These awards, now in their eighth year, recognise cooperation and commitment to excellence in management on the part of the companies' teams.

On 27 June, ACCIONA Infrastructure presented the 8th Annual 2007 Site Management Awards in recognition of best practices in Safety, Quality and the Environment, and Site Management.

The award for the best management of Quality and the Environment in the Building category went to construction work on the joint venture handling the Fine Arts School in Valencia, and in the Civil Engineering category the prize went to the high-speed train line between Horcajada and Naharros, in Cuenca. Aspects such as quality in execution processes and proposed and completed improvement actions in environmental and quality management were considered in the selection process.

The award for best Safety management went to the restoration work on the Mata Castle in Las Palmas (Canary Islands). Criteria included the site's safety record in the last year, and the degree to which safety has become part of the project's overall management scheme.

The prize for the best Site Management, which assessed overall aspects such as deadlines, organisation and control, economic monitoring and resource management, was awarded to the Post Office Automated Sorting Facility in Alicante.

The awards were presented by ACCIONA's Vice-Chairman, Juan Ignacio Entrecanales, together with the General Manager of ACCIONA Infrastructure, Pedro Martínez; other attendees included Juan Francisco Lazcano, Chairman of the Confederación Nacional de la Construcción; Manuel Díaz Martín, Professor at EOI and Vice-Chairman of the Asociación Española de Evaluación de Impacto Ambiental; and Enrique González, Chairman of the Instituto Técnico de Materiales y Construcciones (INTEMAC); all the aforementioned institutions participated in evaluating the candidates and selecting the winners.
The Vice-Chairman of ACCIONA highlighted "the importance of this event, which reflects our commitment to being pioneers, recognising safety and giving absolute priority and attention to quality." He added: "we care not only about what we do, but how we do it".

ACCIONA Infrastructure's Site Management Awards are an established event recognising cooperation within the teams and their commitment to excellence in management. This confirms ACCIONA Infrastructure's position as a pioneer in a management style focused on quality and sustainability.

Recognising a job well done

ACCIONA Infrastructure bases its Environmental Management System on an annual declaration of objectives which is distributed throughout its work centres, and which includes specific plans of action. Last year the company earmarked 7.7 million euro for environmental activities and proposed environmental improvements to its clients in 82% of its projects regarding: reusing materials, using materials that do not generate hazardous waste, and sparing trees.

In terms of quality, clients' high average satisfaction is revealed by the fact that all evaluations exceed the 69% acceptance level. In 2007, the number of internal quality audits increased considerably to 518, and the percentage of production certified to the ISO 9000 standard increased to 78%. These figures reflect the company's commitment to continuous improvement by tracking management systems.
ACCIONA prioritises the implementation of workplace safety programmes in all group companies so as to make all employees aware of the importance of safety and their responsibility for working safely and applying all the necessary preventative measures. The company has a Workplace Risk Prevention Strategy for 2007-2009 with a set objective of "zero accidents" in all activity areas. To this end, ACCIONA Infrastructure provided 19,180 training hours on safety in 2007, among other actions.

The International ORP Award 2008, the highest international award to a company for progress in workplace safety, granted to ACCIONA in May, reflects the company's commitment and excellence in this area, and further strengthens its Workplace Risk Prevention System.

ACCIONA is one of Spain's leading companies, with operations in the fields of infrastructure, energy, water and services on over five continents in over thirty countries. ACCIONA ended 2007 with revenues of 7.953 billion euro (26.8% more than 2006), EBITDA of 1.407 billion euro (46.6% more) and net profit of 935 million euro (48.4% more). Capital expenditure totalled 3.114 billion euro.