FCC gave out the 2009 Fomento Quality Awards for project excellence in the categories of civil engineering and building and the 2009 Fomento Innovation Award in a ceremony held on the 28th last at Torre Picasso.

The awards were given by the FCC Construcción Sustainability Committee, and the winning projects and R&D&i design were:

• The Fomento Quality Award for project excellence in 2009 in civil engineering works went to the new access to Maliaño Quay in Santander, a project belonging to Zone VIII and performed by the North Office.

• The Fomento Quality Award for project excellence in 2009 in building went to Caja Mágica, a project belonging to Zone II and performed by the Madrid Building I Office and the Madrid Building III Office.

• The 2009 Fomento Innovation Award went to the variable-length working platform especially designed for sliding scaffolding, developed by Austrian subsidiary ALPINE.

The awards ceremony was presided over by Baldomero Falcones, chairman and managing director of FCC, accompanied by José Mayor, chairman of FCC Construcción, and by several directors and senior executives of FCC. Also attending were the award-winning construction and design teams and numerous guests.

During the award giving, representatives of the winning projects and design spoke about the foremost features of their work. The spokesperson for the new access to Maliaño Quay highlighted the social facet of the project. Before the new access was built, heavy-vehicle traffic to and from Maliaño Quay and level crossings used to pose a risk to traffic safety in the Castilla-Hermida zone, the primary urban area of Santander, and create noise, pollution and traffic congestion on local streets.

In his opinion, the project is a perfect example of cooperation amongst institutions, as evidenced by the 2004 agreement whereby the Santander Harbour Authority, Puertos del Estado, the Cantabrian government and the city of Santander arranged to share equally in financing the job.

The spokesperson for the Caja Mágica project spoke about the excitement with which the team undertook the job. It meant participating in a dream that belonged to everybody, the Olympic dream, since the Caja Mágica was the spearhead of Madrid's Olympic candidacy.

He also said the project lived up to its name, which translates into English as "the Magic Box", because the Box was made Magic by the extraordinary team at FCC Construcción Technical Services, whose mastery of technology breathed life into the retractable roofs that make the building so special. Those same roofs set a worldwide standard today for major multifunction sport complexes, and they bear the unequivocal hallmark of FCC.

Lastly, the spokesperson for the winning R&D&i project stressed the simplicity of the variable-length working platform especially designed for sliding scaffolding, despite the great technical complexity involved, and he praised the versatility of the platform, which has been used successfully to build the Neurath Power Station in Germany.

After the awards were handed out, the chairman of FCC Construcción spoke about the merits of the winning projects and design. He then went on to laud the personal and professional virtues of José Enrique Bofill and Francisco Varona, who, after many long years with the company, received the distinction this year of being named honorary construction managers.

The closing address was given by the chairman and managing director of FCC, who congratulated the winners and highlighted the importance of the awards as a part of FCC's policy of ongoing improvement.