SIEP, the state-owned company in charge of penitentiary infrastructure and equipment, has awarded FCC Construcción the 78.5-million-euro contract to build Norte I Penitentiary in Zaballa, Álava. The completion period is 22 months long.

The new centre will have 720 cells of various penitentiary classifications and a number of different buildings equipped for inmate control, monitoring, custody, administration and rehabilitation.

The design adheres to the idea of a penitentiary facility as a self-sufficient urban nucleus. So, the centre is a little town to itself, made up of 12 minicentres, with cultural, health, athletic and communal production services to cover all the needs of the inmates. This kind of set-up reduces the number of trips to outside community services and lends additional strength to the rehabilitation policy, which is the end goal of current penitentiary policy.

The central hub consists of an arrival square surrounded by the buildings belonging to the closed-regimen module, arrivals, departures and transit, the office of the head of services, communications and residential communications. All these buildings have direct access from the outside for employees and visitors. Inside the complex there is a street lined with the athletic and cultural facilities and the infirmary. At the end of the street are the kitchen and the storerooms. The storerooms have a rear vehicle access for deliveries. Along the left-hand side are the closed-regimen module, eight residential modules and four multi-purpose modules. Lining the right-hand side are the residential communications building, the infirmary, the kitchens and facilities, the production shops and a space for athletic activities. Inside the 37-metre-wide security strip is the office and guard building, which acts as an airlock for arrivals, and near the entrance to the security strip is the access control building. The parking lots for visitors and penitentiary employees are located outside the security strips. The entire complex is surrounded by five security fences.

The design includes sustainability-friendly criteria, such as the use of materials whose production or manufacturing causes less pollution than conventional materials and whose technological efficiency in operation is higher. Resources (water and power) are used more rationally and renewable energy sources are encouraged. Other necessary corrective measures for reducing the penitentiary's environmental impact will be provided through architectural adaptation to the topographical, climate and sun exposure conditions.

The new centre is designed for: improved management, with the consolidation of the residential communications building; reinforced inmate training capacity, through the allocation of more shops, training and treatment facilities; and greater capacity and compartmentalisation, through the multi-purpose module and the closed-regimen module.

FCC Construcción is thoroughly experienced at building penitentiaries. In the last ten years it has built quite a number of facilities, including Valdemoro Penitentiary and Soto del Real Penitentiary, both in Madrid; Albolote Penitentiary in Granada; Villena Penitentiary in Alicante; and a number of modules of Quatre Camins Penitentiary in la Roca del Vallés, Barcelona. It also recently build the Murcia and Granada Social Integration Centres.