Preliminary Study and Proposal for Restoring a Jesuit College at Saragossa, Spain

A historical study and a construction pathology survey were conducted prior to proposing a solution for restoring the upper windows on the south side of Old San Carlos College at Saragossa (16th-17th centuries), wich had been forteited to add a third storey to the cloister. Althought initially designed to a simple large hall format, the church is a harmonius blend of Aragonese Gothic architecture and typical Jesuit scheme, consisting in a central nave flanket by chapel-confessional and raised galleries for the community. A subsequent enlargement of the roof, wich rests on the original framing over the central nave, reduced the mechanical strength of the principal rafters on the opposite side, prompting a concomitant imbalance of forces that has affected the entire structure. In view of the foregoing, in addition to restituting the upper window, the proposal solution envisages restoring the roof over the central nave to its original design, and with the interior lighting in the church.

Impact of the Economic Recession on Toll Highway Concessions in Spain

After joining the European Union in 1986, Spain experienced steady economic growth that enabled the country to grow at a greater pace than other European countries. During this period, the government of Spain opted for major investments in public infrastructure by taking advantage both of the funding provided by the European Union and of several types of public-private-partnership (PPP) approaches. Within this framework, the government of Spain between 1996 and 2004 procured a series of toll highway concessions. These concessions entered into operation a few years before the global economic recession made itself felt in Spain. The concession contracts signed between the government and some private consortia allocated most of the risks (expropriation, construction, and traffic) to the private sector. In this paper the impact that the economic recession has had on the business performance of the concessionaires is assessed, and the effectiveness of the measures adopted by the government to help the concessionaire to avoid bankruptcy is analyzed. It was found that some of the guarantees offered by the legal framework to the concessionaires in case of bankruptcy are prompting an outcome that could negatively affect the users. In addition to that, some suggestions as to how to better allocate risk in toll highway concessions in the future are provided.