Madrid’s city council has provisionally approved a plan to change the long-abandoned Borondo factory site in Puente de Vallecas into a new residential and public space. The Tubos Borondo project covers more than 137,000 square meters and proposes 1,400 homes, with 35%, about 490 dwellings, designated as protected housing. The plan also includes parks and public facilities, space for economic activity, and new pedestrian and cycling routes.
The area, bordered by Calle de la Arboleda, the Vicálvaro-Vallecas road, Avenida de la Albufera, and the Vallecas Polytechnic Campus, has stood largely unused since the Borondo concrete factory was demolished in 2021. City officials describe the former industrial site as a barrier between nearby neighborhoods and institutions, including the Campus Sur of the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid, Hospital Universitario Infanta Leonor, and the Palomeras municipal sports complex. The urban plan aims to reconnect these places and improve accessibility across Puente de Vallecas.
Housing and Urban Design
The Tubos Borondo development is planned with varied building heights and layouts, integrating residential blocks with green corridors and public amenities. Of the 1,400 proposed homes, approximately 490 would be protected housing. That is 15 percentage points above the 20% minimum cited for Madrid; applied to a 1,400-home scheme, that minimum would amount to about 280 dwellings. The project also sets aside space for economic activity, combining homes and workplaces with recreational uses.
Green spaces are central to the masterplan, which envisions parks and landscaped areas across the new neighborhood. Public and private facilities are intended to serve both new and existing residents, while dedicated walking and cycling routes prioritize sustainable mobility.
Strategic Renewal for Southern Madrid
The initiative is presented as one of the first major actions under Madrid’s “Estrategia del Sur,” a municipal structure for urban, economic, and environmental renewal across the city’s southern districts, including Latina, Carabanchel, Usera, Villaverde, Puente de Vallecas, Villa de Vallecas, Moratalaz, Vicálvaro, and San Blas-Canillejas. The municipal action is provisional approval of the plan, not final authorization to begin construction; the project is awaiting final approval from the regional government of the Comunidad de Madrid.
The project is also part of the broader DEMO 360 Vallecas area, a sustainable urban new idea zone framed by the A-3, M-40, railway lines, and Avenida de la Albufera. Planned improvements include safer connections between the university campus, Pueblo de Vallecas, Vallecas Cercanías station, and Metro Sierra de Guadalupe, as well as better public transport links. More than ten EMT Madrid bus lines serve the area.
Focus on Sustainability and Health
Environmental considerations are central to the redevelopment. The plan incorporates bioclimatic design principles, low-emission buildings, and passive architecture. The area around Hospital Universitario Infanta Leonor is slated for new green spaces, including a public park, a link to the city’s Metropolitan Forest, and a therapeutic garden. Other disused industrial sites nearby, such as Santa Luisa and the Vallecas substation, are also slated for change, potentially adding more than 360,000 square meters of new urban uses.
Madrid’s approach to urban renewal reflects broader European trends in sustainable infrastructure. One example is Switzerland’s extensive underground transport network, which is reshaping mobility and land use across the continent. For more on how large-scale infrastructure can change cities, see this analysis of Switzerland’s subterranean freight tunnels.
The Tubos Borondo project aims to address housing needs and reconnect fragmented neighborhoods while advancing sustainable urban development in the south of the Spanish capital. Its 1,400 homes remain part of a proposed development at the planning stage, not completed or authorized construction.
