Quintessence: new build apartments in Marbella from €575,000

Foundations in reinforced concrete sized to the ground survey for the plot, and reinforced concrete floor slabs above. The facade is stone cladding combined with render and paint, backed by high performance insulation, an air gap, a galvanised steel frame packed with mineral wool and a plasterboard lining. The walls between one home and the next are sound-insulating brick lined on both faces the same way. Flat roofs are sealed with two waterproofing membranes under insulation and a covering of gravel, or non-slip paving where they are meant to be walked on.

Large format porcelain stoneware from well known makers runs through the living room, the bedrooms, the kitchen, the hall and the bathrooms. Shower areas are tiled in ceramic and the rest of the walls are painted in a soft plain colour, in a paint made to cope with damp where the room needs it. Ceilings are plasterboard, dropping to a false ceiling where pipework or ducting runs above, and the bathrooms that house the air conditioning units have a hatch in the ceiling to reach them. Terraces and porches take the same large format porcelain in a non-slip version made for outdoors.

Deep wall and base units in high pressure laminate with drawers that pull themselves shut, under a worktop in compressed quartz of the Silestone or Neolith type, with the same material panelling the wall between the two runs. The appliances are included: an induction hob, an integrated dishwasher, an oven and a microwave, a fridge, an extractor hood and a washer-dryer.

White vitrified porcelain throughout, with the WCs hung off the wall and their cisterns built in behind it. Shower trays are compact quartz. The main bathroom has a double basin set into its counter and a shower screen in safety glass, and both it and the second bathroom have a unit under the counter. Taps are single lever and made to limit the water they use, and the main shower has its controls set into the wall, with a thermostat to hold the temperature and a rainshower head overhead.

Frames in PVC or high performance lacquered aluminium, sliding or tilting inwards depending on the room, glazed with a multi-layer unit that lets very little heat through and carries a coating to turn back the summer sun. Doors out to a terrace are glazed in safety glass, and the frames have a vent built in so air can be let in without opening them. Bedrooms have insulated aluminium roller blinds worked by a switch, and the living room doors are wired ahead for motorised blinds. Passage doors are solid timber lacquered white and taller than standard, hung on hidden stainless steel hinges. Wardrobes are modular, lined in a textile-finish board with a shelf and a hanging rail, their doors matching the passage doors.

The whole home is heated from under the floor, fed by an aerothermal unit that takes warmth out of the outside air rather than burning gas, and the same unit makes the hot water, with its controls on a digital display in the laundry. Cooling comes from fan coil units set into the bathroom ceilings, divided into zones of the Airzone type so rooms can be run separately, with the main thermostat in the living room and others in the bedrooms. The system can also be reached remotely through the manufacturer’s own web service.

Wiring to the Spanish regulations at the higher of the two domestic supply grades, with a consumer unit from a known maker and protection against both sudden and sustained surges. Television, radio and satellite reach every room but the bathrooms, and fibre arrives at the building with ethernet sockets to match. A colour video entry phone works over the home wifi and can be answered from away. Beyond that the home can be run from a phone: the door entry, the temperature, the blinds, the lighting, an indoor camera, sensors that catch a leak in the bathrooms or the kitchen, and a smoke detector in the kitchen.

The front door of each home is armoured, with security hinges and lock. The complex itself is closed, with its own entrances, a concierge outside, controlled access and cameras covering the perimeter around the clock. There is a video entry phone at the way into the urbanisation as well as at each home.