Since 2010, Iasi has been the third-fastest-growing major city in Europe (tied with Wroclaw), behind only Dublin and Valetta. Its economy has grown by an average of about 5 per cent a year over this period and it shows. Iulius recently obtained an €80m loan for a Foster + Partners-designed remodelling of Palas, with the first phase under construction. Since Romania joined the EU in 2007, Iasi has grown into a technology hub. Though it’s a university city, it wasn’t industrially competitive because it’s so far from Western Europe’s big markets, says Mihai Bulai, a lecturer at Iasi’s Alexandru Ioan Cuza University.