Shops sailing your way

A fleet of floating shopping and leisure galleries is to be introduced by the private investment group, Tamares.

Over the next five years, the company previously known as Ivory Gate, plans to spend $500m building between ten and twelve Eolian centres in ports across the world. Each will be built to resemble a 19th century sailing ship, consisting of 240,000 sq ft of shops spanning over five floors as well as 21,500 sq ft of restaurants.

The company has already identified sites in Italy, Spain, Greece, China and Portugal, with the first centre due to open in early 2008.

'Land grab' law continues in Valencia

New legislation introduced in Valencia has ignored pressure from the EU to abolish its controversial 'land grab' laws, according to www.spanishpropertyinsight.com.

Valencia's Region's planning laws (Ley Reguladora de la Actividad Urbanistica) which permit promoters to expropriate private property for development purposes without the property owner's consent, was heavily criticised last autumn by the European Parliament in Strasbourg, following over 15,000 complaints from affected owners.

Mark Stucklin, head of www.spanishpropertyinsight.com, told PIN: "The new law is a great disappointment as it fails to tackle the opportunities for corruption that are a big part of the problem in the Valencian region. But on the plus side the new law is more demanding than the previous one, making it harder to present development proposals and easier to contest them."