The Torre Agbar is a 38-story skyscraper / tower located between Avinguda Diagonal and Carrer Badajoz, near Plaça de les Glòries Catalanes, which marks the gateway to the new technological district of Barcelona. It was designed by French architect Jean Nouvel in association with the Spanish firm b720 Fermin Vazquez Arquitectos and built by Dragados. The Torre Agbar is located in the Poblenou neighbourhood of Barcelona and is named after its owners, the Agbar Group, a holding company whose interests include the Barcelona water company Aguas de Barcelona.
The tower measures a total of 50,693 square metres, of which 30,000 are offices, 3,210 technical facilities, 8,132 services, including an auditorium, and 9,132 square metres for parking. 30 St Mary Axe, also known as “The Gherkin”, and occasionally as The Swiss Re Tower, is an architecturally similar building in London which opened a year and a half earlier, in April 2004.
It opened in June 2005 and was officially opened by King Juan Carlos I on 16 September 2005 and at a cost of 130 million euro. It is one in a collection of High-tech architecture examples in Barcelona. The popularity of the tower to tourists is such that a visit to the tower has become a part of tourist bus routes (and even the helicopter tour) and many tourists take an opportunity to visit the inside.
The building is owned by the multinational group Agbar which has its corporate headquarters in the building and that takes up most of the floors, renting the remainder. The Agbar Tower was acquired in March 2010 for 165 million euro, after reaching an agreement with its former owner, the investment group Azurelau. Azurelau previously had bought the property in mid-2007. The purchase price was not disclosed.
