The inauguration of the new IDOM corporate office in Madrid, that took place last Friday (13th),the official event took place in the new premises of the company and was presided by the President of the Autonomous Region Ms. Esperanza Aguirre. Over 900 guests attended the event, including clients, collaborators, top institutional heads and the company’s own human workforce.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, IDOM would like to acknowledge all the people, companies, entities and organizations which, over these past years have taken part in or contributed to its entrepreneurial project. The new building was officially inaugurated this morning by Ms. Esperanza Aguirre, the President of Autonomous Region of Madrid. Amongst others who also attended the event were Vice-president Mr. Ignacio Gonzalez; the regional Treasury Minister Mr. Percival Manglano; the regional Minister for the Environment and Land Management Ms. Ana Isabel Mariño and the Councillor of the Fuencarral-El Pardo district Mr. Jose Antonio Gonzalez de la Rosa.

After welcoming the guests, the President of IDOM Mr. Fernando Querejeta, had special words of thank you for his clients and collaborators as well as for the public institutions for the trust they have had in IDOM over its more than fifty years of existence. He also highlighted the degree of commitment of all the people in the Madrid IDOM office. The building that was inaugurated today would not have been possible without their effort.

The new IDOM offices have entailed an investment of over 35 million Euros. In a short speech, Mr. Fernando Querejeta said “we needed spaces that supported the growth, internationalization and technological progress of IDOM over the next decades; spaces that promoted even more some of the values that are essential to us, such as team work, efficiency, open communications, external and internal relations or innovation; spaces that would offer our clients and collaborators an image in keeping with the current reality of IDOM, which is, essentially, a project into the future”.

A sustainable building

The new building was conceived by a multidisciplinary team, directed by Mr. Jesus Mª Susperregui, director of ACXT (the architecture firm of IDOM group). The idea used has implied an essential qualitative leap in terms of energy efficiency, internal comfort and water saving. Over 500 professionals are working in it right now. The new corporate office in Madrid was conceived with a clear aim: to host the activity of the company, represent it and to become its true “calling card”.

The building was designed, from the very beginning, in a multidisciplinary environment, where architects and engineers have both shared decisions on architecture, building services and energy and communication systems. In this sense, the quest for solutions that would overcome the traditional salubriousness and comfort conflicts typical of tertiary sector buildings has been a fixed objective throughout the whole creation process. A salubrious and domestic atmosphere was thought of for a space destined for work.

The building services have been planned seeking to maximize energy efficiency following a sustainable strategy. The building envelope includes a series of engineered elements focused on minimizing the building’s energy consumption. Its orientation, optimization of openings, high thermal insulation, high performance window panes, exceptional sun protection and double green skin both on the façade and on the roof are some of the features that follow this line of action.

The main HVAC system is the structure itself for the building has an active structure (TABS: Thermally Activated Building System). This system, never before used in Spain, is combined with an evaporative night cooling and offers important advantages against traditional HVAC systems, significantly reducing consumption (saving 75% of the overall energy) and considerably improving the comfort of its occupants. Natural ventilation through interior communication atriums that function as chimneys can even override mechanical ventilation when the weather conditions are suitable. The ventilation ducts are made of fabric, which can be easily cleaned, thus guaranteeing a high level of salubriousness to its occupants.

Water management is also naturally incorporated into the building’s routine. 100% of rain water is collected and used in the watering system, in the treatment and use of sanitary water and in the structure’s evaporative cooling system.

Diversification and internationalization

Founded in 1957 by engineer Mr. Rafael Escolá, IDOM today is a multidisciplinary company, made up by 2,500 professionals, distributed among thirty offices, half of them abroad. Although the company started as an industrial engineering company, it presently carries out its activity in a wide range of specialities and with a very clear focus on technological innovation, offering a diversity of professional services. Its activity covers three main branches: engineering, architecture and consultancy. Combining teams from all technical fields, it is possible to take on projects of great complexity, a characteristic that defines the potential of the firm. On the other hand, the turnkey services are also worth highlighting. Through these, projects with a strong industrial component are undertaken, from their conception until they are ready to go online.

Over 2011, the business figure of IDOM reached 300 million Euros. For some years now, IDOM has set itself demanding objectives of expansion and internationalization; apart from the offices in Spain (Madrid, the Basque Country, Catalonia, Aragon, Galicia, Valencia, Murcia, the Canary and Balearic Islands, Navarre and Andalusia), it has offices in Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, USA, UAE, Morocco, Mexico Poland, Portugal, UK and Rumania. Its turnover due to international business accounts for over 60% of the group’s total revenue.

Emblematic projects

In the past few years, IDOM has played a very relevant role in the development of projects in strategic sectors with a need for professional value-added engineering services, both nationwide as well as abroad. Its size and multidisciplinary know-how allows it to tackle macro-engineering projects with a high degree of technical difficulty and complex system integration.

For example, we can mention: the design of various telescopes in Europe and America (European Extremely Large Telescope E-ELT, the Advanced Technology Solar Telescope ATST in Hawaii); projects and site supervision of high-speed railway works (ADIF); high-speed railway network in Poland; the improvement of archaeological sites in Egypt; motorways and dual carriageways (Ministry of Public Works, Gisa); underground systems (Seville, Barcelona, Porto, Ho Chi Minh, Medellin, Constantin); the hydro-wind power plant in Gorona del Viento (Island of El Hierro); combined cycle power plants (Mexico, Ireland, Russia, Latvia, Dubai); thermo solar power plants (engineering design and turnkey services); participation in the ITER (International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor); iron and steel plants all over the world (UK, Malaysia, Bolivia); nuclear engineering (extension of useful lifespan and design modification in all Spanish nuclear power plants); petrochemical plants (refinery in Talara, Peru); town planning and land management consultancy (London, Saudi Arabia); the architectonic design of CEIBS business school (China); the university campus in Misratah (Libya); a convention centre in Bilbao, hospitals in Spain and Central America, the new San Mames football stadium (Bilbao); the 112 emergencies management centre in Reus (Tarragona) and TACIS and PHARE programmes of the EU (Russia, Ukraine, Algeria), amongst others.

Bilbao Arena was the venue for a press conference on Wednesday, March 21. The press conference given by representatives from Idom and the local authorities was held to mark the occasion of the recent award conferred on this multi-purpose facility.
Following the pleasant surprise of seeing the name of Bilbao being celebrated in one of the most prestigious global architecture circles, the local Bosque leaders have considered it important to also give their valuation of this event. Hence the idea of inviting the media has been that of laying claim to the international recognition for the local architectural talent present in Bilbao, a city which is predominantly known for the works of foreign architects.
The press conference was attended by the president of the Regional Council of Bizkaia, Jose Luis Bilbao and the mayor of Bilbao, Iñaki Azkuna. Representing Idom were Fernando Querejeta, Luis RodrÃguez Llopis and the Architects responsible for the Project, Javier Perez Uribarri and Nicolas Espinosa.

The Hospital Clinico de Zaragoza was the venue for the conference on innovation in hospitals in the framework of the “Idom Forum on Heath Innovation”. The conference held last Friday, 9th of March was attended by hospital managers and managers from the public health service in the region of Aragon. The objective of the conference organised by the Aragon Institute of Health Sciences I+CS and Idom was the exchange of Good Practices and Experiences in Innovation between professionals in the health sector.
This has been the second conference organised in Aragon resulting from the relationship between Idom and I+CS, a relationship which is set to continue. On this occasion, the topic of the open day has been “The management of innovation in Health Institutions” and has counted on the participation of the Network for Innovation in Medical Technologies and Health (Red ITEMAS), Parc Taulí (Catalan Consortium of Hospitals), the hospital of Barbastro and BSH Balay (sharing non-hospital related experience).

Bilbao Arena has been voted the best sports facility of the year by the readers of the online publication ArchDaily, one of the most prestigious architecture websites in the world with over 200,000 users a day. The Bilbao Arena pavilion, a multi-purpose facility is located in the neighbourhood of Miribilla in Bilbao. The choice of the 'Building of Year 2011' in the various categories has been made by the followers of ArchDaily all over the world.

http://www.archdaily.com/building-of-the-year/2011/

As previously reported, the ITER Project, which is currently under construction in Caradache (South of France), aims to demonstrate that nuclear fusion can be the energy source for the future. For over a year and a half, Idom has been collaborating with the two engineering groups Halcrow and Altran, providing "Support to the Owner" services for the organisation, Fusion for Energy, the EU agency in charge of the European contribution to the ITER project, with the responsibility of the project management of the civil works, installations and “housing” for this nuclear venture. During this time, Idom has been preparing the adequacy assessment of the project to meet the objectives set by ITER, as well as the budget analysis, planning, risk and other general tasks of the project, all within the scope of Fusion for Energy. Although the next phase of construction, divided up into 11 tender batches, is due to start at the beginning of 2013, some works are already underway; works such as the foundations for the Tokamak Complex, an electricity substation, and the recently completed PF Coils Building, a facility for the production of the Poloidal Magnetic Field coils required to confine the plasma in the ITER Vacuum Vessel. Currently, there are 9 professionals from Idom working on-site in such diverse fields as HAVC, Instrumentation and Control systems, Piping, Electrical Installations, Architecture, Interface Management and Construction Support. Support is also provided by the back- up office for the different phases of the project, as and when the client requires. The daily contact with French colleagues and other nationalities brings with it a unique experience, not only on a technical level but also from a multicultural point of view. The team of Idom is also very diverse and it is made up of professionals from the offices of Barcelona, Bilbao, Madrid, Merebrook Seville and Zaragoza.

•Participants: European Union, US, Russia, Japan, South Korea, China and India. •Estimated Budget: €15,000 million. •Collaboration of 5,000 scientists from all over the world. •The complex will consist of 36 buildings. •More than 1,000 people will work simultaneously on the civil works of the buildings, which is the phase that is about to begin, accounting for just 30% of the total project.

For some time Seridom has been studying how to increase the level of health and safety for all persons involved in the works they carry out. In line with the value that Idom places on each person, the ‘Turnkey’ division of the group is working to ensure that the low rate of accidents is a distinguishing element of the sector, construction; a sector with a high level of risk for health and safety. This initiative is also in tune with the fact that this is a sensitive issue for many of our clients who increasingly, demand the coverage of an effective accident prevention system which includes all subcontractors. As a first step in this ambitious project, Seridom has been awarded the certification, health and safety management system OSHAS 18.001:2007 for the activity of "design, management and execution of turnkey projects," in respect to the people of Seridom. The certification audit was successfully completed on 27 December and has been achieved in record time and with a classification which the auditors described as "excellent. What is "OHSAS 18001"? An Occupational Health and Safety Management System which meets the minimum requirements for a best practice occupational health and safety set out by the BSI (British Standards Institution). It applies to organizations and enterprises of all types and sizes, and accommodates various geographical, cultural and social conditions

In recent years, there has been a significant increase in the number of mobile phone users in Mexico. Currently, at over 91 millions users, there has been a 9.5% growth in 2010 alone and 81% of market penetration. With a market share of 22%, Telefónica MoviStar is the second most important service provider in this market. To continue servicing this market and with a view to achieving growth, new facilities are required; one of which is the Office and Data Center Complex. This complex is knows as “Edificio Tecnológico III”. This will be a center for switching, processing, transmitting and storing data. Idom has been awarded the contract as Project Manager (PM) during the construction of this complex, presenting the firm the opportunity to implement international best practice standards; in preparation to face challenges such as the simultaneousness in the execution of the project; meeting of fixed deadlines; independent delivery of separate working sections of the complete project (with a view to accelerating the initiation of operations); flexibility of the project to allow for future upgrades; compliance with strict conditions of thermal and sound insulation of the data processing facilities and high technology housing facilities. All this in a period of 3 years.