At a ceremony in Torre Picasso, Madrid, on 28 May, FCC delivered its annual Quality Awards for civil engineering and building and its annual Innovation Award for 2009.

The winning construction and R&D and innovation projects chosen by FCC Construction's Sustainability Committee, are:

• Quality Award for the best Civil Engineering project of 2009: New Access to the Maliaño Pier in Santander, belonging to the company's Zone VIII and executed by the Northern Regional Office.
• Quality Award for best Building project of 2009: Caja Mágica, belonging to the company's Zone II and executed by the Madrid Building I and Building III units.
• Innovation Award 2009 for the variable–length work deck, designed specially for sliding scaffolding and developed by Austrian subsidiary ALPINE.

Baldomero Falcones, Chairman and CEO of FCC, presided over the ceremony. He was accompanied by José Mayor, Chairman of FCC Construction, and a number of directors and senior executives of FCC. The winning project teams also attended, along with numerous guests.

During the ceremony, the project representatives described the highlights of their projects. With regard to the New Access to the Maliaño Pier, they highlighted the social dimension of the project, since the heavy vehicle traffic to and from the Maliaño pier and the railway level crossings posed a safety risk in Castilla-Hermida, the central area of Santander, as well as causing noise, pollution and traffic congestion.

The engineers view the winning project as a perfect example of institutional cooperation, since the Santander Port Authority, the Spanish State Ports Authority, the Government of Cantabria and Santander City Government agreed in 2004 to contribute equally to funding the project.

The Caja Mágica representative spoke of the enthusiasm with which the team undertook the project, which was the flagship of Madrid's Olympic candidacy.

The project name is very apt since the "magic" was provided by FCC Construction's engineers, who designed the sliding roof system for the complex, which is now a world-renowned multi-purpose sports facility bearing the seal of FCC.

The prize-winning R&D and innovation project is simple, despite its great technical complexity, and also versatile; it consists of variable-length decks designed for sliding scaffolding, and it has been used successfully in the construction of the Neurath nuclear power plant in Germany.

After the prize-giving ceremony, the Chairman of FCC Construction discussed the merits of the winning projects and highlighted the personal and professional values of José Enrique Bofill and Francisco Varona, who were named honorary project managers this year after many years of service with the company.

In his closing remarks, FCC's Chairman and CEO congratulated the winners and highlighted the importance of these awards within the company's continuous improvement policy.