OHL participates in the sixth edition of the National Civil Engineering Conference

OHL has participated in the sixth edition of the National Civil Engineering Conference arranged by the Association of Civil Engineers in Valencia, which convened over 500 professionals, entrepreneurs and national/international experts.

Carmen Librero, Secretary General for Transport, Ministry of Development; Luis Santamaría, Deputy Government Representative in Valencia; Victoriano Sánchez-Barcaztegui, Autonomous Secretary for Infrastructures and Transport, Autonomous Community of Valencia; Rosa Xuclà, General Deputy Manager for Infrastructures and Technology, Ministry of Agriculture, Food and the Environment; and Edelmiro Rúa, President of the Association of Civil Engineers, all gathered to inaugurate this conference.

On behalf of OHL, Rafael Martín de Nicolás, Chairman-Manager of Construction Spain, participated in the round table entitled Internationalization, Innovation & Employment. In his speech, he referred to the Group’s strategy which, since 2002, has focused on internationalization and investment in R&D activities as essential foundations for growth. In this regard and from an internationalization point of view, he pointed out that OHL is present in over 30 countries all over the world, as well as its significant progress achieved in innovation. Thus, he pointed out that the Group’s port infrastructures subsidiary, SATO, had been awarded a diploma from the García-Cabrerizo Foundation after winning the García-Cabrerizo Spanish Invention Prize, for its participation in the latest edition of the International Exhibition of Inventions of Geneva. At this exhibition, considered the world’s largest fair of its kind, SATO received three international awards: a gold medal with honors for the Cubipod, a constructive component for the main layer of sloping breakwaters; a silver medal for the SATOGrab claw, a device for the recovery of blocks in port breakwaters, and the best Spanish invention prize for the Cubipod.

On behalf of the Group, the conference also counted on the presence of Antonio Corredor, SATO technician, whose speech was related to The Cubipod: a new component to reduce construction costs in sloping breakwaters, and Lidia Hipólito, technician belonging to OHL’s Innovation & Sustainability Management, who presented Challenges in R&D&I projects for international collaboration in civil engineering.

Furthermore OHL participated with five original technical presentations, included in the conference documentation. One was promoted by SATO, entitled Design of sloping breakwaters with single-layer surfaces to reduce energy and carbon effects, and the other four were presented by the R&D&I service: three related to the Oasis project: A new approach to future infrastructures: CENIT-OASIS project, Improved security in motorway margins, and Motorway interaction with wildlife and optimization or replanting tasks; and a fourth presentation related to environmental restoration of the service: A change of pattern in the environmental integration of space affected by civil engineering: environmental restoration.