A project to improve the city and the port area, with a predominance of public spaces, green areas and contact with the water, to solve the deficits in facilities and mobility, with a Coruña character, focused on sustainability and with the direct participation of the citizens. These are the axes on which the strategic bases of the Coruña Marítima project are based, which were approved this morning at the meeting of the Coruña Marítima Commission.
The meeting was held at the Port Authority headquarters, chaired by the mayoress of A Coruña, Inés Rey, and attended by representatives of the six administrations involved in the project:A Coruña City Council, the Xunta de Galicia, the Ministry of Transport and Sustainable Mobility, the public business entity Administrador de Infraestructuras Ferroviarias (ADIF), the public body Puertos del Estado and the Port Authority of A Coruña, as well as representatives of the municipal political groups: Partido Popular, PSdeG-PSOE and Bloque Nacionalista Galego.
The Strategic Bases are the result of several months of intense work by a team made up of technicians from the six administrations, with the support of an external technical office. The port, railway, environmental and citizen needs have been analyzed, with a metropolitan scope, and the contributions of the municipal commission of the maritime façade have been taken into consideration, to reach a document that is the starting point for the call of an international multidisciplinary competition for the design of the Master Plan Coruña Marítima, on which the transformation of the spaces of the inner port of A Coruña will be developed in the next decades.
Flexible Document
The Master Plan is conceived in any case as an open, flexible document, the starting point of a project that can be adapted over the coming years to the needs detected for the improvement of the spaces in which it will intervene.
The Strategic Bases propose that most of the area be dedicated to public and civic uses, with an ambitious project that adds value and urban quality, that reflects the soul of A Coruña and that serves to compensate for the shortcomings of the city.
Thus, the construction of green areas and public facilities is proposed to compensate for the deficits identified in the city and especially in the surrounding neighborhoods, and, in particular, the improvement of mobility in A Coruña and its connection with the metropolitan area, reorganizing the accesses to the urban center with a sustainable model that favors sustainable mobility, cycling and pedestrian.
Water, an essential element
It is also important to place water as an element that articulates the space and becomes an essential part of the landscape, favoring the access of citizens to the sea. The options for using the sheet of water to host cultural, sports and recreational activities will be evaluated, exploiting its potential as an element of communication and recreation.
In the port area, it is stated that any transformation must involve improving and strengthening the conditions of the inland port, building a more efficient and sustainable port. In addition to continuing to promote sailing, cruises and goods that remain in the inner harbor, a large section is dedicated to the fishing sector.
The importance of fishing
If there is one activity that is historically imbricated in A Coruña’s society and that has marked its culture and essence, it is undoubtedly fishing: fishing and “El Muro”, as its fish market is known, are the soul of A Coruña and its port. The cultural, social and employment impact of this activity exceeds the very important economic impact (a large number of families in A Coruña are directly or indirectly related to this sector). The Master Plan should not only respond to all the operational needs of the fishing industry, but should also make an effort to ensure that the city continues to keep it in mind as one of the most important elements of its cultural identity,” the document states.
Fishing is an essential sector for the port of A Coruña. In fact, the port is the national leader in the volume of fresh fish and seafood unloading. Therefore, any proposed reorganization must involve an improvement of the equipment, infrastructure and operational capacity of the entire value chain of the sale, processing and distribution of fishery products, with the opinions and contributions of professionals in the sector.
Rail connectivity
Regarding the railway aspect, it is indicated that, given the already agreed relocation of the San Diego freight station, railway connectivity should be maintained in the inner harbor docks that continue with port activities, taking into account the importance of favoring the intermodality of the traffics. Likewise, the use of the current port network for passenger traffic is contemplated, and the need to set up a new freight station in the area of A Coruña is mentioned, for which the Ministry of Transport has already started the informative study.
The Strategic Bases of the Master Plan devote an extensive chapter to innovation, talent attraction and sustainability, in its broadest vision. Public spaces, urban planning and buildings should contemplate high standards of energy efficiency, use of renewable energies, waste management, planting of native vegetation, reduction of water consumption, reduction of carbon footprint, respect for terrestrial and marine biodiversity, and renaturalization of spaces, among many other factors.
Sustainable and accessible housing
The requirement for innovation and sustainability will be applied especially to residential uses, with a layout of plots and a choice of building typologies that converge in the creation of a sustainable neighborhood with healthy spaces that promote social relations, attention to vulnerable groups or universal accessibility. The intensity of residential use, the percentage of public housing and the specific characteristics of the buildings will be defined in the future, beyond the initial provisions of the Master Plan.
The protection and enhancement of the historical, industrial and archaeological heritage of the entire area will also be required, proposing new uses for protected assets and those that, although not listed, contribute to preserving the identity and industrial and port character, enhancing the landscape values of the site. Reference is made to the old Lonja del Gran Sol, the exporters’ buildings, cement silos, etcetera.
Citizen participation
After the approval of the Strategic Bases by the Coruña Marítima Commission, during the months of February and March a process of citizen participation will be launched, so that the society of A Coruña can make suggestions and contributions to the Strategic Bases of the Master Plan. Since the signing of the Coruña Marítima protocol on May 22, 2024, transparency and public access to information have been considered a fundamental element of the whole process, since the transformation of the port areas must be open to the expectations, needs and perceptions of the citizens.
Citizen participation will be articulated mainly through workshops and activities that will address aspects such as citizen uses and facilities; fishing and commercial port traffic; transport and mobility; environmental objectives; and management and governance.
These workshops, which will constitute the Coruña Marítima Forum, will have the participation of local specialists and will be open to associations, professional associations, administrations, foundations, political parties, social agents and citizen groups, as well as companies and port workers.
Likewise, in the next few days a web page of Coruña Marítima will be set up, where the project documents will be available and there will be a suggestion box open to all citizens.
International tender
After this Coruña Marítima Forum, the international tender for the award of the Master Plan is expected to be held in April. All teams and companies wishing to participate in the tender may do so, taking into account that, due to the scope of the intervention, they must be multidisciplinary, requiring the participation of professionals in engineering, architecture, urban planning, environment and other related fields.
The Coruña Marítima Commission will initially select a maximum of five bidders and, after a process of analysis and contrast of each proposal, will award the drafting of the Master Plan to the best valued team. This document is expected to be completed in 2027.
From then on, the interventions on site will be developed in phases, although, given the global extension of the area and the project’s implementation over a very broad time frame, the guidelines of the Master Plan may be modified and adjusted to the demands of society at any given time and to the new objectives that need to be achieved, as in other projects of this magnitude that have been implemented in major port cities throughout Europe.
