On 17 January the mayor of Madrid, Alberto Ruiz Gallardón; the Secretary of Social Services, Families and Disabilities, Amparo Valcarce; the Chairman of the ONCE, Miguel Carballeda Piñeiro; and the Chairman of FCC Construcción, José Mayor Oreja, laid the cornerstone of the ONCE's new Educational Resources Centre in Madrid.

The building, which will be built by FCC Construcción over 20 months at a cost of 22 million euros, has a total area of 22,113.46 square metres. It has four storeys and a basement level for parking and a workshop space, laid out in an "L" shape for the three main uses of the centre: a place of residence, a school and a sports centre.

One of the special features of this Project is the commitment to make all spaces fully accessible, with colours and textures to help students who have some sight remaining.

The new centre, which will be able to accommodate over 130 children who are blind or have serious sight difficulties, will be a point of reference for over 2,500 students from all over Spain (Madrid, Castile-Leon, Castile-La Mancha, Basque Country, Navarre and the Canary Islands). The Madrid school will be staffed by 262 specialised professionals (teachers, technicians, social workers, educationalists, psychologists, speech therapists, technology instructors and all the other personnel necessary for the daily running of the centre).