Today : Mon 6th Feb 2012

News

5th. September 2011
50 MW New Solar Thermal Power Plant in Extremadura

In March was inaugurated the 50 MW plant of Majadas (Extremadura), a facility that will prevent the emission into the atmosphere of 100,000 tons of CO2 anually. Idom has provided to Acciona Energy a turnkey service of the power block. Idom’s technological development and the use of advanced project management tools have helped achieve a leadership position in the implementation and commissioning of the thermal power plants’ power units. Highly skilled multidisciplinary teams will cover all phases of the project, including engineering, procurement, construction, installation and commissioning. Idom is supplying turnkey services to several solar thermal power plants in Spain, all of which are 50 MW: Majadas de Tiétar (Cáceres) for Acciona Energía, Morón de la Frontera (Seville) for Ibereólica Solar Morón, Palma del Río (Córdoba) for Guzmán Energía, and Olivenza (Badajoz) for Ibereólica Solar Olivenza.

 

19th. August 2011
The Success of Mobile Phone Technology in Mexico

There has been a noticeable increase in mobile phone users in the last years in Mexico. Actually, with more than 91 millions users, it has shown a 9.5 % growth in 2010 alone and 81% of market penetration. Ranking as second within the companies serving this market, MoviStar covers 22% of the users. To continue providing service to its clients and achieve foreseen growth, they identified the need to build an Office and Data Center Complex, known as “Edificio Tecnológico III”. This will be the place for switching, processing, transmitting and storing data. Idom has been awarded as Project Manager (PM) for the construction of this complex, where they will put into effect their best practice standards. For the implementation of this project, Idom is foretelling overcoming many obstacles like: the simultaneousness on the execution of the project and the tight schedule of the works, partial delivery of functioning

 

28th. June 2011
Central Asia - Another World

Atyrau city, with 150,000 residents, is situated near the Kashagan oil field, located in the delta of the Ural River, on the north banks of Caspian Sea. This field, a major discovery in the last 30 years, has estimated reserves of around 15,000 million barrels.

The drilling of the first well will start in 2012 through offshore platforms. Since the main recipient of the oil will be China, a new pipeline is being built to transport the crude to Xinjiang.

Once the hydrocarbons are extracted, they will be transported to a treatment plant, still in construction, with a capacity to process 450,000 barrels per day. Due to the high amounts of power the refinery requires, a power plant complex is being built with 4 gas turbines of 40 MW each, 2 vapor turbines of 35 MW each and a third complementary plant.

Idom has been hired to perform engineering work for the third plant, which includes two turbines 6 FB of 40 MW each. The turbines function in an open cycle with natural gas and three diesel generators of 5.2 MW each. This is a dual purpose plant; on one side it will contribute to the overall power supply to the refinery, but the main purpose is to act as emergency backup in case of failure of the main sources.

 

29th. April 2011
Transforming Rio Janeiro favelas

IDOM’s proposal of coexisting spaces for living, relaxation and sports integration won one of the 174 available spots in the contest held by the Institute for Architects in Brazil (IAB).

With the upcoming 2014 World Soccer Cup and the 2016 Olympic Games, Brazil is focused in the preparations for these magnificent events. Rio de Janeiro, one of the host cities, decided to revamp the low-income neighborhoods, known as “favelas”, integrate them into the city’s panoramic and proving them with public services and a better architectural design.

The Institute of Architects in Brazil (IAB), decided to hold a contest to remodel 215 “favelas” and regroup them in 40 neighborhoods. They selected 174 projects with an ambitious budget of 4,900 millions of dollars. IDOM’s proposal integrates an architectural solution with innovative design to social management.

 

29th. March 2011

In March was inaugurated the 50 MW plant of Majadas (Extremadura), a facility that will prevent the emission into the atmosphere of 100,000 tons of CO2 anually. Idom has provided to Acciona Energy a turnkey service of the power block.

Idom’s technological development and the use of advanced project management tools have helped achieve a leadership position in the implementation and commissioning of the thermal power plants’ power units. Highly skilled multidisciplinary teams will cover all phases of the project, including engineering, procurement, construction, installation and commissioning.

Idom is supplying turnkey services to several solar thermal power plants in Spain, all of which are 50 MW: Majadas de Tiétar (Cáceres) for Acciona Energía, Morón de la Frontera (Seville) for Ibereólica Solar Morón, Palma del Río (Córdoba) for Guzmán Energía, and Olivenza (Badajoz) for Ibereólica Solar Olivenza.

 

27th. February 2011
Metro Cairo. Contactless Ticketing System

Cairo Metro, a public enterprise of Egypt’s Ministry of Transport, is undergoing an ambitious process of expansion, renovation and modernization of its entire network of operations. It will soon join the new and modern Line 3, which links Cairo Airport with the city’s Western district. With a population of approximately 17 million people, Cairo is one of the most densely populated cities in Africa. The Cairo Metro, in operation since 1990, currently transports more than 3 million passengers per day. To manage such a high passenger flow in the most efficient way, Cairo Metro has decided to enhance its ticketing system based on the stateof-the-art contactless smart card technology. Cairo Metro has put Idom in charge of carrying out the technical assistance to implement the new system on existing Lines 1 and 2 and ensure interoperability of the system with the future Line 3, along with the Egyptian National Railways and other transportation modes under the latest international standards for interoperability.

28th. January 2011
Black Holes, Distant Stars and Galaxies

The Gran Telescopio Canarias (GTC) is an ambitious Spanish project, led by the Institute for Astrophysics of the Canary Islands, to build one of the largest and most advanced telescopes in the world at the Observatory Roque de Los Muchachos (island of Palma). At this observatory, the conditions are optimal for observation due to the quality of the sky. With the telescope, one may learn more about black holes, the most distant stars and galaxies in the universe and the initial conditions behind the Big Bang, among other fields of astrophysics.

IDOM is responsible for the design, manufacturing, assembly and commissioning of the two Folded Cassegrain Sets for the Gran Telescopio de Canarias (GTC). Each set is composed of an Instrument Rotator -for scientific instruments up to 1000 kg- and the Acquisition & Guidance Optics. This system provides a rotation range of 530º, a positioning accuracy better than 13 arc seconds or 16 microns, and a maximum speed of 15º/s. In autumn 2010, the Critical Design Review (CDR) was carried out and, after approval, the manufacturing and procurement of the different components of the system started. This project is expected to be finished in summer 2011 after the assembly, integration and verification of the two units is performed.

28th. December 2010
New combined cycle at Yekaterinburg (Russia)

Since the Stalin era, some Russian city centers have power stations which, apart from providing electricity, supply thermal energy to the population in the form of hot water (district heating), avoiding the use of individual facilities. One of these city centers is Yekaterinburg, on the Asian side of the Ural Mountains, which has a complex of head offices that were built throughout the twentieth century on the site of Sredneuralsk, 30 km north of the city. The SUGRES complex, which carries a total capacity of 1,100 MW and is capable of producing steam at 1,740 t/h, comprises three groups, consisting of a total of 11 turbines. At the moment, a fourth group is being built, along with a 403 MW combined cycle and 200 Gcal/h thermal power generation to replace the oldest of the others, which was built in the 1930s. The final client and ownership is OGK-5, which is a company that comes from the monopoly that was broken up during the fall of the Soviet Union and has been recently acquired by ENEL. Client: Iberinco Services: Complete Engineering

29th. November 2010
Metro in Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam

With a metropolitan area of more than 9 million people and one of the highest demographic and economic growth rates in Southeast Asia, Ho Chi Minh City (formerly Saigon) needs new solutions that enhance mobility and reduce traffic congestion and pollution. Consequently, the Government of Vietnam has planned the construction of six underground lines.

In 2009, IDOM was awarded to perform the Feasibility Studies of Lines 5 and 6, which were two separate contracts with simultaneous development. The work includes establishing the base designs and construction of the lines.

Line 6 is about 7 km long, with 6 stations along its route. This line is peripheral and the mesh network closes to the West which structures the metro system in the city. The so-called Phase 1 of Line 5, with an estimated total length of approximately 10 km, is supposed to end in December 2015. Line 5 is 26.5 km long at its main branch line and another 3 additional km at its airport branch line, which serves passengers which go to and from the airport. The route layout runs from South to North and goes East to West, surrounding the urban center of Ho Chi Minh City.

19th. October 2010
IDOM participates in ITER (International Thermonuclear Experimental Reactor)

FUSION FOR ENERGY, commonly known as F4E, is a European Union organization that manages funds from Europe for the ITER project. FUSION FOR ENERGY has selected ENERGHIA Consortium for the "Support to the Owner Services" (also called Owner’s Engineering) contract. Among the world’s largest engineering companies, only a reduced group were selected by F4E for the final tendering process. ENERGHIA, formed in equal share by IDOM, HALCROW and ALTRAN, was awarded. The most advanced technologies of installations that support the nuclear reactor, the magnitude of the investment, the international and high companies profile participation, and the strategic value of nuclear fusion as a crucial energy source for the future, show us the relevance and importance of this project, which is a historical milestone for IDOM in the global nuclear sector. The new experimental power plant will be located in Cadarache, between the French villages of Manosque and Aix en Provence and 60 km far from the Marsella airport. The center for nuclear energy research that Charles de Gaulle founded in 1959 is also located in Cadarache. Various details on this project indicate its significant position with a budget of over 10,000€, 42 Ha occupied by buildings and other facilities, and other technical details such as the 150 M ºC temperature of the plasma inside of the reactor basin. This new contract, which has already begun, will run initially from 2010 to 2016, and may likely be extended until 2021. Mostly all the activities will be done onsite and our team will organize the necessities for the project in advance.

29th. September 2010
Poland’s new high-speed train is on its way

The Polish government has decided to build a high-speed railway that will connect Poland’s major cities. This new rail line will drastically reduce current trip durations as well as the CO2 emissions caused by passenger transport, while boosting both safety and comfort on train rides.

Around 10 million people will have direct access to the 450 km-long rail line. The line will connect Varsovia, Lodz, Poznan and Wroclaw with trains that can reach up to 350 km/hour, hitting record-breaking time durations of 35 minutes between Varsovia and Łódź, 95 minutes between Varsovia and Poznan, and 100 minutes between Varsovia and Wroclaw.

The contract to develop the feasibility study of the new rail line was signed on September 16 by IDOM and Biuro Projektów Komunikacyjnych w Poznaniu, who have formed a joint venture and were awarded the project.

The assignment will be divided into two stages. The first stage, which will be completed in 13 months, includes the analyses that are required to choose the best layout for the railway. The second stage involves developing a detailed proposal for the development of the chosen outline. The preparatory studies will go on until 2013. The construction work is scheduled to start in 2014, the first stretch is scheduled for completion by 2017 or 2018, and the entire railway is scheduled to be fully operational by 2020.

29th. August 2010
A sense of comfort, with scientific guarantee

Long journeys and situations that require a long attention span require, as a minimum, a state of comfort. Although science cannot guarantee driving safety or productivity at work, it can determine some parameters that make it easier to reach those goals.

These are assumptions upon which Ingenia led a project that originated in Idom, whose aim has been to define a model capable of quantifying the relationship between mechanical and physical parameters and the subjective perception of comfort of the individuals involved.

The final result is a chart that describes and analyzes how a person feels in an environment while experiencing a series of given olfactory, lighting, thermal, and ergonomic 1 & 2 Simulation of Air Velocity sensations.

24th. June 2010
Solar Telescope Enclosure Design Awarded

AEC Engineering has been awarded the engineering design of the enclosure for the National Solar Observatory's proposed Advanced Technology Solar Telescope (ATST), which is planned for construction on Haleakal, on the island of Maui in Hawaii.

ATST will be the largest solar telescope in the world, with unprecedented abilities to view details of the Sun. Using adaptive optics technology, ATST will be able to provide the sharpest views ever taken of the solar surface. It is expected that the 4-meter telescope will have a significant impact on the study of stellar magnetic fields, plasma physics and astronomy, allowing scientists to learn even more about the Sun and solar-terrestrial interactions. The ATST project is funded by the National Science Foundation and operated by the Association of Universities for Research in Astronomy (AURA), which includes NSO.

The ATST enclosure is a complex structure designed to protect the telescope assembly. The enclosure structure includes a wide assembly of mechanical sub-systems which, in addition to protecting and servicing the telescope, allow the entire structure to move so it can point, track and slew with the telescope assembly. Solar telescopes differ significantly from nighttime viewing telescopes, in that the thermal loads from the Sun’s radiation need to be counteracted such that the heat does not affect the “seeing” of the telescope.

AEC Engineering is part of the IDOM group. The project will be led from the AEC-IDOM office in Minneapolis, Minnesota.

15th. May 2010
Major transportation terminals

PORT OF LÁZARO CÁRDENAS (MEXICO)
The Port of Lázaro Cárdenas (Pacífic Coast) aspires to be one of the most important ports in Latin America. Idom has performed the economic study of the planning, pre-investment and technical, economic, ecologic and social feasibility for the installation of the second container terminal, which is an infrastructure necessary in order to achieve the port’s goal.

PORT OF BARCELONA (pictured)
The operations carried out in major port terminals, such as the Port of Barcelona, require international security codes that monitor both operations and traffic. Idom has worked with the Barcelona Port Authority to define process indicators in order to establish a new port service guarantee program.

DELTA DEL LLOBREGAT
In Delta del Llobregat, there is a series of infrastructures (airport and port of Barcelona, railroad) that make up a logistics platform at a European level. Idom is undertaking the prognosis studies for the Barcelona Chamber of Commerce in order to transform the delta into a leading platform, which will take effect by 2050.

GUATEMALA, EGYPT, PAKISTAN
Idom also performed the preliminary studies for the expansion of the Port of Santo Tomás de Castilla in Guatemala and collaborated with the World Bank and the International Finance Corporation (World Bank) in the development of logistics and transportation chains in countries such as Egypt, Morocco, Algeria and Pakistan.

16th. April 2010
Heathrow, continually growing

Heathrow is the world’s busiest international airport. Regarded as the hub of the aviation world, it is continually growing. Idom is working on several projects as part of this growth. MULTI-STOREY CAR PARK FOR THE NEW HEATHROW EAST TERMINAL T2A. DESIGN OPTIONS STAGE As an integral component of the future Terminal 2A, plans are under development for a new car park providing direct access to the new terminal. Various options and distribution strategies have been evaluated by Idom, to provide a building that will have a capacity of 2,000 car bays spread across 4 levels. The most significant element of the design concept is a new space located between the car park and the new terminal building, sheltered by the terminal’s roof canopy. This space will have an area of approximately 7,500 m2 (24,606 ft2), and is currently planned as a landscaped zone of trees and planting, crossed at high level by bridges which provide access to the terminal. Idom is part of the HETCO Team (Ferrovial Agromán UK in joint venture with Laing O’Rourke), which has been appointed by BAA to carry out the Options Design Stage. Idom is taking on board the role of lead consultant, structural and environmental engineer and passenger / vehicle traffic specialist. The architectural concept has been developed in close collaboration with Grimshaw Architects. TERMINAL 3 INTEGRATED BAGGAGE FACILITY The new automated baggage processing system will handle up to 50,000 bags per day and will be connected to the new T5 through a purpose-built baggage tunnel. The main design challenge has been the integration of the baggage system, which occupies 40,000 m2 (131,234 ft2), with the new facility’s structure & services, whilst maintaining conti­nuous 24 hour operation of the terminal across the complex network of airport services which include an existing underground tunnel below the building. 3D integration and design software is being utilized by Idom for this project. Idom is working alongside Pascall+Watson and Vanderlande as part of the Ferrovial Agromán UK Team. Idom is taking on board the role of lead consultant, structural and environmental engineer.

7th. March 2010
Solar Thermal Power Plants

The first solar thermal power plant to operate in the region of Extremadura, Spain is called Alvarado 1. It has a capacity of 50 MW, which is enough to supply electricity to 28,000 homes. Parabolic cylinder technology was used for this plant, which includes 184,320 mirrors arranged in rows along nearly 74 kilometers (46 miles) occupying an area of 130 hectares (321 acres).

This plant will prevent the annual emission of 98,000 tones of CO2 that would be generated by coal, while still producing the same amount of electricity. The advantage of using solar thermal power plants is that their maximum output is recorded during business hours and can meet the peak in urban demand caused by the use of air conditioning at that time.

Idom has carried out the Engineering, Procurement and Cosntruction of the Power Block and is currently working with Acciona in another power plant similar to Majadas del Tiétar (Extremadura).

26th. January 2010
Design and Innovation in SMEs

The new strategic model that the Government of Spain wants small and medium-sized companies to follow is to incorporate the culture of design and innovation into their business. The State Society for the Development of Design and Innovation (DDI) awarded Idom the assistance to implement this model in more than 120 companies from the regions of Andalusia, Castilla-La Mancha, Extremadura, and Galicia, in its journey towards the systematization of design and innovation processes. To carry out this project, the largest yet in design and innovation in Spain, Idom has put together a team of professionals trained in the best industrial design schools in the Netherlands, England, Italy, and Spain.

 

7th. September 2009
Midland Quarry Reclamation (United Kingdom)

Midland Quarry Project was “highly commended” in the ‘UK Project Over £1M’ category at the Ground Engineering Awards which was held in London on 6th February 2009. The former stone quarry of some 16 hectares is located approximately 1 km to the northwest of Nuneaton, Warwickshire - situated midway between the cities of Birmingham and Leicester in United Kingdom. Quarrying commenced about 1885 and ceased during the late 1990’s, when the quarry had developed as two distinct voids – a large deep main void which had partly flooded and a smaller parabolic shaped shallow void - both were surrounded by stockpiles of quarry waste. The project involved the construction of a 38 m high Reinforced Earth Slope (RES) between the main and shallow voids to allow filling of the shallow void to provide a plateau for future housing development. The RES comprised 500 mm thick layers of engineered granular fill reinforced with composite high strength synthetic polymer geogrids, which had a wrap-around face with coarse stone infill for the lower section to be submerged below the main void lake, with the upper section faced with topsoil to be grassed. Construction was undertaken using site derived crushed rock, quarry waste and some imported waste foundry sand from a nearby site in Rugby, thereby maximising re-use of materials. Merebrook was responsible for the general concept and the construction management of the project.

 

6th. August 2009
Vitoria new tram

The city of Vitoria (Spain) has recently joined the list of European cities which have bet on the light rail as a mean of transport of medium capacity to promote mobility in cities by public transport as opposed to private vehicles.
IDOM put the whole project together for the tram line and the Depot and Garage building and helped in the management of building and starting up the line, putting its experienced technicians from other tram projects in Bilbao, Granada, Tenerife, Seville, Porto, Barcelona and Madrid at the disposal of the Basque Government.

As part of the system implementation work, IDOM collaborated with Euskotan in the definition and development of a touchfree card system for payment and ticketing. According to the data, in the first two months of operation there were over 650,000 passengers on the line, an average of 11,000 passengers per day and a punctuality rate of 95%. A successful and sustainable transport system with a great future has been set up in the city of Vitoria-Gasteiz.

 

6th. July 2009
Technology Park in Atizapan (Mexico)

Atizapan de Zaragoza is a dynamic and active metropolitan municipality north of Mexico City, which grew rapidly during the industrial momentum experienced by Mexico in the 1980s. The Ministry for Economic Development in Mexico and the Mexiquense Council on Science and Technology (COMECYT) have chosen Atizapan to support the development of a pioneer technology park in the country oriented towards communication and information technologies. IDOM was hired to draw up the strategic plan to identify and select the park model and focus together with the zoning proposal in a Master Plan. The Technology Park lies on a plot of land covering 45 hectares in the Municipality and The Ministry for Economic Development in Mexico is currently promoting the Park among companies that might be interested in setting up there.

5th. June 2009
Automotive Intelligence Center (AIC)

The AIC opened its facilities in January (in Bizkaia, Spain). IDOM drew up the architectural design, the project detail and managed the building site of this complex international benchmark in the automotive industry.Innovation, in the broad sense
of the word, will give the most relevant edge in the automobile sector, which has always managed to reinvent itself throughout its history; however, it now has to play a more decisive role thanks to new requirements for quality, safety, the environment and vehicle comfort. Cooperation with vehicle manufacturers and among suppliers will
be a key element for taking on the above-mentioned challenges.

The recently-opened complex consists of 19,000 m2 builtup floor area divided into three buildings: the main building and two development units. The main building is conceived as a huge aerodynamic roof that gathers, groups together and shelters the R&D&i units of different companies that are setting up as well as different spaces for common use built to promote synergies among the units: a laboratory with boxes for team research work, training zones, and a large multipurpose hall (events, exhibitions, product presentations, etc).

6th. May 2009
Fast-growing SME’s in Latin America

Fast growing SME’s are companies that produce a high yield for investors, promote regional development, generate satisfaction in managers and employees and contribute to creating jobs. Venture capital companies, public authorities and researchers are deeply interested in fast-growing companies. Unfortunately only three to five per cent of SME’s that are set up have the potential to generate significant wealth and employment. In order to obtain deeper knowledge and characterisation of fast growing SME’s, the Multilateral Investment Fund (FOMIN) in collaboration with the Science and Technology Division of the Inter- American Development Bank (IDB) launched a study in Brazil, Chile and Mexico. IDOM won this contract thanks to its experience in business innovation, its multidisciplinary focus and its international presence. Six case studies were carried out in three countries for the assignment: Brazil, Chile and Mexico. The preliminary conclusions were presented at the OECD SME and Business annual work group, held at the Kauffman Foundation in May 2008 in Kansas City, United States. The hypotheses drawn from the case studies were then validated by a survey of a larger
group of fastgrowing SME’s in the three abovementioned countries. The IDB has published
the results in the beginning of 2009.

14th. April 2009
Innovation projects for hospitals

Today, the procedure to determine the ocular deviation is completely manual (using prisms) and the error is huge. IDOM has developed a new diagnostic system that use the highest technology to provide a revolutionary precision: the “Ocular Motility DIGitizer” (DigMo Project). This project is only an example of IDOM’s commitment to innovation within the health system. The Firm is developing an Innovation Management System for the Hospitaller Order of Saint John of God at Barcelona, in collaboration with the Barcelona Professional Association of Doctors and with the support of the Government of Catalonia’s Ministry of Health as a model to be followed by other hospitals. The project approaches innovation within the hospital from a systemic perspective based on six main lines of action that include: health services, medical devices, information and communication technology, physical infrastructure, hospital organisation and management and finally knowledge management. The project will also take into account the R&D activities performed by the hospital.

9th. March 2009
Shopping Centre in Riga (Latvia)

Sia Patollo, a Latvian company of Norwegian and English capital, is developing a shopping centre in Riga. The centre consists of seven floors with a terrace and underground parking. The gross leasable area (GLA) is 40,000 m2 and will include 220 shops and restaurants. The developer is expecting 30,000 visitors a day. The work began in December 2007, starting with the construction of a peripheral wall based on a pile system. The developer contracted IDOM to review and coordinate the installation design (air-conditioning, plumbing, electricity, fire detection and extinguishing systems, telephony and gas), and to supervise, assist and manage the start-up of these installations. They subsequently asked IDOM to coordinate the internal design. A team of seven people were based in Riga for five months. Two of these have remained there to provide technical assistance for the work over the next two years. The scope of the service will include collaboration in the Project Management. The development company has other projects in progress in Russia –St. Petersburg and Ryazan– and has contracted IDOM for the conceptual design phases.

 

11th. February 2009
The Heredia Digital Project (Costa Rica)

IDOM has completed the feasibility study for the Heredia Digital Project established using development funds from the Central American Bank for Economic Integration (CABEI). The Heredia Digital Project is part of an initiative established by Empresa de Servicios Públicos de Heredia (ESPH SA) to enter the telecommunications market with the aim of providing triple play services (telephone - Internet - television) using the latest technologies available on the market. The ESPH SA currently offers services for water supply, drainage, electricity supply and public lighting in the region of Heredia, which is located a few kilometres from the capital of Costa Rica, San José. The establishment of a Free Trade Area between Central America, the Dominican Republic and the United States has led to the liberalisation of the telecommunications market in Costa Rica and the current boom that the country is experiencing has therefore resulted in increased interest in this type of study. Over the last few months IDOM’s Telecommunications department has been preparing an analysis allowing ESPH SA to assess the feasibility of them entering such a competitive and changing sector as telecommunications. The know-how acquired by IDOM during the liberalisation of this sector in Spain was of great signifi cance during this study. The study was structured around the following fi elds of analysis: legal, market, technical, fi nancial, environmental and socio-economic. In line with current technological trends, the study was aimed at the provision of triple play services (telephone - Internet - television) using fi ber-to-home solutions. This requires the evolution of Costa Rican networks towards Next Generation Networks (NGNs). The study will provide suffi cient information for the decision-making process on the creation of a new telecommunications operator in Costa Rica.

 

15th. January 2009
49 Dwellings and Nursery in Bermondsey

The proposal presented by IDOM was awarded with the first prize in a competition organised by Southwark Council. The site is part of the Bermondsey Spa Regeneration Area and is situated next to St. James’s Church. The main target of the project is to maintain a visual and physical connection between St James’s Road and the churchyard gardens, opening up new pedestrian links between the central area of Bermondsey Spa and the nearby underground station. In order to achieve this, the building is broken in two elements, creating a void space in between that becomes the main protagonist of the project. The scheme provides a total of 49 housing units, ranging from studios to 3 bedroom flats, and a nursery to replace the existing. 25% of the units are affordable. The relationship with the natural surroundings is a key element of the project. Timber and copper facades and extensive use of planting are proposed, whereas generous balconies will maximise the connection between the units and the exterior.

 

3rd. December 2008
Design of Pressure Tanks in Saudi Arabia

Al-Zamil Heavy Industries, (ZHI) is a prominent petrochemical equipment manufacturer located in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Design and review shop drawings for more than thirty ASME Sect VIII, Div 2 pressure vessels for Saudi Arabia’s Khursaniyah Gas Plant Project (KPG). The design pressures for the vessels ranged from 1060 psi (7308 KPa) to 1840 psi (12686 KPa). Fatigue analysis due to thermal transient loading was an important part of the design requirements. The total weight of these vessels exceeded 5,300,000 pounds (2,400,000 kg). AEC-IDOM completed the assignment on schedule to the complete satisfaction of ZHI. Having successfully completed the Khursaniyah Gas plant Project, AEC-IDOM was retained by ZHI once again to design the vertical Deethanizer Column for the Yanbu Gas Plant Expansion Project in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia in accordance with the requirements of the ASME Section VIII, Div. 2. The vessel design pressure was 455 psi (3137KPa). AEC-IDOM’s design responsibility included the design of support saddles to hydrostatically test the column in a horizontal position as well as the design of the attachments to lift the vessel. The Deethanizer Column weighed approximately 2,200,000-pounds (1,000 t.), had a diameter of approximately 26-ft (7.9 meters), an overall height of more than 145-ft (44 meters), and wall thicknesses up to 5-inches (127 mm). In addition to its domestic projects, AECIDOM also completed ASME pressure vessel design and analysis for projects in Venezuela and Colombia. The design pressures ranged up to 7500psi (51710 KPa). Vessel shell thicknesses went up to 6.625 inches (170 mm).

 

7th. November 2008
IDOM Acquires the Merebrook Company

IDOM has recently concluded the acquisition of the British company Merebrook, whose headquarters are in Belper (Derbyshire) and with offices in Orpington (Kent), Malmesbury (Wiltshire) and Cardiff (Wales). This operation has significantly increased IDOM’s presence within the UK, since it has had a permanent office in London since 2001. Up until now, IDOM’s activity within the United Kingdom has centred upon Architecture, carrying out projects both in the British Isles and the rest of Europe. In addition, professional services have been Offered from London to Spanish companies with interests in the United Kingdom, as well as to British companies interested in investing in the Iberian Peninsula or Latin America. The integration of Merebrook into the IDOM Group provides the possibility of extending these services throughout the United Kingdom since this company specialises in environmental consultancy, civil engineering, structural calculations and health and safety. As the integration is consolidated, the other areas of IDOM activity will show their full potential. The acquisition of Merebrook strengthens IDOM’s presence in the Anglo- Saxon market since they also acquired the AEC Engineering company in 2006. This company has its registered address in Minneapolis (Minnesota, USA) and has offices in Richmond (Virginia, USA) and Calgary (Alberta, Canada).

 

2nd. October 2008
Vehizero's New Factory in Mexico

2nd. September 2008 Vehizero, a Mexican company that designs hybrid freight vehicles, plans to construct an assembly plant in the state of Aguascalientes (Mexico). IDOM contributed to the design of the layout and the master plan of the new factory, whose installations are designed to produce a volume of 8,000 vehicles per year. In the first phase, the assembly plant will be built with a floor area of 4,200 m2, distributed in several zones including the assembly line, storage room, powerhouse, auxiliary services and sheds, as well as the development of 10,000 m2 distributed across 5 hectares of land.

 

2nd. September 2008
The Hotusa Group’s Hotel in Germany

2nd. September 2008 The Hotusa Group’s Hotel in Germany The Hotusa Group will construct two hotels in Munich and one in Berlin, with 237, 205 and 221 rooms respectively. They are scheduled to open in 2009 or 2010. These openings are part of the group’s plan for international expansion, which includes opening twenty new hotels in the next three years. The company is searching for opportunities to set up in Prague, Paris, Mexico, Argentina and New York, as well as in several Spanish cities. These hotels have street-level entr y, five to eight floors and a lower level. All are situated in central areas, near train stations. The finishing touches, facilities, and construction solutions are considered to be high-quality within the hotel sector. According to Hotusa’s aims, these would be four-star hotels with qualities that could reach five-star level. After Hotusa had purchased the land, construction was carried out under a turnkey agreement with local contractors. In the case of Hotel Munich, whose construction began in Februar y 2008, the budget was 23 million euros, the contractor is Adolf Lupp GMBH & Co, and the architecture firm GFB of Berlin was contracted for the architecture and project direction. For this project, IDOM carried out Project Monitoring functions and played a role of technical assessor. This function involves the periodic generation of authorisation reports providing information about the authorisations that Hotusa requests relating to works certificates or any other incurred cost related to the project. In these reports, the main significant events that might arise during the project, which would therefore be of interest to the financial entities, are identified and analysed. They also reflect compliance with technical regulations, the advance of the work plan, forecasts of large hirings, and the appearance of unforeseen events.

 

6th. August 2008
Wind farms in Brazil

IMPSA, a share company from Argentinian capital, has charged IDOM with completing three wind farm projects in the state of Ceará, Brazil. The Ceara Project has awarded a contract to construct three wind farms that will have a capacity of 99.6 MW and provide more than 400 GWh/year: Volta do Río (42 MW), Praia do Morgado (28.8 MW) and Praias de Parajuru (28.8 MW). The first two parks are located 300 km north of the city of Fortaleza, while Praia do Parajuru is 100 km south of the same city. The three parks are found in the best wind zone in Brazil.
The machines IMPSA selected for its parks are made by IMPSA BSH. The 1.516 MW series is used in Praia do Morgado and in Praias de Parajuru, and the 1.5 MW series in Volta do Río. A voltage of 34.5 kV was chosen for the wind farm’s internal grid to reduce transport losses and to minimise the investment. Each wind turbine is provided with a 0.69/24.5 kV transformer in an adjoining prefabricated shelter. The work carried out mainly consists of specifying the cartographic and geotechnical needs, an environmental study, a logistical project, and the basic project for the three wind farms, their corresponding substations, and the necessary evacuation lines.
IMPSA subsequently entrusted IDOM with the construction of the roads, foundations, transformers and 34.5 kV internal grids in each of the three parks. Given the low resistance capacity of the soil on which the wind farms are constructed, it was necessary to design pile foundations. A multi-disciplinary team composed of technicians from the São Paolo and Zaragoza offices completed the work over five months.

 

10th. July 2008
The Multilateral Investment Fund (MIF).
A innovative approach.

The MIF was created by the Inter-American Development Bank (IADB) to help contribute to the development of countries in Latin America and the Caribbean in their transition towards a global market economy. The MIF is a pioneer in using capital investment funds as a development tool to provide companies with access to financial options that are normally reserved for large corporations. In 2006, MIF financed a total of 900 projects, with contributions that exceeded a billion dollars. The MIF is aware of the challenges existing in the near future: leadership in Latin America and the Caribbean, innovation, the generation of added value, transparency, excellence, speed and efficiency. It is for this reason that it has embarked upon a process of strategic reflection aimed at promoting a model of sustainable development, which will enable the organisation to obtain greater efficacy and efficiency in its activities, as well as improved economic and social impact within the region. IDOM has worked alongside the MIF in this process of strategic reflection, performing a detailed analysis of the organisation and its processes. This culminated in the creation of a proposal for a management model enabling the MIF to respond to its clients more quickly, thus creating a more agile and efficient organisation and to remain at the forefront of economic development in Latin America and the Caribbean.

 

17th. June 2008
Complex Radio Communication Systems

A trunked radio system is a complex type of radio system that is used to maximize available capacity in a two-way radio system. Trunking is used by many government entities to provide two-way communication for fire departments, police and other municipal services. The Vitoria (Spain) Town Hall awarded the consultancy contract to IDOM for the technical design of a Digital Trunked Radio Network and a Control Centre for the Local Police service.

TETRA (Terrestrial Trunked Radio) was selected as the radio communication system since this is a standard system specifi¬cally designed for use by the emergency services given its capacity for user management, response times and possibilities for extension. Based on a list provided by the Town Hall of available sites for storing transmission equipment, IDOM performed a radioelectric coverage study to identify the number and location of sites required to achieve a sufficient level of coverage to meet the requested requirements.

As a result of this study, IDOM designed a network with three sites, which are connected to one another, and the Data Switching Exchange via a 2 Mbps capacity ring. Three of these connections were designed with microwave links and the fourth via optical fibre. The Data Switching Exchange installation was designed in the same location as the Police service control centre, which currently takes calls from citizens and its own officers. In order to maximise the potential of the installation, a communications management and integration system was designed in the same location, thus enabling the following: interconnection with the existing telephony system, integration with analogue transmitters (redundantly), integration with the Local Police IT network, terminal monitoring via GPS, incident management and the application of registration numbers and National ID Card queries from the mobile terminals.

22th. May 2008
European Extremely Large Telescope (E-ELT)

At the end of 2006, the ESO (European Organisation for Astronomical Research in the Southern Observatory) established the reference design for the E-ELT and launched the detailed design project with a budget of 57 million euros. IDOM was then awarded the contract for the preliminary design of the building and foundations for the telescope. The building consists of a hemispherical dome with a 96 m. external diameter that rotates along with the telescope for observation on top of a 17 m. high concrete cylindrical wall. The large opening required for observation (45 m. wide and elevating from 30 to 90º) as well as the size of the building presents one of the greatest challenges in the design. This challenge mainly affects the doors, which finally are to be formed by two spherical surfaces which are 26 m. wide and can extend up to 100 m., travelling horizontally along four tracks mounted on to the dome structure. It also affects the design of the windscreen, a screen used to protect the telescope from wind during observation and the main crane (20 t.). The company has opted for innovative yet inherently simple and robust designs, thus minimising development and operational risks. The nozzles used for air-conditioning in the internal chamber (which should be refrigerated during the day so that the internal temperature is the same as the external temperature when observation is started) have been installed in the fixed part of the construction, so that refrigerating fluid should not be transferred between the fixed and mobile part, which would require special couplings between pipes. The thermal control system also has a series of airtight seals along the mobile joints (between the dome and fixed building and between the doors and dome). The design and associated studies were presented on 19 February at the ESO installations in Munich.

 

 

20th. April 2008
III International Architecture Congress ACXT-IDOM

Under the heading Processes, the III Architecture Congress was held in the Centro de Cultura Contemporánea of Barcelona on the 11th and 12th of April with the attendance of more than 300 professionals. The speeches presented at the Congress were presented by 17 experts, among whom were Javier Neila, Professor of Construction a ETSAM (Technical School of Architecture of Madrid); Salvador Rueda, director of the Urban Ecology Agency of Barcelona; José Ballesteros, editor of the magazine Pasajes; Manuel Gausa, architect and member of the group Actar; Ignacio Paricio, Professor of Construction at ETSAB (Technical School of Architecture of Barcelona); Daniel Sánchez Crespo, director of the Video Game Master programme at the Universidad Pompeu Fabra; Spiro Pollalis, a professor at Harvard University; Hanif Kara, structural engineer and member of the group Adams Kara Taylor, and Bjarke Ingels, who presented the work of the renowned Danish architecture firm, Big Architects.During the Congress the awards for the international competition of Final Year Projects were presented, giving out €5,000 euros and a certified diploma. The four young people awarded, two English and two Spanish, won because of the high quality of their respective projects. The jury was made up of Iñaki Ábalos, Doctor of Architecture and Professor of Projects at the Universidad Politécnica de Madrid; Anatxu Zabalbeascoa, historian and journalist specialising in architecture; Javier Quintana, Doctor of Architecture and Director of the Fundación Rafael Escolá; Jesús María Susperregui, Architect and Associate-Director of ACXT; Jesús Llamazares, Doctor of Architecture and Member of ACXT; César Azcarate, Architect and Member of ACXT; Antonio Villanueva, Industrial Engineer and head of the Area of Sustainability of IDOM. The secretary of the jury was Laura Espejo, ACXT architect.

 

10th. April 2008
Environment International Seminary

The IDOM through its Environment technical area promotes on April 23, in the city of Sao Paulo - Brazil, the Environment International Seminar on the issue of contaminated soil and waste. They already are developed by Idom Spain that performs projects for remediation of soil and waste management programs and plans directors in several countries. The seminary will include the participation of Mr. Rafael Sagarduy - Director of the Technical Area for the Environment of IDOM and will have the support of the Chamber of Commerce Brazil Spain. The issues are of immense interest to businesses and governmental entities currently suffering with large environmental liabilities and to the management of the processes of final destination of solid waste. Address: Chamber of Commerce Brazil Spain Av. Engenheiro Luiz Carlos Berrini, 1681 – 14º. floor São Paulo – SP – Brazil

Date: April, 23 th, 2008 Time: From 8:00 am to 1:00pm.
Free inscriptions by e-mail: paola@camaraespanhola.org.br

 

1st. April 2008
Expansion of the airport in Malaga
Taking into account the statistics and forecasts for future traffic in Malaga Airport (23.5 million passengers in 2020), as well as the current capacity of the existing infrastructure, the Spanish Airport and Air Navigation Authority (AENA) decided in June 2000 to expand both of the above in consecutive phases without interrupting the airport operations during their execution.

First of all, the car parks and temporary accesses will be expanded and a new Terminal Area will be constructed. The aircraft field will be expanded during a second phase with the construction of a new runway. The new T3 Terminal will have the capacity to serve 20 million passengers a year. It will consist of three basic elements:
a processing building, a boarding area (Area D) and a bus station. Each of the three areas will have access to different means of land transportation. IDOM, as the expert technical assistant, working with the Communications Division of AENA Central Services, will be responsible for establishing and drafting the specifications, as well as controlling and monitoring the communication systems execution for the new Terminal Area. The communication systems to be established by IDOM will be based on the latest technology and approved standards and shall be fully integrated with the existing
ones to form one single system throughout the entire airport.

The systems to be established are as follows: multiservice network (fully redundant LAN network with 11,500 user stations and 44 cabling stations), WiFi network (with coverage throughout the entire terminal and surrounding areas, and the capability to process voice, data and localisation traffic), trunked radio communications, IP telephony, commercial TV and digital video distribution.