The Senate opens the garage doors to electric cars: a reform costing over 1,000,000 euros that is not limited to just chargers.
19/10/2026 21:00
Updated to
19/10/2026 21:00
The Senate has decided to completely renovate the parking lot at its headquarters in Madrid with an investment of 1,374,408.12 euros, including VAT. This funds will be used to modernize facilities with electrical deficiencies, improve parking space allocation, and add new services for vehicles that use the building daily, including charging stations for private electric cars and a system to identify available spaces.
The work will take place over an area of 5,400 square meters spread across three underground levels and includes everything from replacing the lighting to repairing the pavement and building a new control booth, according to information published by Infobae detailing the scope of a project whose execution will take no more than eight months.
Over 1.3 million euros to renovate the Senate’s parking lot and expand electric charging facilities
The placement of these equipment units will also be determined by safety considerations, as recommendations from the Madrid City Hall Fire Department suggest locating them near exterior exits to facilitate ventilation, access for emergency services, and the removal of vehicles when necessary. This approach was taken into account when arranging the new installations across the three levels of the garage.
Apart from the chargers, the project includes a reorganization of the parking lots to reserve specific spaces for motorcycles, bicycles, and people with disabilities. It also involves installing occupancy sensors and lighting signage that will allow drivers to locate available spots without having to search the entire parking lot. This solution is already in use at many commercial and public parking lots and aims to improve traffic flow inside.
The Senate will replace the lighting and upgrade the electrical installations over an eight-month period.
The repairs will also address the cumulative damage to various components of the building, particularly the fluorescent lighting system, whose age makes it difficult to find replacements, necessitating its substitution with LED fixtures. Meanwhile, the deficiencies identified in the electrical infrastructure will require the renewal of some wiring and adapting the equipment to meet relevant technical and regulatory standards.
The walls and pavement will also be repaired, as they were damaged by continuous use and previous repairs carried out in the basements during 2018. A new surveillance booth will be built to replace the current one, whose size and location have become inadequate after an access tunnel was constructed. This completes a renovation that goes beyond simply installing electric chargers.
The contract was awarded on October 8, 2026, to Ortiz Construcciones y Proyectos, which submitted a bid of 1,135,874.48 euros excluding VAT, compared to the initial budget of 1,503,245.37 euros, representing a 24.44% reduction. This bidding process saw two companies competing, with both economic and technical criteria given equal weight, according to the documents from case file 18/2026, whose bidding details are also listed in the Official State Gazette.