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Hilario Jesús
Gómez
Interview
What differentiating value does FCC
Construcción bring to its construction
of sports facilities?
Unquestionably, its people. The exper-
tise built up over the last few decades in
the delivery of major projects in all sectors
gives us great potential with which to un-
dertake such projects both now and in the
future. Within that human capital, special
mention should be made of the team, led
by Fernando Bernaldo de Quiros, that im-
plements the work and draws on the vast
know-how accumulated through previous
large-scale projects, such as Telefonica’s
‘City of Communications’. Another highlight
is the support given by our Technical Servi-
ces division, with their extensive experience
in unique buildings, sports stadiums and
iconic buildings across the Madrid skyline,
such as the Cepsa Tower and Terminal 4 at
the Adolfo Suarez Madrid-Barajas.
What is the greatest achievement to
date?
It is very difficult to single out one main
achievement in a company that has spent
over 100 years participating in the great
landmarks of Spanish engineering, both
within our national borders and abroad. On
top of those mentioned above, we could
add a number of singular infrastructures
and buildings or the numerous challenges
successfully built for the Barcelona Olym-
pics and the Universal Exhibitions in Seville
and Zaragoza.
Head of FCC Construcción Central Spain’s Technical
Building Services and Civil Works Department
What has been the company’s contri-
bution in terms of innovation and sus-
tainability?
Sustainability forms part of both FCC Cons-
trucción and the Group’s business policy.
The use of innovation is enhanced with
each project and each operation. Similarly,
R&D+I projects are present in all the work
we carry out. For example, in the La Peineta
stadium, seven research, development and
innovation projects are being implemented,
and it is quite likely that new ones will ap-
pear before the project is concluded, which
demonstrates the company’s concern with
maintaining its technological leadership.
Such projects include: a field study to op-
timise the design of the Stadium’s deep
foundations; a comparative study on the
results of pile integrity testing; the develo-
pment of wall-to-land anchors by means of
selective repetitive injection into soils with
self-consolidating materials; the design,
feed dosage, manufacture and application
of self-compacting concrete for the stands;
and finally, the roofing assembly formed
by the outer compression ring, the inner
tensioning ring, the radial cables and the
membrane that forms the tensile structure
surface.
Talking about La Peineta Stadium, what
jobs are currently underway? What are
the challenges to be met when expan-
ding a ready-built stadium?
Any building work that takes place on an
existing structure poses some serious cha-
llenges.
You have to rely on older parts to support
the new bits. This requires a detailed study
of its features and assumes that old and
new must now be coordinated to avoid sig-
nificant technical and design differences.
We are at a very significant moment in the
construction process: starting the assem-
bly of the roofing. In July, the first section
of metal structure that forms the compres-
sion ring was hoisted. This will be the main
milestone in the project over the coming
months once the concrete structure that
forms the main body of the stadium and the
roof support has been completed. After the
compression ring is in place, the tensioning
ring and the radial cables will be installed,
followed finally by the textile membrane that
comprises the actual roof.