Boadilla del Monte City Council (Madrid) has awarded the contract for ground and parks maintenance to a Joint Venture led by FCC Medio Ambiente and formed with SOGESEL Desarrollo y Gestión. The contract foresees a term of four years and involves an order book value of nearly €20 million, with the possibility of up to five one-year extensions.

The contract covers the upkeep of more than 570 hectares of green grounds, with 32,768 trees not including those in forest mass. This surface has been divided into 4 areas according to their typology: intensive keeping of parks and gardens, extensive maintenance of forestry, upkeeping of the surroundings of the Infante Don Luis Palace and Huertas del Palacio, and cleansing and clearing of municipal plots. In order to provide the best service to the municipality, the service will have a staff of 108 workers, the evening and weekend shifts will be reinforced, and a specific brigade will be created for rapid resolution of incidents. 

On the other hand, the entire fleet of vehicles and machinery will be newly acquired. This fleet consists of 49 vehicles, including 2 electric and 3 hybrid cars, as well as a large amount of tools and complementary machinery, much of it electric. In addition, the renovation of the Municipal Nursery building will be carried out which, apart from its nursery functions, will serve as support facilities for the service, from where part of the staff will start their working day.

This new contract will mean a very significant increase in staff. For this reason, a collaboration agreement has been signed with the Boadilla Town Council within the "Boadilla Emplea" programme, the purpose of which is to help and support companies in the recruitment of workers through the municipal Employment Portal called "SILBO", in order to promote the employability of users of the Employment Portal and specifically of the residents of Boadilla del Monte. This is related to the special condition on the awarded contract of incorporating into the service at least 4% of workers with a degree of disability equal to or greater than 33%.

All services will be managed through the comprehensive VISION Platform, developed exclusively by FCC Medio Ambiente, which draws up a map of current and potential environmental aspects that will allow to measure the impact of contract activities on the environment and to implement measures to mitigate it. In addition to the use of this platform, the free QGIS software will also be used to support the management of the inventory of green areas and roadside trees. Furthermore, an annual information campaign related to aspects of the service will be carried out in the local media.

A Tree Management Plan linked to a GIS will be drawn up, which will include a study of the danger of the municipality's trees and the planning of the pruning calendar for every year of the contract, as well as of the planting. The conservation work includes the entire surroundings of the Infante Don Luis Palace, which include the historic gardens and the recently refurbished Huertas del Palacio.

Within the work programme, endotherapy will be used as a specific pest management method and, in terms of water consumption, the SAMCLA remote management irrigation system will be implemented.