FCC Construcción

Special Systems Management

Special Systems Management includes the Purchasing Service and the Special Project Service.

Purchasing Service

The function of the Purchasing Service is to arrange for the domestic procurement of all products covered by the centralised purchasing system. It also provides projects with support by procuring building and civil engineering products and services, including mechanical systems and wiring work. In functional terms, the purchasing officers of each zone belong to the Purchasing Service.

Special Project Service

The Special Project Service's function is to give projects specialised technical support and to conduct studies of structures (metal structures, composite structures, special structures) and mechanisms. In these types of projects, the Special Project Service team defines the system of construction to be used and the design for any ancillary items the construction system needs; runs economic appraisals; helps in contracting and in drawing up the quality control plan; and provides project support during construction and assembly.

Leading Work

These are several jobs the Special Project Service has worked on. In most of them the service not only provided comprehensive assistance in building, but also drew up the design for the construction of the structure.

Special Buildings

T4 terminal building at Barajas Airport, Madrid. The new terminal building at Barajas Airport, designed by Lamela and Rogers, is one of the biggest constructions to be tackled in Spain in the last few years. Its unique technical features are due to the special design of its mostly bare metal structure (25,000 tons of grade S355 and S460 steel) and its stainless steel tensioned façades. The entire construction design for the metal structure and tensioned façades was produced by the Special Project Service.

Roof of RCD Espanyol Stadium, Barcelona. The stadium roof is a huge structure resting on four pillars and sheltering all the seats in the stadium but leaving the pitch uncovered. The spans between pillars measure 195 metres in one direction and 155 metres in the other. The entire construction design for the structure was produced by the Special Project Service.

Vehicle Bridges and Footbridges

Onteniente Bridge, Valencia. This bridge's structure combines reinforced concrete, conventional pre-tensioned concrete, external pretensioning, a metal structure and a composite structure. It is a bridge with a single central composite arch with a box-shaped metal cross-section and an unsupported span of 140 metres. The bridge deck structure is composite also.

Elche Suspension Bridge. This is a suspension bridge with an unsupported span of 162 metres. Its two planes of suspension cables are inclined and meet at a 42-metre-tall concrete pier. Suspended by hangers from these cables is a composite deck with a box section.

Zuera Bridge, Zaragoza. This composite bridge over the Ebro River carries the international-gauge Zaragoza-Huesca rail link, which means high-speed specifications were required in construction. The bridge is a total of 305 metres long, and its spans are, from one end to the other, 40, 50, 125 (the span that crosses the river), 50 and 40 metres long.

El Azud del Oro Bridge, Valencia. This is a metal cable-stayed bridge designed by Santiago Calatrava, and its originality of conception is combined with complex structural difficulty. Its deck has a span of 163 metres, and it is stayed to a curved tower 125 metres tall which, in turn, is stayed by vertical cables. The entire construction design for the structure was produced by the Special Project Service, in cooperation with the project's architect.

Parque de la Almozara Footbridge (Expo 2008 in Zaragoza). This is a curved cable-stayed footbridge. The inclined mast is set on the outer edge of the curve. The deck is held up by 46 cables anchored at the mast and opening up into a fan shape. The pull on the mast is countered by cables anchored to the foundations. The design is by Manterola.

Movable Structures

Retractable cupola for the bullfighting ring in Leganés, Madrid. The cupola is actually two half-cupolas; one of them (88.6 metres in diameter between supporting axes) is permanently fixed in place, while the other (94 metres in diameter between axes of motion) is retractable. The retractable portion can turn up to 180 degrees from its closed position, leaving half the ring or smaller sectors open. The construction design for the structure was produced by the Special Project Service.

Bascule bridge in Barcelona Harbour. This world-record bascule bridge has two leaves that pivot on hinges installed on the piers 110 metres apart. The bridge was assembled on land, and each leaf was carried into position by a huge, 1,600-ton crane vessel. There the mechanisms were attached to the pier structure. The construction design for the bridge's metal structure was produced by the Special Project Service.

Bascule bridge in Tarragona Harbour. This bridge, like one in Barcelona, has two leaves that pivot on hinges situated on the piers, here 80 metres apart. It was assembled on land and carried into position by a huge, 1,200-ton crane vessel. The construction design for the bridge was produced by the Special Project Service.

Locks and bridges at the port of Seville. The four metal lock gates are actually large sheets with a metal structure within. They measure 42 metres across and 17 to 20 metres tall. As part of the same project, three bascule bridges were built, two for wheeled vehicles and one for trains. Each of these bridges has a 43-metre-long leaf, and they use a top counterweighting system of a type never used in Spain until now. The entire construction design for the structure of the bridges and gates was produced by the Special Project Service.

Roofs at the Caja Mágica, Madrid. The stadium designed by Dominique Perrault has three huge movable roofs, which can be retracted or moved horizontally. The largest measures 103 x 73 metres, and the two smaller roofs measure 44 x 60 metres. In the design and construction tender, FCC Construcción won the contract for this complex piece of work, which involved having to design and build the roof structure and mechanisms, which were handled entirely by the Special Project Service.