Bullfighting aficionados say that no one is a true matador until they triumph in Madrid. Well, it is now fair to say that Borbalán and Grup Serra have graduated cum laude after hosting the first Madrid Living Edition.

An impressive setting, the agora of CaixaBank’s All in One; a line-up of top-tier speakers and a hand-picked audience were the perfect ingredients for the event’s success.

The MLE was a unique opportunity to showcase a sector set to lead high-end real estate activity in the years ahead. The chosen format, short and intense bursts of talks, panels and debates for a small audience selected for its role as key players in the sector, proved to be a more than successful formula.

After the customary welcome from José Góngora, regional director of corporate banking at CaixaBank, the day opened with a talk in which Carolina González, managing director of The District Congress, analysed the state of the real estate market and its key drivers. Data and statistics to frame the reality that would be discussed for the rest of the day, explained clearly and without beating around the bush.

Next came a conversation on the art of living, a concept that served as a common thread for many of the speakers. Bernat Vidal, CEO of Borbalán, talked with Jaime Ardid, CEO of ARD Investment & Development, and José Manuel Moreno, CEO of Gunni & Trentino. Proposals, ideas and trends to improve our ability to turn a property into a home, a house to be lived in. In short, to improve our lives.

This panel gave way to the presentation of Real Estate Wealth by Gustavo López Bernal, in his capacity as sales director. This is not a new product to be sold, but a further step in CaixaBank’s ability to broaden its range of services to cover a spectrum of very high-net-worth and highly complex clients. An exclusive group of highly qualified professionals tasked with supporting a select group of highly specialised clients in the management of their entire wealth, including real estate.

Another technical view of the sector followed, focused mainly on the highest segments, what has come to be known as the premium and ultra-premium market. Nothing better than the analysis of Pedro Soria, strategy and business development advisor at Tecnitasa, to make the data understandable and let the figures explain the real situation.

The bar had to be kept high, and nothing better than a change of pace to achieve it. If we were talking about the very top of the real estate market, it cannot be understood without a holistic, complete vision. And that is where María Cordón, founder of Memorial Publio Cordón Hospital, and Mónica Sada, chairman founder & CEO of Unicskin, offered some truly interesting views. Their dialogue centred on wellbeing and longevity as the new luxury in our lives, and Xicu Costa, CaixaBank’s regional director in Madrid, guided it with the elegance and tact needed for their ideas to reach every member of the audience. In short, it is about living longer and better: quantity and quality of life.

Mikel Echavarren, chairman of Colliers EMEA, gave an X-ray of the market with that fun, likeable approach that conceals a deep and professional knowledge of it. His contribution is always eagerly awaited, and it never disappoints.

A short break to recharge and start that other essential part of this kind of event, networking, before letting Mikel ride his wave and present the developments transforming the luxury residential market. For this panel he was joined by Enrique Benjumea, founding partner and COO of Blasson, and Leticia Pérez Márquez, managing director of Dazia Capital, both with a deep knowledge of the market and its continuous evolution. News, proposals, projects and reality for a world in constant change.

And nothing more evolved than the avant-garde, which Fran Silvestre, architect and CEO of Fran Silvestre Arquitectos, and Álvaro Palomino, head of business projects at Miele, discussed with the calm of those who master the concept and the idea of the avant-garde. Architecture at the service of people, and appliances to turn a house into the home we all long for.

The most Mediterranean touch, Majorcan in fact, came from Vicente Tomás, founding partner of SCT Estudio de Arquitectura, and Andrea Herrero, landscape designer at Jardins Tramuntana. They were joined on stage by Pedro Soria, who enjoyed as much as the rest of the audience the vision of one of the leading architects in the Balearic Islands, together with the landscaping proposals of the company that best interprets the canvas that flora, especially native flora, brings to a home and its surroundings. Subtle, elegant, essential.

Beatriz Silveira, interior designer, and Germán López, CEO of Gira Ibérica, gave the event’s script a twist and took us back to the classicism of timeless design, the kind you recognise at first glance. Perhaps it is a return to the future to keep our feet on the ground. Or perhaps not?

After them came one of the most eagerly awaited panels. It brought together Ramón Hermosilla, founder and CEO of Terralpa; Verónica Manrique, founder and CEO of Olisson; Ginés Navarro, partner & managing director of Admara Capital. All three are well known, not because of their age but because of the experience gathered over the years they have spent leading the sector. Joining them was no one better than another expert on the market, and with good reason: Ignacio Ruiz, director of CaixaBank’s real estate business centre in Madrid. The conversation was lively, fluid and interesting. Experts with anything but superficial knowledge of the market, because it is they, with their proposals, who shape it, reshape it and reform it. Some from the developer’s view of the business and others, or rather one in the case of Verónica Manrique, from the sales side of the product.

And just as no menu is complete without a good dessert, the Madrid Living Edition could not end without a speaker to match. Paula Serra, head of audiovisual at Grup Serra, interviewed Monica Armani, architect and interior designer and a leading figure in international architecture. The Italian shared her view of luxury in architecture and furniture design. Charming, bold, authentic and professional. Her vision closed the formal part of an event destined to endure in time and space, as in the film.

The event did not end in the agora of the All in One but moved up to the rooftop, where guests enjoyed an informal lunch in a professional yet relaxed atmosphere, ideal for drawing conclusions and starting contacts that, in the near future, will help make the most of time and resources through profitable and interesting deals.

The Madrid Living Edition is here to stay, set to become a benchmark for luxury residential real estate. This was the first edition, but it will surely be just the beginning of a long friendship.