Institutional travel to the works of the La Florida Institute was so impregnated with current issues concerning both the leaders of the local (Cantelli) and regional (Barbon) governments that the educational center was almost on the verge of going into the background. The president of the principality made sure this was not the case, highlighting the importance of the work and that “one of the best institutions we will have in Asturias” would be established there.
This would happen, he insisted, because the building was “designed according to new, groundbreaking educational models that identified with the educational trends of northern Europe.” A center, he summarized, that “keeps us in the flag.”
But it’s not just Florida. The Minister of Education, Lydia Espina, who accompanied the President and the mayor on the tour, gave another example and another title. If one of the most advanced in Florida, then in La Corredoria, whose work will begin in the first quarter of this year, will be, as announced yesterday, “the largest institution in Asturias”.
With this forecast and “about to be rewarded” with the drafting of the project for the new special education center in Letours, Barbon emphasized the regional government’s educational investment in the principality’s capital. “We are making a commitment to education in Oviedo at the highest level with some data,” he said. “The investment equates to a figure of almost 8 million euros and the brokerage performed 17.3 million, these are very significant figures.”
The regional chairman wanted to highlight the effort made by all in carrying out these works despite the difficulties. “Before these works, they were not doing well, the neighbors told me that the works had been stopped, and it was true. What I notice now is that the trust is there, and so is the neighborhood association. Tells me it’s going.”
Barbón acknowledged that Florida’s IES is one of the things that has caused him “more headaches, gray hair or hair loss.” It was a “historic and reasonable demand” from neighbors that “unfortunately” accumulated a number of problems. The President cited a few: the increase in the cost of raw materials, the increase in the prices of adjuvants… But he also wanted to recognize the work that infrastructure companies are now developing. The works, he stressed, are on schedule, with 25% already executed and forecast that it will be finished in February 2024. To let the citizens of the region know that the institute is finally moving,” he reiterated.
The group then took a tour from Inspira led by architect Eduardo Fernández Y and Julio Vallore, the principality’s director of works. They were able to imagine what it would be like to have structures rising above those pillars taking shape, how the particular material would take its final form, polycarbonate with random holes that would provide a lot of design and an outer skin that would let in a lot of light.
Barbon emphasized the “thoroughly foundational nature of the building’s structure” and its response to the new principles of the educational system. It is not a question, the president of the principality joked with the technocrats, that “progresses adequately or needs to be reformed from our time or to appear before the teacher.” He explained that these new institutions are designed to be multidisciplinary systems in which everything can be easily moved, separated and grouped. Some places are, in short, more flexible and able to absorb less rigid education with the potential for change.
Although Barbone wanted to celebrate the good rhythm of the works, he also had his moments of regret and asked “forgiveness” for the delay. “They have not been easy years, we have had the toughest legislature in a democracy and we are finally going to give satisfaction to the neighborhood with this top-notch quality service.”
Cantelli, in good agreement with Barbon, “expressed his complete satisfaction at how well the Ministry of Education is doing” and expressed hope that “there will be no pause.”
This was followed by a tour of the car parks and accesses by the Speaker, the Mayor and the Councilors that have been executed by the City Council. There, some neighbors greeted them, happy to shake hands with Barbon, whom they knew from seeing in the media, and Cantelli, who was, she told them, a customer of her daughter’s store, “where she bought groceries for the grandchildren.” Bought something he is in Dubai”. “More than once,” Cantelli recalled. And so, as if the mayor and the president were rehearsing the start of an imaginary election campaign together, they waved goodbye at the work stage.
