Rendering of the new SOCIB building in Palma de Mallorca.

OHLA has begun construction work on the new SOCIB (Balearic Islands Coastal Observing and Forecasting System) headquarters in Palma de Mallorca, a building that will have 3,784 m2 distributed over three floors and a basement, and will have a capacity to accommodate up to 120 people. The project, awarded for 7.5 million euros, is co-funded by the CSIC and the GOIB, through the European Union’s ERDF operational program.

The new building, located in the old dock of the Port of Palma, will allow the development of an ambitious scientific, technical and informative program, and will include the new scientific facility “SOCIB 2030: Digital Twin of the Mediterranean”. This innovative and interactive tool will make it possible to simulate future scenarios in the western Mediterranean area and will make it possible to protect the marine environment and the coast, providing real-time responses to environmental crises and providing solutions for decision-making.

The building will reconcile integration into its surroundings facing the Mediterranean Sea with a clear technological and contemporary vocation, housing from research laboratories to scientific exhibition and dissemination spaces open to the public to strengthen the Spanish scientific and technological system in the field of marine sciences and technologies. Internally, it will consist of three floors above ground: basement (773 m²), first floor (717 m²), second floor (764 m²), second floor (746 m²) and roof (32 m²).