

 

The venue chosen for IEâ??s university project is the former convent of Santa Cruz la Real, a building which was declared a national monument in 1931 and is one of the architectural gems of the city of Segovia. The restoration project for the building, which is located by the city wall and is very close to the aqueduct, was presented at a press conference in July by Miguel Sagüés, IE Universityâ??s managing director, and the architects Fernando Serrano-Suñer and Ismael Rodriguez.

 

The whole restoration project involves five phases which will take in the buildingâ??s 18,000 m² surface area, in addition to a plot of land covering 30,000 m² adjacent to the former convent. Restoration work began a year ago on the communal areas of the ground floor such as the cloister, the chapterhouse, the refectory hall and the dormitories. This summer, work will focus on the universityâ??s lecture halls and include fitting automated lighting and sound systems in order to save energy while respecting the structure of the building. According to the architect, Fernando Serrano-Suñer, work on each of these two phases will cover a surface area of around 4,000 m².

 

After these first two stages, a third phase of restoration work will begin in 2009 and include a complete renovation project which will be presented to the Segovia City Council and the Heritage Commission during the next few days so that they can assess its feasibility. This phase will include work on the interior design and furnishings and will supplement the work carried out during the first two phases. It will also involve work on the outside of the building and the facades and a glass roof for the complexâ??s two characteristic courtyards. During the press conference, Fernando Serrano-Suñer insisted that the restoration work would â??respect the buildingâ??s heritageâ? at all times and stressed that in the case of the facades, which are at present in a very poor state of repair, the aim was to â??restore them to their former splendourâ?.