• Almost thirty sectorial meetings have been held, as well as several neighborhood meetings with the communities neighboring the fairgrounds.
• The conclusions drawn from these meetings coincide in the need to design a site that is more representative of an open and cosmopolitan city.

The new Special Development Plan for Infecar is getting closer and closer. Since the drafting of the planning project, urban design and execution of the work necessary for its implementation was awarded last February, a process of citizen participation has been underway to integrate all the agents that form part of the site’s ecosystem.

This process has been materialized throughout these months in sectorial meetings and with the neighboring communities (neighborhoods and educational community), with the aim of intensifying Infecar’s relationship with the surrounding neighborhoods, enhancing the positive impact that this reorganization will have on all of them.

Although this citizen participation process has not yet been completed, almost thirty meetings and working days have already been held. With this, all the necessary visions are now available to redesign and rearrange the venue, adapting it to the new demands of the trade fair and events sector and integrating the contributions of the meetings held with the Infecar ecosystem. However, the participation process not only includes obtaining information, but also feedback to the ecosystem, and even the joint assessment of the actions included in the project.

Thus, the local community has been contacted, comprising primary and secondary schools in the vicinity of the site; neighbors in the surrounding neighborhoods; local businesses; the parish of Nuestra Señora del Atlántico; and the post office; users of the site, such as the Sociedad de Promoción Económica de Gran Canaria (SPEGC), the Sociedad para el Desarrollo de las Telecomunicaciones de Gran Canaria (SODETEGC) and the Consejo Insular de la Energía de Gran Canaria (CIEGC); the staff of Infecar; as well as exhibitors, clients and visitors to the fairgrounds and the Palacio de Congresos.

This new Special Development Plan will respond to the needs of a multifunctional trade fair and business center, which basically consists of a series of pavilions and buildings designed to accommodate both activities in a sustainable and innovative manner.

It is also worth highlighting the role played by the Gran Canaria Island Energy Council (CIEGC), which currently manages 200kW of photovoltaic power on the site and will continue to contribute with more renewables, as well as storage and efficiency measures to move towards a “zero emissions” site.

In this sense, the conclusions drawn from these meetings coincide in the need to project a more representative enclosure, which from the outside is read as the fairgrounds of an open and cosmopolitan city, connected with the world, but also with its environment, while celebrating an experience of visitors linked to the good weather that has the city of Las Palmas de Gran Canaria and the island of Gran Canaria.

In this way, it is expected that with the new Special Management Plan of Infecar, the architectural barriers that impede the good circulation of people with reduced mobility will be eliminated, making this space a more accessible and friendly enclosure. In addition, the entire central open-air esplanade that constitutes the main artery of the enclosure will function as a garden square equipped with green areas and shaded spaces, which will serve as an open-air access and connection to the pavilions and the rest of the complementary uses.

In addition to the above, these sectorial and neighborhood meetings have also emphasized the improvement of the connection of the fairgrounds with other areas of the capital of Gran Canaria, improving and regulating the accesses to it, with the added value of changing the main entrance to the area of the fairgrounds closest to the traffic circle of La Ballena, thus providing it with an access with less impact on the neighborhood.

In this sense, this rearrangement of the fairgrounds will bring with it the connection between neighborhoods now isolated from each other, such as Los Tarahales, Parque Central, Cinco Continentes and La Feria. This action is part of the idea that the new fairgrounds will also be an opportunity for urban regeneration and improvement of the housing quality of the neighboring neighborhoods.

With all this, this new Special Development Plan will increase Infecar’s competitiveness, bringing the size of its pavilions in line with the new demands of the trade fair and exhibition sector, which places the minimum surface areas of these infrastructures at around 6,500 and 8,000 square meters, thus turning the venue into a multifunctional space adapted to the current needs of the trade fair market.

It should also be noted that this Plan will be developed simultaneously with the construction of the new Infecar Pavilion 7, which is currently in Phase I of the drafting of technical projects.

Once this initiative materializes, the current offer of the Canary Islands Trade Fair Institution, consisting of trade fair pavilions, a conference center with multi-purpose halls, two parking areas and landscaped areas, will be joined by a main pavilion of approximately 8,500 square meters, configured as a single open-plan space; and a building for complementary uses, which will have an outdoor and indoor public space, an entrance hall, toilets, work areas and a restaurant area.

Infecar thus continues to work on improving the competitiveness of this multifunctional space for the organization of fairs and events, but also, becoming a reference as a sustainable venue and improving the spatial connection with the surrounding neighborhoods and, therefore, with the city.