The first reused maritime containers begin to arrive at the work that is shaping this iconic facility in the outdoor polygon, a symbol of the circular economy and which will house the Blue Economy technology incubator
The works, carried out by the Díaz Cubero company, are advancing at a good pace and are expected to be completed in the last quarter of the year
It must be remembered that this project has the support of European FEDER funds through an initial grant of 2.5 million euros to which a new endowment of 1.5 million was added last November
You can already see the assembly of the first recycled maritime containers in the construction of the Base Zone building that will house the high-tech incubator around the Blue Economy, Incubazul, located on the plot of the old Ibérica Aga in the outer polygon and that it will be a benchmark for the circular economy in the city of Cádiz.
The works, which are being carried out by the Díaz Cubero company, are advancing at a good pace and the forecast for their completion is maintained for the last quarter of this year. In total, the 54 containers will arrive in groups of three by three in the coming weeks, once they are being previously prepared in the workshop to be recovered.
Once on site, the containers will be assembled, adapted and painted until they shape the final equipment that has been designed by the Carquero Arquitectura studio, which will have a total constructed area of 1,951.33 m2 y 1.415,73 m2 of terraces and open spaces distributed over three floors in addition to the ground floor.
The building aspires to be a center of reference, an emblem of the sustainable industry that will be projected to the rest of the city, creating a new way of doing and living the workplace, giving a second life to the containers -which usually have a useful life of 10-15 years–, forming a large, complex and original project that will begin the transformation of the industrial zone of Cádiz.
All floors will have terraces and free spaces and the ground floor includes coworking, training rooms, cafeteria and bicycle parking, as well as surface parking on the same plot. Seven offices have been planned on the first floor and thirteen on the second. The third floor is planned with spaces for management, meeting rooms, facilities and a technological laboratory. Likewise, the opening of the facilities to green spaces and free areas or the use of energy from the photovoltaic roof is projected.
The work, which has an investment of more than 3 million euros, began last July after the laying of the first stone by the Minister of Finance and Public Function, María Jesús Montero, who supported the Consortium's commitment with her presence. for printing a new stamp on its management based on the promotion of the Blue Economy, renewable energies and sustainable mobility, in line with the 20-30 Agenda of the Government of Spain, its Recovery, Transformation and Resilience Plan and the Goals of Sustainable Development (SDG) of the United Nations.
Since the beginning of the work, the foundation works have been completed -by means of concrete wells, reinforced footings and brace beams-; The sanitation networks and pipes have been made and the metal structures where the containers will be placed have been erected. In parallel, the Free Zone is also undertaking the urbanization works of the entire Execution Unit UE-ZF-08 where the Base Zone project is located and executing the electrical infrastructure (medium voltage network). Likewise, the Consortium will soon begin the works on the sanitation network, once the Executive Committee authorizes the tender -which will be held tomorrow, Wednesday- for an amount of 603,524 euros (VAT not included).
Support from European Funds
Along these lines, it should be noted that the Zona Base-Incubazul project also has the support of the European Union, which co-finances it, through the INCYDE Foundation, 80% by the FEDER within the 2014-2020 Plurirregional Operational Program within of axis 3: Improving the Competitiveness of SMEs, Thematic Objective 3 Improving the competitiveness of small and medium-sized enterprises, and the 3rd investment priority Promotion of entrepreneurship, in particular, facilitating the economic exploitation of new ideas, and promoting the creation of new companies, also through incubators.
In March 2020, he obtained a grant of 2.5 million euros for an investment of 3.15 million (80% grant); to which we must add that in November of this year a new endowment of FEDER Funds for the Blue Economy incubator of 1.5 million euros was made effective for a total investment of 1.9 million.
With the aim of meeting the deadlines of the European subsidy and to speed up the consolidation of the incubation process among the startups -there are already 23 within the acceleration program- while the works on the container building are being carried out, the Free Zone is already developing the startup acceleration program on the fifth floor of the Europa building, in the Cadiz Tax Office, a large space of 414 m2 that with individual and shared offices (coworking), agora, meeting and training rooms, among others, and the adaptation of a technological laboratory in a warehouse on the ground floor of the building.
This High Technology Incubator Project for the promotion of innovation and technology transfer to microSMEs in the blue economy sector in Andalusia “[BlueEcoIncuba x Logistical]Tech = ZONA BASE – INCUBAZUL 2.0” is 80% financed by the European Regional Development Fund within the Pluriregional Operational Program of Spain FEDER 2014-2020 OP. “A way of making Europe” within axis 3: Improving the Competitiveness of SMEs, Thematic Objective 3 Improving the competitiveness of small and medium-sized enterprises, and investment priority 3 Promotion of entrepreneurship, in particular, facilitating the economic exploitation of new ideas, and promoting the creation of new companies, also through incubators.”
