Facts & figures
The British Embassy
The new Embassy will house 110 staff (including Consulate General)
Total number of staff in Spain: 220. There are 9 Consulates outside Madrid and 12 Honorary Consuls
9,000 British companies have been helped by the Embassy to extend their trade into the Iberian Peninsula – UK Trade and Investment provides market advice, introductions, specialist publicity and trade fair involvement.
British Embassy staff met over 2,000 Spanish and British influencers and opinion formers in fields as diverse as defence procurement, teaching, policing, science, innovation, and education in 2008.
4,000 British nationals living on the Costas have received face to face information through roadshows on pensions, UK benefits and healthcare cover over the last 12 months.
Between April 2008 and May 2009 the British Consular network in Spain:
- Received 186,609 telephone enquiries, 14,582 written enquires and 5,465 visitors
- Issued 21,634 British passports and 9,724 visas
- Consular staff provided assistance in 770 hospitalisations, 2,267 detentions, 1,726 deaths, 52 rape & sexual assaults and 26 child abduction cases
- On average the service provided by Consular staff has been rated with 91% customer satisfaction
- Over the last three years, the British Consulate general has reduced the turnaround time for passport applications by 50%, down from 10 days to 5 days. Online passport applications and payments will soon be available.
Torre Espacio
Torre Espacio is one of the four newly built skyscrapers that form the Cuatro Torres Business Centre Area in Madrid. It was designed by Pei, Cobb Freed & Partners, New York, and built by Sacyr-Vallermoso; completed in 2007. Height - 236 metres tall (774 feet), with 57 floors
Innovative features include:
- An energy efficient active façade with an air heating cooling system combined with a ceiling cooling system.
- Automated blinds system that can control the light levels.
- The Embassy offices have been fitted by MACE using ecological and sustainable materials.
