ACCIONA acknowledged for its environmental work in the "Madrid Río" project

Landscaping at Arganzuela Park absorbs the equivalent of the pollution generated by 727 cars a day.

Autochthonous plant varieties were used in an effort to keep down water consumption.

The park's watering system is designed to adapt itself automatically to weather conditions.

ACCIONA has been recognized by Madrid's "Medio Ambiente 2011" environment awards with a Commendation in the "Environmental Integration and Reclamation" category. The distinction comes for the Company's landscape work at the Spanish capital's Arganzuela Park, as part of the "Madrid Río" project. The Awards, organized jointly by the Madrid Regional Government's Department of the Environment and Town & Country Planning, the Chamber of Industry and Commerce and the Madrid Business Confederation, praised ACCIONA Environment Services' landscaping work on the banks of the city's Manzanares River.

ACCIONA Environment Services planted 6,581 trees comprising 18 varieties and 142,789 shrubs (the equivalent of one plant for each resident in the district) on the 195,014 square meters of land that were added to Arganzuela Park as a result of the underground re-routing of Madrid's M-30 ring road. Autochthonous plant varieties were used throughout to keep down water consumption

This new urban woodland generates 685 metric tons of oxygen a year and absorbs 171 metric tons of CO2, enough to offset the pollution from 727 cars a day. If they were sited together, these plants would cover 685,000 square meters.

In an effort to optimize water consumption, the park has an automatic watering system that can be programmed, monitored and managed from a central control desk, and it is connected to a weather station which means that watering takes place according to the weather conditions. The system uses 100% recycled water.

As well as Arganzuela Park, ACCIONA has carried our other high-profile projects for the "Madrid Río" intiative, such as the Almuñecar Footbridge (the world's longest carbon fiber footbridge); the Perrault Footbridge (unique for its metal structure and its 250-meter span which makes it the longest bridge built for the "Madrid Río" project), or the Cáscara [literally "Nutshell"] Footbridge, a twin-deck bridge with two dome-shaped roofs featuring Europe's largest photo-mosaic. These new infrastructures are already benefitting more than one million madrileños [Madrid residents], making life easier for pedestrians and fast-becoming a symbol of the "Madrid Río" project.