BENEDICTA PARK IN PORTUGALETE

Area of activity
CITY AND TERRITORY

Service
Urban and landscape design

Client
Surposa

Scope

• Construction management
• Health and Safety Coordination
• Quality control and waste management plan.
• Recalculation of the pedestrian walkway

Duration
2011-2012

The project responds to an aspiration of the Portugalete City Council to recover the former land around the Benedicta dock in the municipal limits of Sestao and Portugalete. These lands, deeply degraded and marginalized, were used as a working space for loading and transporting coal.

That is why, taking advantage of its privileged location in front of the Bilbao Estuary, the City Council intended to reincorporate these lands into the urban fabric as a park, creating a space to connect the urban center of Portugalete with the area of the Dock in front of the dock. Another objective is to achieve, in addition, the integration of the suburban railway line.

The resulting park is structured through a series of platforms that bridge the great difference in level between the upper urban area and the dock of the estuary. These platforms are interconnected by different systems of stairs, ramps and, at strategic points, elevators to facilitate pedestrian traffic in the area.

The design and supervision of the works corresponding to the urbanization of the new square, the pedestrian access roads, the park and the elevator that has allowed the connection between the river bank and the residential areas 40 m above.

The intervention area was characterized by a steep slope, which had a significant influence on the difficulty in the design and execution of the works to be carried out.