- Italcementi Group

The revamping and restyling of the Malaga plant is the greatest exponent of Financiera y Minera’s strong commitment to Sustainable Development, in harmony with the corporate policy of Italcementi Group. Today the Plant is being so vigorously modernised that the picture taken in 1918 and used for the centenary celebrations of the company in 2000 will soon end up on museum and library shelves.

The biggest private investment ever recorded in Malaga’s history, the project is being carried out in close collaboration with CTG and entails an 84 million euro budget to assure a long life both for the plant and the rest of our industrial activities.

First and foremost, the project aims to deliver benefits in environmental quality, so that the plant’s performance will successfully meet even the strictest regulations, and particularly the Kyoto requirements. The decision to upgrade and modernise the plant was made chiefly because of its geographical setting near the Malaga conurbation. This also accounts for the aesthetic sensitivity of the project in seeking to endow the landscape with a modern industrial skyline.
It is also why Financiera y Minera is keeping its neighbours informed of the scope of the project under execution. On the occasion of the 2005 year-end festivities, the company wrote to the people living nearby (15,000 inhabitants in 6,000 households). Signed by the FyM Chairman and the Plant Manager, the greeting presented the main features of the project, highlighting its compliance with the strictest environmental regulations and enhancement of industrial aesthetics.
In accordance with the 96/61/EC Integrated Pollution Prevention and Control Directive, the project makes use of the best available techniques, implementing state-of-the-art technology.
The major technical improvement planned is a production line of 3,300 tonnes of clinker/day, which consists of a latest generation preheater, a kiln and a grate cooler. As a result of this, power consumption will decrease by nearly 18%, compared to current figures. Dust emissions will show considerably lower values, and NO_Xand SO₂ levels will also be dramatically reduced to below even the lowest thresholds rank of the EU requirements. The new facilities will also allow the use of alternative fuels.
Integrating care for the environment and community welfare, the project is especially vigilant on health and safety in the workplace. The plant has been equipped with a new entrance, together with a car park, thereby streamlining traffic on the building site both for vehicles and pedestrians.

Another of the stars of the project, which will deal with dust and noise, is a hermetic system for clinker transport and a new clinker silo with a 48,000 m³ capacity. Apart from its industrial function, the silo will be instrumental in the plant’s aesthetic dialogue with the surrounding area. As the result of a careful study, the colours chosen both for the newly built structures and the restyled old ones echo the Mediterranean nature of the facility – blue and gold, which is also a nod towards Italcementi Group’s corporate identity.
The silo and the preheater unveil the new trend in Italcementi Group’s approach to industrial premises, which are no longer conceived as a manufacturing site to be grafted onto the landscape, but regarded as a high-valued asset to the architectural layout. The height of the preheater accounts for better heat performance, but also seeks to be a modern remake of the traditional lighthouses and watch-towers on Malaga’s coastline.
The architectural design of the plant aims to provide an international reference point for the relationship between industry, landscape and urban surroundings. It seeks to set up a specific architectural vocabulary intertwining local scenery and industrial identity, in an attempt to capitalise on flows of talent and ideas.
The silo is to be a giant display showing off original paintings or pictures related to events, such as the 125th anniversary of the birth of Picasso or Malaga’s candidature for cultural capital of Europe in 2016. Images are to be printed onto removable holders in a continuous process of icon-making, in which public opinion will be largely involved as there will be a jury responsible for naming the winning designs.
Another important aspect of the project is the green belt placed around the factory and inside the premises, which will be topped with local vegetation blending in with the landscape. It is a real challenge to make the correct implementation of the new facilities compatible with the smooth running of the current ones, as they both evolve in parallel.
Since its start-up five years ago, the project has had fluent and honest dialogue with stakeholders to its credit. Training programmes and awareness-raising activities have been organized for all the employees, as well as periodic meetings with the Shop Steward of the plant, regional trade unions, neighbourhood organisations, professional associations, opinion leaders, architects, the media and the administration to brief them on progress made.
Trial functioning of the new facilities is scheduled for the end of 2006, and full performance is expected at the beginning of 2007. 2007 and 2008 will see through the final touches – restyling of old premises, reclaiming the landscape and laying out the green belt.

“From now on, what needs to be taken care of is the pollution coming from the nearby motorway rather the factory itself” - Francisco Bravo - spokesman for the company.