Sometimes, it feels as if life itself conspires to give certain moments a sense of symbolic weight. That’s exactly how it feels as we sit down with Fernando Mínguez: today, as it happens, marks his thirty-fifth anniversary at ACCIONA. It’s a milestone where it’s almost impossible not to look back over a long career, even as Fernando remains firmly rooted in the present through his work on Line 6 of the São Paulo Metro, the vantage point from which he joins our conversation.
It is quite a privilege to talk to someone who’s a piece of living history in the world of infrastructure and who has ridden the wave of evolution in construction processes since the late 20th century. Time, he tells us, has flown by. “When I joined, I remember they gave you a silver tray for thirty-four years in the company and it seemed like a huge amount of time to us—now look at me.”
Today marks my thirty-fifth anniversary at ACCIONA.
And yet, as we talk through the major projects he’s been part of across the globe—from his first hydraulic works and the Doukkala tunnel in Morocco to the Altamira cave replica, the railway tunnels in Bologna, or his oversight of projects in Gabon, Portugal, Mexico, Sweden, Poland, and Cape Verde—it is evident that this time has been rich with achievement, resulting in a tangible legacy that stands today.
When you build something, you see it taking shape—knowing it will stand for years to come. Whenever you pass by, you can say: ‘I built this; I was part of this.’ These are the stories I share with my children.
“I enjoy the work itself—building, overseeing, organising, and scheduling; seeing a project move forward. But then you see something that stays, something that will be there for the future. And when you pass by, you can say: ‘I built this; I was part of this.’ These are the stories I share with my children.” Let’s proceed without further delay, because thirty-five years of tireless work isn’t a story that’s going to tell itself.
The São Paulo Metro Line 6 is one of ACCIONA’s most significant undertakings and the largest project of its kind in South America. It is no surprise that several profiles in this section have been involved in its development. Engineers like Arthemus Pugliesi or Larissa De Araujo, among others, have shared what it’s like to work on a project destined to transform a megacity like São Paulo. For now, this is Fernando’s latest station. “I arrived here in October 2020, right in the middle of the pandemic, to join the project in my first experience with ACCIONA in concessions after years in construction, to take over the technical direction.”
My primary role involves the oversight of all construction-related contracts required to bring operations online.
Shortly after arriving, he took over as Executive Director. “My main job is monitoring all construction-related contracts to get it into operation within the five, six, or seven years the construction phase lasts.” This role involves supervising ACCIONA’s work so the project is “ready to be operated on price, on time, and to quality,” while acting as the face of ACCIONA for the final client, the State of São Paulo. In short, Fernando’s gaze spans every area of the project—save for finance—in a truly transversal way.
He begins to list his tasks: project approvals, rolling stock certification, contractor payments, schedule control, quality oversight, safety monitoring, and environmental compliance... an understanding of the process that only comes with a long career. “My role within the construction phase will be completed in October 2027. By then, I’ll be close to 65, so we’ll see what comes next.”
He notes that these projects can span at least five years, so this may well be his 'Last Dance'—though he still has the energy and drive for many more—if we were to borrow the metaphor used for Michael Jordan’s final season with the Chicago Bulls. After all, he’s also played at the elite level, even if the arena is the infrastructure league.
Some lives require a change of course to reach their destination, as Claudia Montenegro told us when she found her vocation in her forties. Others, however, follow a path designed with the exactitude of a blueprint. That’s the case for Fernando.
“I was born in Madrid in 1963 into a middle-class family. I have three sisters. My father was a school teacher and my mother was an administrator in a nursing home,” he explains. “I was a good student, and I went to university for Civil Engineering. I didn’t want to do anything else. I didn’t even put Industrial Engineering as a second option just in case, but Public Works, which was another way in. For me, it’s a vocation; I love building,” he says, speaking with the directness of someone accustomed to calculating structural loads.
When I was little, my dream was to build the largest dam in the world.
We try to dig a little deeper into that calling. “Why did I choose engineering or why did I like construction since I was little? Well, my favourite toys were Meccano sets; making constructions of any kind, bridges, things that moved. My dream was to build the biggest dam in the world,” he recalls. In fact, his final-year project focused on the heightening of the Torre de Abraham dam on the River Bullaque located in the central Spanish province of Ciudad Real. Yet, there was another experience that proved equally formative for his life and career.
“There was something I consider marked my life. They put me in a Scout group when I was very small. It marked me in terms of teamwork, effort, co-education, values, and responsibility.” He sums up his journey: “I was there for a long time as a patrol leader, unit leader, group leader, team trainer, and then President of all the scouts in Madrid.” It was a commitment he maintained from the age of eight to thirty-three.
I loved building. And later, leading teams as a Scout group leader. When I started working, I already had experience in coordinating teams.
Fernando remembers summer camps spent supervising the construction of kitchens, dining areas, latrines, and showers. “I loved building. And then leading teams as a group leader. So when I started working, I already had experience in coordinating teams; it's something that helped me a lot.”
We have already mentioned that Fernando’s path was clearly marked. His arrival at ACCIONA followed that same inevitable trail. “Before finishing my degree, when I had a few subjects left, I was working at an engineering firm in Madrid. The day I finished, I asked for a job interview with Entrecanales y Távora, as the company was called then. As soon as I got my degree, I started working. It was a different era, and they needed civil engineers to undertake all the '92 works.” It was 19 November 1990. That young graduate had a dream: to build great infrastructure.
“They told me I had to join a motorway project, from Honrubia to La Roda in La Mancha, [in the heart of Spain], and off I went with my suitcase; that's where my career in the company began.” That project also brought a personal milestone: “That’s where I met the woman I married and with whom I've had my three children.” Two of them, as noted, are architects working at ACCIONA, and the other is working hard to become a civil engineer as well.
My next project was an emergency work without a previous design; Madrid was running out of water, and we had to do a transfer from the San Juan reservoir to the Valmayor reservoir.
“It was a very interesting project, very beautiful, which is still there and which I pass by frequently.” On that concrete-paved motorway, he was already head of the technical office and quality control. After two years, he was called to lead an emergency project as site manager. “It was a trial by ordeal because it was a project without a previous design or anything; Madrid was running out of water and we had to take it from the San Juan reservoir and bring it to Valmayor—it became known as the Picadas-Valmayor transfer.” That project, which demanded total dedication, was a real “tour of duty” for him.
After completing his work on the dam and various projects across the Madrid region—from a car park in the central Ríos Rosas district to a road in the hillside town of Santos de la Humosa and a section of the Vía del Culebro orbital motorway, a call came during his honeymoon that promised a far more intense experience. “They told me I had to join a project called the Doukkala tunnel in Morocco—that I was the right person, even though I didn’t have a clue about tunnels. I got married on 10 September 1994, and by 10 October, I was already in Morocco.”
As Fernando discussed the logistics of the move, the reality of the situation became clear—there was simply nothing there. They would have to build a settlement like something out of a John Ford western. “We built a camp for four hundred locals and sixty expats. I spent four years there with my wife and daughter, who was born in Spain but came over later, just before my second son was born.”
The camp was only the preliminary phase, of course. “In four years, we did a 13 km tunnel project. We had to open a quarry to produce the material. We took the material to a secondary plant to produce the gravel, the sand, everything. We captured water with a pumping system from the river and filtered it to supply the houses we built and the needs of the site.” What’s more, they also had to assemble a Robbins tunnel boring machine shipped all the way from the USA, while Fernando brushed up on his French at breakneck speed in the meantime.
Once in the thick of it, if a challenge arose, there was nobody else for many miles around who could solve it. “I remember a watchman coming at 3:00 in the morning saying: ‘Monsieur Mínguez, monsieur Mínguez, we have a problem.’”
It was like creating a village from scratch; we even had to build a mosque so the local workers could pray.
Fernando also vividly recalls the sense of community that took hold there. “My wife, my daughter, and I lived in a little single-storey house, but we didn’t even have a kitchen. Everything was in a canteen because you couldn’t go shopping; supplies arrived at the canteen and we all ate there together—breakfast, lunch, and dinner—expatriates and local managers alike.” It was like creating a village from scratch, wasn’t it? “Yes, we even had to build a mosque so the local workers could pray.”
Over those four years of living together, lifelong bonds were formed. “The people there were all older than me. Most have passed away, but I’m still in touch with some of them. Even after all these years, we still wish each other a Merry Christmas.”
After successfully completing the Moroccan stage—coinciding with the merger that would lead to today’s ACCIONA—Fernando was appointed department director in Cantabria. “At the time, I think I was the youngest executive in the company, or so I was told.” With this new appointment, he traded the arid landscapes of Morocco for the Cantabrian mountains of Northern Spain. “They weren’t excessively large projects, but the most significant was the building for the Altamira cave replica.” By then, technicians had advised against keeping the original caves open to the public, as visits could endanger paintings that are a World Heritage site.
(At Altamira) we had to excavate very carefully so the vibrations didn't affect the adjoining original caves.
“We built the entire container, what was called the ‘neo-cave.’ The idea of the architect was to create a buried building where very little was seen from the surface, barely a roof with vegetation. The first thing we had to do was excavate very carefully so the vibrations didn’t affect the original adjoining caves,” he recalls.
He explains the complex construction process: “For this, expansive cement was used instead of blasting: you’d drill some holes and inject the cement which, by increasing in volume, cracked the floor so it could be removed and loaded. And then we built a building inside that excavation, buried with its own architecture, its great halls, and large spans. It was very interesting.”
However, he didn’t get to finish the project. Not for lack of desire or ability, but because he was called to another infrastructure project where cultural and artistic legacy also carried great weight: a tunnel in the heart of the Italian city of Bologna to bring high-speed rail from Milan to Naples.
“We were doing the finishing touches and they called me. I think it was a Thursday and they said: ‘The international director wants to see you here in Madrid tomorrow.’” The next day they explained his next adventure. They’d thought of him because of his experience in Morocco. “Think about it—today is Friday, give me an answer by Sunday because we have to tell the partners on Monday,” they told him. After consulting his wife, he said yes.
The family moved to Italy, where Fernando quickly picked up the language. “I remember when I arrived, I bought some magazines called ‘Aprende italiano, è facile e divertente’—learning Italian is easy and fun—and after two months I went to an academy. When I told them I wanted to learn the language, they told me I already spoke it.” In a short time, he added Italian to his French and, later, the Portuguese he’s learned in Brazil. “Though I speak them all with a Spanish accent,” he clarifies.
He sums up the project: “It was 6 km of line excavated in a double tunnel with two 10-metre diameter LOVAT boring machines. Each had to do just over 6 km, starting from the same place, running in parallel and passing under a historic city.” As these were EPB shield boring machines, the work consisted of controlling excavation pressures, placing precast rings, and injecting cement mortar behind the rings to fill the excavated space as they advanced, thus avoiding surface settlement in a densely populated area with very old buildings.
The challenges were manifold, as were his responsibilities: “Besides managing the site and monitoring costs, I handled everything in contractual management, client claims, HR, hiring, engineering management, settlement monitoring, subcontractor control, anti-mafia declarations, archaeological searches, the search for war artefacts... all alongside an Italian partner.”
We built a train terminal to meet environmental regulations and prevent lorries from kicking up dust.
And all from a sustainable perspective: “For environmental reasons, all excavation material and the supply of segments and other consumables had to leave and arrive by train. So we had to build a train terminal to unload material from the tunnel to be reloaded onto rail wagons that were injected into the Milano-Roma line. This prevented lorries from kicking up dust and microparticles from road wear. We had to apply science and ‘happy ideas,’ and in the end, it all went well.”
Sustainability is many things, but I’d highlight respect for the environment and local cultures, striving to make the best use of natural resources and leaving something behind that endures. The company doesn't give you set recipes; it provides the tools and encourages you to make it happen.
Here he makes a broader reflection: “For me, sustainability is many things, but I’d highlight respect for the environment, for leaving something well-made for the future, trying to harness natural resources and respecting local cultures. The company doesn’t give you specific recipes; it gives you instruments and encourages you to do it.” And he gives an example from his current post: “In Brazil, with the descendants of Black slaves (Afro-diasporic culture) in São Paulo who formed the so-called ‘quilombos’ while fleeing slavery—we speak with them to integrate their vision and concerns into one of the stations being built in that area, giving it public prominence.”
During those seven years, Fernando had the chance to travel across the country with his family. “It’s very similar to Spain in certain ways—Latin, pleasant, and the places are wonderful. We went everywhere, from Florence, Rome, Milan, and Turin to Venice many times... the Amalfi Coast, Cinque Terre, Sicily, Naples, Verona, Padua, Ravenna...”
My children have very fond memories of our time in Italy; they speak Italian perfectly.
During that time, his children grew up and were educated there. “They have very fond memories of that time,” he says. And he recounts with pride that the two eldest children later did their Erasmus in Florence and Rome; on the first day, a professor suggested Erasmus students leave because the class was in Italian and they wouldn’t understand. When his son approached to say in perfect Italian that he’d like to stay, the professor replied: “I only said that for the Erasmus students—you Italians can stay.” The knack for languages, it seems, ran in the family.
Already in 2007, returning to Spain, Fernando was appointed Area Manager for Europe-Africa, a role he held at the Madrid headquarters after receiving various opportunities to work in different parts of Spain, always within ACCIONA. “I chose to stay on the international side. That allowed me to tie up the loose ends in Bologna and spearhead our projects in Gabon, Morocco, and Portugal, later developing others like the solar thermal plants in South Africa and Morocco. During that period, I also spent two years heading up construction in Mexico, followed by five years on the Management Board of Mostostal Warszawa, our Polish firm. I spent those years living out of a suitcase.”
What were the main challenges of this new stage? “I’ve always taken changes naturally; I’m not one to complain. I’ve already done big, important, and complicated works, so I don’t need another—I go where the company asks me and needs me.”
Jumping from one country to another brought numerous anecdotes. “In Mexico, we worked in a northern area with cartels and had to carry protection. I also got caught in the swine flu outbreak there. And in Egypt, I was there for the Tahrir Square revolt. In general, I travelled a lot, managing several sites in parallel across Europe and Africa while looking for new opportunities.”
We opened this interview by noting the milestone of his thirty-fifth anniversary, so it was perhaps inevitable that we would eventually look back. How would he describe ACCIONA’s evolution throughout this time? “When I joined the company, I didn’t know it well, but then I started discovering the people—the project managers who were very technical, and I liked that. Then came the merger with Cubiertas, which had a greater national presence in towns and cities,” he says, referring to that first growth phase that would lead to the multinational we know today.
In the Scouts, we were told to leave this world a little better than we found it. And that’s exactly what ACCIONA means to me.
However, Fernando holds onto something else. “Ultimately, if I’m happy with the values and vision of the company, it’s because they align with my background—my time in the Scouts, my upbringing, and my environmental awareness. There is a legacy left by the founder of the scouting movement: ‘Try and leave this world a little better than you found it.’ For me, that is exactly what this project represents.”
What exactly does he mean? “Building so that people can use the metro to improve their quality of life; so they can get from A to B without wasting hours that could be spent with their families, on hobbies, or resting.” He concludes: “I've always taken particular care with my projects. If I can avoid cutting down a tree, I will. If I can avoid displacing a family through expropriation, I will. I believe the company supports that—the commitment to sustainability, to renewable energy, and to creating a positive impact on a project’s surroundings. That’s who I am; it’s part of my character, and I truly identify with it.”
My children are working at ACCIONA; they've lived that sustainable approach and seen in their father the appreciation for the company and what it represents.
He finishes on a personal note: “Two of my children are at ACCIONA; they’ve lived that and seen in their father the appreciation for the company and what it represents. It doesn’t mean it’s all been plain sailing, but the experience is positive. What’s guided me is effort, patience, and honesty. And I have been lucky that my wife has always been by my side on this adventure, and I acknowledge that publicly.”
Who knows if Line 6 will be Fernando’s “Last Dance,” but he can be sure that his children will take over the mission of making a better world and—just like him—strive to do so through the same company where he worked for over three decades.