We work in natural environments where biodiversity plays a vital role. That is why we are committed to protecting and preserving the ecosystems and communities around them.

Caring for nature is not only about taking protective measures; it also means observing it, understanding it and appreciating its richness.
Colombia offers a good example. There, our colleague Andrés Mauricio Forero Cano, a biologist in the Environmental Area of the Buenaventura-Loboguerrero-Buga project, captured a series of images showcasing the reptiles and amphibians found in the area. The photos were part of our RevelaVerde competition.

The photographs were taken in the Venado Verde Nature Reserve, in the area surrounding this road project.

“With these photographs, I want to show the immense biodiversity found in our region, particularly among amphibians and reptiles, a group that is still little known and often undervalued,” says our colleague.

“The photographs were taken using macro photography techniques. I used a Nikon D7200 camera with a 60 mm Laowa macro lens, external flashes and diffusers,” explains Andrés Mauricio.

Captured while work was underway, these five photographs bring us closer to a fascinating world of colors, shapes and behaviors that often goes unnoticed, yet plays an essential role in the balance of ecosystems.

The five photographs show:

1.    Pacific lemur frog (Agalychnis psilopygion). “It is a species of incredible beauty and fragility that lives only in well-preserved forests.” (bottom left photo)
2.    Cane toad (Rhinella horribilis). “This species has long been overlooked because of its appearance, but it plays a fundamental role in our ecosystems by controlling insect populations. Through macro photography, I wanted to capture its splendor and show that the world should look beyond appearances and recognize what lies beneath.” (top center photo)
3.    Dwarf spiny iguana (Enyalioides heterolepis). “This lizard lives in the leaf litter of pristine forests and has a variety of scales that give it a striking appearance, which I wanted to highlight through macro photography.” The image won first prize in the Flora and Fauna category. (top right photo)
4.    Glass frog tadpoles (Teratohyla spinosa). “These small glass frogs live in the vegetation that grows along streams. They lay their eggs in gelatinous clusters on leaves. When the eggs hatch, the tadpoles develop inside this gelatinous mass until they are large enough to drop into the streams and complete their development.” (bottom right photo)
5.    Broad-headed anole (Anolis latifrons). “This photograph was taken with a wide-angle macro lens, combining the detail of macro photography with part of the animal’s surroundings. This lizard species lives in vegetation near streams. In the photograph, I wanted to capture both its remarkable details and the habitat where it is usually found.” (top left photo)

These images remind us how important it is to coexist responsibly with local wildlife and to make nature protection part of how we deliver our projects. Learning about the species that live in the areas where we work is the first step toward helping conserve them.

We rescued a turtle at our Skikda desalination plant

Our commitment to biodiversity is reflected in practical action, showing the responsibility and care our teams bring to the ecosystems around us.
A recent example took place at the Skikda Desalination Plant O&M Joint Venture in Algeria, where the plant team stepped in to rescue a sea turtle that had become trapped on the premises. Thanks to the team’s swift response, the animal was safely released and returned to the sea in good condition.

Zenina Hadjer, a laboratory technician and the author of the images submitted to the RevelaVerde competition, explains: “During operations at the plant, a sea turtle was found trapped in the facility’s intake basin. Aware of our responsibility to the ecosystem, our team acted immediately. We carefully rescued the animal and took it to Srigina Island, where it was safely released back into its natural habitat.”
 

“These images show how our industrial operations can coexist with the preservation of local biodiversity,” says our colleague.
Actions like this show that sustainability is also shaped by everyday decisions and efforts.

Thanks to our teams’ commitment and dedication, we help protect biodiversity and preserve the natural value of the environments where we operate.

From optimizing road maintenance to the smart management of urban spaces, including energy efficiency in large-scale infrastructure and the improvement of bidding and procurement processes, Sacyr is driving solutions based on data, machine learning, predictive models, and generative artificial intelligence that enable the company to anticipate issues, make better decisions, and generate a positive and measurable impact on society.

Here are some of the most significant projects in which the company is applying artificial intelligence in a tangible way.

1.    APROMAC: Artificial Intelligence to Anticipate Pavement Deterioration

Sacyr Concesiones is developing APROMAC, an advanced predictive analytics module designed to transform pavement management and maintenance through machine learning and deep learning techniques. The project’s main objective is to anticipate changes in key indicators of pavement condition—such as ruts, macrotexture, and the transverse friction coefficient (TFC)—based on real-world operational and road inspection data.

APROMAC was developed in response to the limitations of traditional prediction models, which are based on empirical formulations that struggle to represent nonlinear behavior and the simultaneous interaction of multiple factors. To address this, the project systematically investigates the construction, climatic, and traffic variables that influence pavement deterioration, applying big data and artificial intelligence technologies to real historical data from roads managed by Sacyr.

Following a rigorous data cleaning and standardization phase, new predictive models have been trained and validated that are capable of significantly improving accuracy compared to current approaches. The result is a tool that enables long-term prediction of pavement behavior and supports more efficient maintenance planning.

The project also relies on a digital platform designed for infrastructure managers, which facilitates the visualization of projected trends by homogeneous sections and the analysis of different maintenance scenarios, promoting proactive, data-driven decision-making. APROMAC is co-funded by the European Union, the Ministry of Finance, and the CDTI, through the Ministry of Science, Innovation, and Universities.

2.    SUSTAIN: Digital Twins for Smarter, More Human-Centered Urban Management. The Example of “Las Setas de Sevilla”

The SUSTAIN project explores the potential of digital twins and artificial intelligence in the smart management of unique urban spaces. Within this framework, Sacyr has developed an advanced digital twin of Las Setas de Sevilla, an iconic landmark that combines a public square, a market, a viewpoint, and access to an archaeological site.

The solution combines real-time data from IoT sensors, computer vision systems, and mobility data to create a dynamic digital representation of the site and how users interact with the space. Thanks to this information, the digital twin provides insights into usage patterns, environmental conditions, and visitor volumes, as well as the ability to simulate different event scenarios and configurations of the public space.

Using predictive models based on artificial intelligence, SUSTAIN is able to anticipate peaks in demand, visitor behavior, and operational needs, tangibly improving the efficiency of management, planning, and the citizen experience. The project also incorporates indicators related to the condition and maintenance of the infrastructure and is designed as a tool for designing and evaluating urban improvement strategies with a comprehensive approach.

Universal accessibility, inclusion, quality of life, and integration into the urban fabric are cross-cutting themes of the project, aligned with Sacyr’s vision of developing infrastructure with a positive social impact. The initiative, funded by the CDTI with Next Generation funds from the European Union, lays the groundwork for scaling these solutions to other concession assets such as transit hubs, airports, hospitals, and large public spaces.

3.    Artificial Intelligence to Optimize Energy Efficiency at Madrid’s Transit Interchanges

Sacyr Concesiones has implemented an advanced energy optimization solution based on artificial intelligence at the Moncloa and Plaza Elíptica transit interchanges, high-traffic infrastructure facilities that together serve more than 260,000 users daily.

Both transit hubs feature complex HVAC and ventilation systems, managed through building management systems (BMS), and are subject to a highly demanding concession framework, with requirements for thermal comfort and environmental quality throughout their operation. To optimize their operation, Sacyr has integrated the Respira solution, developed by Sener, which acts as an autonomous virtual operator supported by advanced analytics and AI.

The system continuously analyzes variables such as indoor and outdoor temperatures, the building’s thermal inertia, occupancy, weather conditions, and historical equipment performance. Unlike traditional models based on rules and reactive responses, the solution introduces predictive control capable of anticipating temperature changes in the spaces and activating the HVAC systems more efficiently.

Thanks to this approach, it is possible to take advantage of favorable environmental conditions, optimize the use of thermal inertia, or adapt climate control to anticipated changes in occupancy, thereby reducing energy consumption without compromising user comfort. The result is a more sustainable and efficient operation that is aligned with infrastructure decarbonization goals.

4.    AI Agents to Transform Bidding and Procurement Processes

Beyond physical assets, Sacyr is applying artificial intelligence to its corporate processes, with a special focus on bidding and procurement—highly complex and document-intensive areas. The company is working on the development of a suite of AI agents that comprehensively cover the entire process cycle.

In the area of bidding, the approach is based on an ecosystem of specialized agents capable of automatically analyzing bid documents, detecting changes and addenda, structuring requirements, supporting strategic go/no-go decisions, generating technical documentation, and strengthening quality controls prior to the submission of bids. The goal is to move toward more standardized, traceable, and robust decision-making processes.

In the area of purchasing and procurement, AI agents enable the standardization of tender documents and requests for proposals, the analysis of suppliers, the objective comparison of proposals, the detection of contractual deviations, and support for negotiations. The process is rounded out by the generation of clear executive summaries that can be defended in the face of audits and before management.

These solutions are designed to act as co-pilots that enhance the work of teams by eliminating repetitive tasks and reducing ambiguity, allowing professionals to focus on strategic analysis and value creation.

MARÍA GÓMEZ BRAVO | Tungsteno

In March 2001, television viewers around the world watched the destruction of the Afghan Buddhas of Bamiyan. For weeks, explosions ordered by the Taliban regime gradually reduced the two ancient sculptures to rubble. Twenty-five years later, those images have become a symbol of the deliberate destruction of cultural heritage and continue to fuel the debate about what happens when monumental works—designed to last for centuries—disappear.

Long before Bamiyan, earthquakes, fires, wars, the passage of time, and the reuse of their materials caused some of the colossal monuments of antiquity to vanish. Of many of these magnificent sculptures, only traces remain: the texts that described them, the sites where they once stood, scattered fragments, or the imprints they left on the landscape. Today, these traces are complemented by new tools that allow us to reconstruct and study monuments that no longer exist physically.

A Colossus in Constant Reconstruction

Few sculptures have inspired as much literature while leaving us with so little certainty as the Colossus of Rhodes. The image of the giant towering over the entrance to the harbor is part of the collective imagination, although we do not know whether it actually stood there. This interpretation emerged centuries after the bronze statue disappeared and ultimately shaped the way we still imagine the colossal figure dedicated to the god Helios today.

Today we know that the Colossus was erected between 295 and 283 BC to commemorate Rhodes’ victory following the siege led by Demetrius Poliorcetes and that it stood approximately 34 meters tall. Nathan Badoud, author of The Colossus of Rhodes: Archeology of a Lost Wonder, suggests that it may have been located near the present-day Palace of the Grand Master. There is also broad consensus on the cause of its destruction: an earthquake toppled it barely half a century after its construction.

Beyond these facts, much remains uncertain. No identified fragments of the statue have survived, and ancient sources offer only sparse descriptions. Archaeologists and historians have reviewed the topography of ancient Rhodes, classical texts, and the political context in which it was erected to try to determine where it stood, what it looked like, and what it meant to a city that had by then become one of the great powers of the eastern Mediterranean.

Research drawing on classical literature, combined with disciplines such as topography and engineering, challenges the image and location traditionally associated with the Colossus. Photo: Culture Club/Getty Images.

Engineering also plays an important role in this research. Knowledge of Hellenistic metallurgy, materials, and the structural behavior of bronze makes it possible to assess the feasibility of the various hypotheses regarding its construction. Ancient sources, including the texts of Pliny the Elder, remain fundamental, but they are no longer the only tools available for attempting to reconstruct a colossus that disappeared more than two thousand years ago.

Reconstructing from the Original Site

We do not know for certain when or how the Statue of Zeus at Olympia disappeared. We do know that around 430 BC, a monumental figure of Zeus presided over the temple dedicated to him at the Greek sanctuary in the Peloponnese. The building had been erected a few decades earlier, in the first half of the 5th century BC, and its pediments and metopes were decorated with an extensive sculptural ensemble. Opposite the temple, outside the sacred precinct of the Altis, stood the workshop where Phidias worked—the sculptor responsible for the monumental depiction of Zeus.

Excavations at the site uncovered terracotta molds, ivory fragments, and materials used for glassworking. A small cup bearing the inscription Pheidiou eimi (“I belong to Phidias”) was also found. The chronology of the finds dates activity in the building to the third quarter of the 5th century BC, coinciding with the period when the sculpture—one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World—was constructed.

The materials used in Phidias’s great sculpture of Zeus and the methods used to make some of its components are known from molds found at his workshop,outside the sacred precinct of the Altis. Credit: Hulton Archive/Getty Images.

The Statue of Zeus was a chryselephantine sculpture of extraordinary dimensions. Art historian Judith M. Barringer estimates its height at around 13.5 meters, a scale that required the figure to be constructed using an internal framework—likely made of wood—over which various materials were applied, primarily ivory for the skin and gold for the garments. The molds found in the workshop allow us to study how some of these components were made, although we still do not know precisely how the entire figure was assembled.

The combination of materials also affected its preservation. Ivory and wood are sensitive to changes in humidity. When the Greek traveler and geographer Pausanias visited Olympia in the 2nd century CE, he noted the presence of olive oil in a depression in front of the statue. This has been interpreted as a possible measure to protect the ivory from environmental conditions, although later research also suggests an optical function: the surface may have helped reflect light onto the figure. Both interpretations remain possible.

The Images That Survived the Buddhas

After the explosions, the two large niches at Bamiyan were left virtually empty, and the remains of the sculptures lay scattered at their feet. To study them, researchers had access to something that never existed in the case of the Colossus of Rhodes or the Statue of Zeus at Olympia: photographs taken before their destruction.

The world’s tallest standing Buddha statue, located in the province of Bamiyan, was destroyed by explosions ordered by the Taliban regime in 2001. Credit: JEAN-CLAUDE CHAPON/AFP/GETTY.

Just three years later, Armin Grün, Fabio Remondino, and Li Zhang of ETH Zurich drew on three collections of images from before 2001 to digitally reconstruct the Great Buddha. The study, published in The Photogrammetric Record, combined photographs taken by visitors with others taken specifically for measurement purposes. Photogrammetry made it possible to reconstruct its shape and dimensions and generate a three-dimensional model.

Digital techniques were also applied to the cliff face. Laser scanning and photogrammetry were used to document the niches and remains and obtain an accurate record of their condition. Years later, some projects incorporated these data into virtual environments to study different conservation and restoration measures before undertaking any work on the site.

In 2017, a study published in PLOS ONE analyzed the layers of paint adhering to some fragments to reconstruct part of the history of their decoration. The analyses identified egg proteins used as a binder in the original layers and cow’s and goat’s milk in later repaintings, making it possible to distinguish between different stages and materials used on the Buddhas over time.

Reconstructing or Preserving the Absence

Digital technologies have made it possible to reconstruct the appearance of the Buddhas with a precision that was unthinkable a few decades ago. But turning those models into a physical reconstruction raises a different debate. Twenty-five years after their destruction, the future of the Bamiyan niches remains unresolved.

Proposals have ranged from leaving them empty to partially or fully reconstructing some of the figures. UNESCO and experts who have worked on the site have spent years analyzing the various possibilities. It is not merely a matter of determining what can be reconstructed: it is necessary to assess the stability of the cliff, the original fragments that could be reused, the authenticity of any potential intervention, and its significance for the communities connected to the valley.

The possible reconstruction of the Bamiyan Buddhas, destroyed by the Taliban regime in 2001, has kept alive the debate about how much of their absence should be preserved. Credit: KAMRAN SHAFAYEE/AFP via Getty Images.

Added to these questions is the historical value of the destruction itself. The 2001 explosions forever altered the site, and their traces are now part of Bamiyan’s recent history. For this reason, one proposal is to leave at least one of the niches empty as a testament to what happened, while others advocate restoring, to varying degrees, the presence of the Buddhas.

Tungsteno is a journalistic laboratory that explores the essence of innovation.