The European Solar Telescope (EST) aims to significantly improve our capabilities to observe the solar chromosphere and understanding the solar chromosphere represents one of the most challenging tasks in solar physics. EST incorporates the most innovative technology, with a simple and efficient design, and the most advanced instrumentation to simultaneously sample the physical conditions of the photosphere and the chromosphere at the highest spatial and temporal resolutions and magnetic sensitivity that can give insight of the magnetic coupling of the different layers of the deep solar atmosphere. The EST Project Office during the preparatory phase has covered the consolidation of the Conceptual Design and the development of the Preliminary Design of EST. The optical design underwent significant changes during this preparatory phase being now: the M2 an Adaptive Secondary Mirror, the 4.2 m primary mirror above the elevation axis, the multiconjugate adaptive optics integrated into the telescope, minimizing instrumental polarization, and observing in an open enclosure configuration to improve natural airflow. The drawback of the open configuration is that the telescope structure, M1, and M2 will be exposed to wind load and thermal radiation load, necessitating the development of a more rigid telescope structure, specific thermal control to achieve pointing and tracking performance, and a degradation of low local image quality. The consolidation of the preliminary optical design has allowed the definition of the Scientific Instrument Suite (SIS) for EST: 3 Tunable Imaging Spectropolarimeters with Combined Fixed Band Imaging functionality (TIS/FBIs) and 4 Integral Field Unit Spectropolarimeters (1 based on Slicer EMBER and 3 based on Micro-lens Array (MLA) IFS-M). The SIS will be provided as in-kind contributions from the EST consortium institutions. SIS consortia will present their conceptual designs for review at the EST General PDR, which will take place at the end of this year. EST is conceived to advance solar physics in Europe. The European solar community increasingly relies on EST to remain at the forefront of solar physics, and the EST project requires the support and drive of the European solar community, more than ever, to become a reality. This talk will present the preliminary design, project status, and future steps.