The ESARQ School of Architecture at the UIC has relaunched the course
Accessibility and Sustainable Projects with support from the Adecco Foundation
and Caixa d’Enginyers
savings bank.

The agreement was signed on Thursday, 25 October 2012, by UIC
Rector Dr. Pere Alavedra Ribot; Isabel Sánchez Soria, the Director of Personnel Management and Development at Caixa d’Enginyers
savings bank; and Francisco Mesonero, the General Director of the Adecco Foundation. Also present were
Professor Enrique Rovira-Beleta, the course professor; Javier
Amate Paz, the Director of Institutional Banking at Caixa d’Enginyers savings bank; and Francisco
Javier Pérez, the Coordinator of the Adecco Foundation in
Catalonia.

The course Accessibility was created in
2006 and is now compulsory for every student in the third year of the
Architecture programme. Its objective is to ensure that future architects
identify the needs and problems of people with disabilities and work to
overcome the difficulties they encounter on a daily basis.

This pioneering initiative is the first of its kind in Spain and
is run by the renowned architect Enrique
Rovira-Beleta, the course professor and an accessibility specialist.
Its main philosophy is based on ensuring that students realize that including
concepts relating to accessibility in their projects need not keep them from
creating buildings and spaces that are of high architectural, design and
aesthetic quality. The course will include theoretical and practical segments,
including field trips to different locations where they will analyse and
propose accessibility solutions.

The Adecco Foundation and Caixa
d’Enginyers savings bank have lent their support to this
project as part of their commitment to integrate disabled people in the
workplace. Francisco Mesonero, the General Director of the Adecco Foundation, said, “Ensuring spaces
are accessible for disabled people is an essential and decisive step towards
their inclusion in the workplace. If we ensure that future architects commit to
this principle, work environments will be created that are suitable for people
with reduced mobility”. Isabel
Sánchez Soria, the Director of Personnel Management and
Development at Caixa d’Enginyers savings bank, said, “Although progress has been
made in this area, there is still a lot of ground to cover, and the best way to
achieve this is to include it in the education system. That’s why this
collaboration fulfils our company’s determination to help achieve complete
accessibility for everyone”. ESARQ professor Enrique Rovira-Beleta said, “Through
this course, we will ensure that students identify the capabilities of disabled
people and that they understand that accessibility is not just about the needs
of people with disabilities, but is beneficial to all citizens and can help improve
the quality of architectural designs”.