Gran Scala is a €17 billion entertainment city, designed with high sustainability  requirements, to be built on 2,025 hectares in the Aragón desert and which will include 32 casinos, 70 hotels, international convention center, 200 restaurants/fast food outlets, 5 major theme parks [SpacePortGranScala, Spyland, Aquantica plus two, 15 medium theme parks and museums, 26 shows, concert halls, opera, theatres, circus shows, themed retail center, golf course, equestrian center, sport and wellness centers.

The Gran Scala concept is based on a time-wheel with 16 time zones, with each  radiant representing a period in the evolution of civilization. 

A British-based consortium, International Leisure Development (www.ild-plc.com), whose major shareholders include Aristocrat Technologies, UFA Insurance, Ultragroup, Inc. Atlanta, USA, Europtima, and Tranchant Group, chose the location because of a possible 25 million catchment market (excluding foreign tourists) and its proximity to Zaragoza Airport, an important hub in the low cost air network. Zaragoza was also one of NASA’s Shuttle Tactical Abort Landing Sites (STAL). 

Sited in the Los Monegros region, (+/-50km east of Zaragoza), Gran Scala aims at taking a strong role in the region’s economic and social development. It will integrate traditional agriculture, (in decline up to now), in its landscape concept by using biologically treated waste water for irrigation, thus helping climate control while regulating the use of water through the seasons without jeopardizing water availability in the Ebro valley. 

Renewable energies (already over 20% of Aragón’s energy production today), both solar and wind generated, will be developed on a large scale and combined with geothermal techniques and fuel cells allowing for windmill produced hydrogen storage,. These techniques will be integrated in both infrastructure and architecture, with, for example, a high rise building having a double skin fabric façade thereby increasing thermals for windmill activation and its base will cover a naturally climate controlled Rambla, (with P.V. cells providing shade and electricity). This “skirt “could also define different climate zones and botanical gardens. Solar cooling technologies, ideally efficient in Aragon’s climate, will reduce dramatically, Gran Scala’s energy consumption. 

Landscape concepts, combining traditional agriculture and indigenous vegetation, have been chosen for their capacity to retain water, which will address certification requirements and studies will be undertaken by natural environment specialists who will define the correct habitat for rare flora and fauna. Natural areas will be part of carefully planned reserves for endangered species reintroduction, an attraction in its own right. 

The HST [high speed train] link [Madrid- Barcelona via Zaragoza is to be opened shortly] and two nearby airports [Zaragoza and Huesca] connect the Gran Scala resort to Europe’s main population and directly serve Madrid, Barcelona, Bilbao, Valencia, Toulouse and Zaragoza within a radius of just over an hour travel. The Gran Scala destination should be regularly visited by the local population living within 300km. Gran Scala expects 25 million visitors per year, but is being developed on the basis of 35 million visitors per year. 

Gran Scala will result in the creation of an estimated 60.000 jobs, which supplements the Autonomous Community of Aragon’s development plan following the Expo 2008, which was held in Zaragoza. Gran Scala has been declared to be of both regional and national importance.

About SpacePortGranScala - A Futuristic Space City

SpacePortGranScala is a 95 hectare space-themed entertainment, hospitality and leisure resort with:- 

	a 60 hectare theme park, multi-day Mars Experience and a Space Camp
	two hotels and an international convention center
	tourist condos, and wellness center
	restaurants and retail

SpacePortGranScala will include two space-themed [Year2100 and Year3000] casinos each on a 9 hectare site, and each with a hotel and mini cultural museum.

The underlying core offer of SpacePortGranScala will be “Explore”, “Experience”, Innovate” and “Live”, themes that will be carried throughout SpacePortGranScala’s theme park, hotels, retail, and lifestyle real estate.

Using space as a theme together with our human desire to explore, and with technology as the enabler, SpacePortLeisure will provide intelligent, stimulating, and fun-filled lifestyle, entertainment and learning experiences that will give freedom to transcend language and culture, thus creating dynamic new ways of learning and of building new communities across the globe. Our creativity will be as expansive as the Universe. Only a privileged few will be able to experience a real flight into space. In conceiving the SpacePortLeisure concept, the goal is to give visitors and residents alike, an experience of “Stepping into Space” at our SpacePortGranScala.

Only a privileged few will be able to experience a real flight into space. In conceiving the SpacePortLeisure concept, the goal is to give visitors and residents alike, an experience of “Stepping into Space” at our SpacePortGranScala.         
Visitors to SpacePortGranScala will be whipped away from Planet Earth for the day on an awe inspiring adventure normally only experienced by a select few space tourists. From the moment they arrive, they will start the illusion that they are departing for a journey into space and throughout this journey will be entertained by attractions for all to enjoy from educational interactive displays and simulations to the wildest roller coasters for the true thrill seeker.

SpacePortGranScala, as a concept, is in touch with the times and will always be contemporary. It is linked to space and mankind’s continuous exploration of his Universe. The concept has longevity since it is futuristic and sustainable through software technology. Since man first gazed up at the stars, he has been inspired to discover, to travel, to experiment, to invent and understand. SpacePortGranScala will involve its visitors in the vision of the future through knowledge and innovation, providing a unique blend of education and entertainment.

The mission of SpaceportGranScala is optimistic, future oriented and involving in a unique way. Everyone really IS an explorer, and explorers really will make incredible discoveries about the cosmos in the next century. This place will be the rightful home of those explorers. Our “A to A Prime” narrative story paradigm involves transforming the guest from a mere observer/tourist into a participant in the story. Just about everyone wants to be an explorer – this place is the home for these daring, courageous adventurers.

SpacePortLeisure is set to break ground late 2012 at SpacePortGranScala, with a development cost of some €1.7 billion for Phases 1 and 2. BRC Imagination Arts, of Burbank, California, who has done major projects for NASA’s Kennedy Space Center, Disney and Universal, to name but a few, will generate the SpacePortGranScala Master Plan and will project manage the development from an entertainment standpoint. Lend Lease will be the Technical/Construction Managers for SpacePortGranScala.