Yesterday evening, at the “Night of Infrastructures” celebration which took place at Foment de Treball, the Minister for Land and Sustainability, Josep Rull, together with Francisco Gutiérrez, the President of the recently created Consell Assessor d’Infraestructures de Catalunya (Catalan Infrastructure Advisory Board), awarded the Catalan Rail Network, Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat (FCG) the prize for Best Infrastructure 2016 for its extension of the “metro del Vallès” to Sabadell. The prize was collected by FCG president Enric Ticó.
It received the prize for a new 1.5km line with the new stations “Can Feu-Gràcia” and “Plaça Major”. Service began on 12th September and replaced the old stations “Sabadell Estació” and “Sabadell Rambla” respectively. This prize-winning infrastructure is a great example of developing in response to demand and offers a great benefit-cost ratio. Furthermore, it has integrated new technology and trends for both the conception, design, construction, and maintenance of the entire infrastructure, features which were seen very positively by the judges.
Best Infrastructure Prize 2016 is divided into four segments or categories, each one relates to the different processes involved in a public work of this relevance and which, given their dimensions, require collaboration between different companies in each of the phases via a UTE (Temporary Business Association) which guarantees project success. The first year prizewinners for each category were:
- Developer Prize: Ferrocarrils de la Generalitat de Catalunya (FGC), which was collected by the president, Enric Ticó.
- Project Design Prize: 2IT, Ardanuy, Auding, CICSA, DOPEC, ECAFIR, GPO, IDOM, IM3, Mora Sanvisens, and Pama. Collected on behalf of all prizewinners by Josep Ribera from IDOM.
- Builder Prize ACCIONA, Arico Forest, ASSIGNIA, Benito Arnó, Cobra, COMSA, Constructora Calaf, COPCISA, Dragados, Excavaciones y Construcciones Benjumea, Fundació Vivers de Bell-lloc, Mercadomótika, Oproller, Romero Gamero, Siemens, SOGESA, and Tradia. Collected on behalf of all prizewinners by Josep Miarnau, Managing Director of COMSA.
- Project Management prize: 2IT, ADTEL, AMBERG, Ardanuy, BAC, ECAFIR, GESTINSA, GPO, IDOM, IM3, PAYMA, SENER, SES, and TEC4. Collected on behalf of all prizewinners by Javier Bespín, Managing Director of GPO.
The presentation of a new management model
Both the celebration of the “Night”, and the ceremony for Best Infrastructure Prize 2016 was the presentation of a new management model, created two years ago for the entities which make up the Consell Assessor d’Infraestructures de Catalunya. This new model has its core in promoting infrastructures in response to demand. This means that planning must be done in response to an exhaustive analysis of the benefit-cost ratio which takes into account its economic, social, and environmental return, not just during construction time, but for its entire working life. The new management model also calls for a structural change to the public bidding system, simplifying the contractual procedures via the unification of criteria between different administrations and simultaneously promoting the participation from society in the planning, design, proposal, and assessment of the public policies in this area.
The Conseller Assessor d’Infraestructures de Catalunya was formed on 12th May in Barcelona, propelled by the Associació Catalana d’Empreses d’Enginyeria i Consultores Independents de Catalunya (ASINCA), the Cambra de Contractistes d’Obres de Catalunya (CCOC), Foment del Treball Nacional (FTN) and the Fundació Cercle d’Infraestructures (FCI). Therefore, the celebration of the “Night of Infrastructures” and the corresponding presentation of the best Infrastructure of the year prize is the first public ceremony that the conseller has held.
The four development entities of the Consell Assessor d’Infraestructures have made it their objective to become an instrument which facilitates technical and objective information to the different agents of the sector, allowing a serious and rigorous discussion and debate on the public policies of infrastructures in Catalonia.
In its first year, the Night of Infrastructures also wanted to honour the actions of an outstanding person outside the world of infrastructure who offers an external perspective and outlines the tight ties which infrastructures have across multiple fields of a complex society such as our own. For this reason it invited Vicenç Villatoro, Director of the Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona (CCCB), and expert on the different fields of literature, culture, education, and politics in Catalonia.