Shopping Solutions

Accessibility for all types of users 

submitted by TK Elevator

The future of large urban centers depends on improving their habitability and adapting their services to the needs of citizens. The Vialia Vigo Shopping Centre project was built on these ideas: It is a commitment to a space capable of integrating a shopping and leisure service with the city’s principal railway station and its natural surroundings.

Located in the city of Vigo (Galicia), Spain, and with CEETRUS as a developer, Vialia Vigo is a project of the Morphosis design studio by the prestigious American architect Thom Mayne, winner of the Pritzker Prize in 2005. This shopping center has more than 40,000 m² and integrates the new AVE railway services and the city’s bus terminal, the ultimate expression of the unification of communication and commerce at the service of citizens.

The project is, in itself, a commitment to sustainable and environmentally friendly urban development. It stands out for its open architecture, which embraces cutting-edge service technology and the natural identity that distinguishes the city. 

Some of its most innovative aspects are its orientation and openness toward the Vigo estuary, the deepest and southernmost of the Rías Baixas in Galicia, and the fact that the space has a geolocation system available to visitors on the center’s app. Thanks to this, users can select the destinations they are interested in within the building from their mobile phones to receive instructions on how to get there and find adapted routes or resources such as the location of their car.

In terms of the environment, Vialia Vigo is BREEAM (Building Research Establishment Environmental Assessment Methodology) certified and guarantees the reduction of its carbon footprint thanks to its landscaped areas of native vegetation, which offer ample green spaces for leisure and sport. All this, in addition, actively promotes the creation of direct and indirect employment.

Project Details

The shopping center is specially adapted in its accessibility solutions for all types of users. Vialia Vigo is equipped with six 12º inclined mechanical ramps of our orinoco model, which stands out especially for having a reinforced support system suspended on the structure of the shopping center through steel braces and beams, which serve as an intermediate support. It is a unique mobility solution that fits the aesthetic requirements of the building design. The plinths of its platforms are permanently illuminated by programmable multicolor LEDs, something already recognized at The National Theatre Station in Oslo as an ELEVATOR WORLD Project of the Year in 2008.

In addition, the space also has 14 escalators of our velino 300 model and 13 lifts, three of which have panoramic views and AIS 1/2018 certification. Fully adapted to commercial service, the center also has seven freight elevators and five loading platforms.

Our lifting elements provide the credits for BREEAM certification, so relevant for this project, incorporating a complex energy-saving system, efficient lighting and signage, as well as energy-saving drive systems.

All the mobility solutions installed by TK Elevator (TKE) in Vialia Vigo guarantee the best conditions of comfort and safety for users and are prepared to accommodate the high traffic of people that characterizes this type of space. Thanks to equipment design, the client’s demands are satisfied, and the avant-garde identity of the building is complemented.

Design and Manufacture

TKE is the leading company in the supply of elevators and escalators in Spain, thanks to the experience and knowledge of the workers at its production plants for TK Elevator Manufacturing in Móstoles (Madrid) and Andoain (Gipuzkoa) and TK Escalator Norte in Mieres (Asturias). Working according to the highest standards in terms of design and manufacture, the result is a product with superior quality, which prioritizes the safety and well-being of users during use and high availability at the time of supplying equipment.

Installation

Unloading

The unloading of the different elements, stairs and escalators was carried out in the respective areas depending on the feasibility of their corresponding assembly. A self-propelled crane was used for all the unloading operations. Depending on the unloading distance, its capacity varied between 60 and 100 mT. For the unloading of the T3-T4-T5-T6 ramps, the service road next to the side of the Vialia was used, as well as a 100-mT self-propelled crane. With a strobing device appropriate to their lengths, the sections were hoisted above the railway station and set down on the boarding floor inside the building. Once on the boarding floor, the individual sections were distributed until assembly.

Rolling Track

As unloading was carried out directly with the crane through the shipping plant, the rolling path ran through this plant from the stockpiling area to the assembly area. The weights of each section passing through the areas described above were taken into account in this taxiway.

Splicing and Lifting

For the assembly of the units, through-holes were used in the slabs with a diameter of 160 mm. The assembly maneuver required major coordination with the construction site to ensure that once the upper head had been lifted, the client could immediately place the intermediate support beam. Afterwards, the lifting of the other two sections that were raised and joined could begin so that the ramps could be supported on these beams and so the correct adjustment of the intermediate supports could be carried out. Precise work coordination with the main contractor was the key to the successful assembly of the T3-T4-T5-T6 ramps.

Coatings

After the assembly of the units, the finishing phase was carried out. It includes alignment, leveling, assembly of treads, glazing, socket cover profiles, chain and rail splicing, placement of pallets, etc.

Start-Up

In the final phase of the assembly, the electrical connections and checks were carried out and the electrical cabinets were connected. Subsequently, the safety tests, movement tests and final adjustments of the ramps were concluded.

Project Team

Antonio Cabezos Magariño (Sales Manager/TK Elevadores)

Antonio Cabezos Magariño is an industrial engineer from the Polytechnic University of Madrid. He has been working at TKE for more than 23 years in various positions related to customer management, mainly in the commercial area as sales manager. He has extensive experience in the management of large clients such as city councils and large construction companies, with which he has managed urban accessibility and transport infrastructure projects, as well as large shopping centers for the main players in the retail business in Spain. He is currently key account manager of Special Works (New Installations) in the Central South-Canary Islands area of Spain.

Alejandro Sánchez Bances (Project Manager/TK Norte)

Alejandro Sánchez Bances is a mining engineer from the University of Oviedo and the University of Leeds. He joined TK Norte in 2018 and has been part of the NI Operations Department, leading important escalator projects in Europe and Asia.

Cayetano Álvarez Cabadas (Project Manager/TK Elevadores)

Cayetano Álvarez Cabadas is a naval engineer with 17 years of experience in project management in the construction sector, backed by Project Management Professional (PMP)^® certification. More than eight years ago, he joined TKE as sales manager and project manager of special lines, and four years ago, he joined the Special Projects Management and Assembly Department. There, he has developed in the role of project manager in works all over Spain for clients such as Metro de Barcelona L9 and Ferrocarriles de la Generalitat de Catalunya.

Sergio González (Assembly Manager/TK Elevadores)

Sergio González graduated in industrial technical engineering from the Carlos III University of Madrid. He has been an assembly manager at TKE for 12 years, managing the assembly of singular elevation projects, stage equipment, stairs, ramps and walkways in Spain, Germany and Denmark. He has worked with clients such as Airbus, Adif, Aena, Metro, Dragados, Ferrovial, Carrefour, Alcampo and Mercadona, and on unique projects for architects such as Santiago Calatrava, Oscar Niemeyer and Phillippe Starck, among others. Recently, he has participated in several urban accessibility projects in Barakaldo (Bilbao) and Vigo.