Building Brazil’s largest infrastructure with women’s hands

For decades, many ship pilots passing under the silhouette of the new Waterloo Bridge on the Thames would call it “the women’s bridge.” The original London bridge was demolished at the gates of World War II.

Legend had it that, in the absence of male labor, it was a large majority of women who were responsible for dismantling (and rebuilding) it. Unfortunately, the original construction company went bankrupt, and with it all records were lost. It was not until 2015 that the true history of the bridge was confirmed.

It took historian Christine Wall’s tireless work to bring irrefutable evidence of female participation in the infrastructure – photographs showing several female welders working on the bridge. It is believed that up to 65% of the workforce on the site were women. 

Fortunately, this remarkable record has been beaten again years later, thousands of miles away and in an even more ambitious infrastructure. The endeavor is São Paulo’s Metro Line 6 - Orange, a spectacular project executed by ACCIONA, which, at 9.5 miles long, is the largest infrastructure under construction in Brazil.

Today, 70% of the workforce at its Segment Factory is female. These concrete segments support a structure that could well be nicknamed “the women’s tunnel.” They are the symbol of ACCIONA’s commitment to integrating women in the construction sector and generating a positive impact on the communities where we operate. Read on to learn about the details of this monumental work.

BUILDING FEMALE EMPLOYABILITY

At ACCIONA , we have approached the impact of this gigantic engineering project as a series of concentric circles. The first of these begins at the construction site, but its influence extends to other spheres. This is the philosophy of the “ACCIONA por Ellas” (ACCIONA for women) program: to go beyond construction and improve the employability of vulnerable women.

Based on socioeconomic studies, this program established that women are the financial support of their households and showed their difficulty in finding a job because they have not completed their education or, in some cases, have not even started it. Thus, as part of the social responsibility of Line 6, four projects were created that leave a positive legacy, totaling more than 200 beneficiaries so far:

• Thanks to the project Hilvanando destinos (Threading Careers), women learn how to generate new sources of income by sewing by machine and to sell their creations.
• Estación belleza (Beauty Station), focuses on teaching activities that quickly generate an economic income from makeup, pedicure, and manicure.
• Workshops are also organized for the professional development of migrant women, thus consolidating the project Destinos Cruzados (Crossed Careers).
• Finally, Entre líneas (Between the Lines) was structured, where we also promote female self-esteem in a transversal manner. Because to grow, you must first believe.

The other concentric circle refers to the metro’s usefulness as a link to a world of opportunities. When this transport service begins its activity, it will be an enabler for all these women to be connected and find more options to access the labor market.

Reforest, recycle, and reuse to reduce environmental impact 

How do we achieve that a work of the magnitude of this metro line has a positive impact in environmental terms? Embracing the circular economy is one of the keys. The starting point is the use of resources. To do this, we start by making our teams aware of the importance of recycling. Still, at the same time, we stress the economic benefits of these practices and of implementing the European Taxonomy criteria. This means working closely with the local recycling population, making the on-site generated materials available, and thus developing economically sustainable activities.

In this South American construction project, the EU taxonomy criteria are met and, thanks to a regenerative approach, the trees of Line 6 will not be planted in the surroundings of the infrastructure. Instead, most of them will be planted in an area defined by the Concesionaria Linha Universidade in the city of Campinas. As part of the replacement, some trees have already been planted in permanent preservation areas to preserve springs and maintain the ciliary forest (the ciliary forest is an indispensable part of the vegetation that remains on the banks of watercourses for the maintenance of the ecosystem’s biodiversity).

Once the project is completed, there will be more trees in the area than at the beginning, with 2,000 trees planned as part of the line’s landscaping project. The recovered area has been increased to 13,481 hectares.

Excavating a subway line is a task linked to soil and water. What to do with the water found when the excavation reaches the water table? The first strategy is to reuse it for concrete production, in addition to treating it for use in everyday tasks. We also reduce consumption by collecting rainwater and washing equipment with closed-circuit water systems.

Water is reused, but so is the earth: ACCIONA uses the excavated soil to regenerate an area at Cava de Carapicuíba, a former mining operation with disused land – new fertile farmland and habitable areas where only the scars of mining once existed.

In the year 2025, there will be millions of people using this new subway line in São Paulo every day, but there will also be a generation of women and school students who will remember its construction as the opportunity for a new life.