The £20.9bn project that's set to ‘transform’ major European city

Europe is full of big, enriching cities with exciting histories, and one of them is set to get even larger.

The £20.9billion Madrid Nuevo Norte project - translated as Madrid New North - is a huge privately financed urban redevelopment programme.

It is predicted to occupy 2.65 million square metres of land and create an estimated 241,700 new jobs.

In total, it is thought there will be 348 new office buildings and 11,700 apartments.

In addition, the skyline of the business district in the north of Madrid is set for at least three more skyscrapers that will be 190 to more than 250 metres tall.

One of the buildings is scheduled to be 330 metres high, and would become the tallest building in the European Union when finished.

Further, residents will be able to make use of a metro line under the plans, which consists of three stations.

This would be in conjunction with a priority bus line.

A new commuter ralway Cercanías station is also included in the scheme, and it is thought that this will be located above the northernmost of the metro stations.

As well as these undertakings, Chamartín station will be made larger and upgraded.

The project's website read: "Designing public spaces, streets, squares, parks, locating future schools, health centres, sports centres, etc. and defining what each and every element of the city will be like is much more than a theoretical or technical question.

"This design process largely determines what the daily life of the city's inhabitants will be like and, therefore, directly influences people's quality of life .

"Madrid Nuevo Norte has taken into account all the aspects that come together in something as complex and at the same time as exciting as the creation of a new neighbourhood, to turn it into a unique project.

"And it has done so thanks to the work of the best urban planning professionals and a pioneering process of citizen participation in our area."