The discreet and quiet Catalan behind a giant construction company

When we think of the state's largest construction companies, our minds immediately go to Madrid, where giants like Ferrovial and ACS are headquartered. But we're probably mistaken in one case: that of FCC (Fomento de Construcciones y Contratas). Actually, a company headquartered in Catalonia, specifically at 36 Balmes Street, in a listed Noucentista building.

FOCSA was founded in 1900 and soon experienced meteoric growth thanks to a quiet and discreet man, Antoni Piera Jané, son of the founder and brother of the company's first manager, who died unexpectedly after only a year in the position. Thus, Antoni Piera began running the company in 1901. Furthermore, the head of the family, Antoni Piera Sagués, died three years later, leaving our protagonist completely alone and having to manage the business for more than three decades. The result would be a success.

The family had begun to do large-scale business when their father, Antoni Piera Sagués, left his job as a muleteer (transporting fabrics for the Can Batlló factory) to invest in the purchase of a quarry in Montjuïc, specifically in the Batlló family. The change of activity was determined by the introduction of long-distance railways, which had a near-fatal impact on wagon transport. The possibility of accessing high-quality stone—that of Montjuïc was one of them—led Piera's sons, Antoni Piera Jané and his brother Salvador, to set up a construction company, Piera, Cortinas y Compañía (1893), in partnership with Narcís Cortina Batllori and Josep Torras Ferran (the architect's grandfather).

The business was so successful that the Pieras decided to seek capital to start a much more ambitious company, and they found it in Catalan banks, a solution that would be unthinkable today. Two family entities, the Soler Torra Bank and the Mas Sardà Bank, provided the necessary support to establish Fomento de Obras y Construcciones in 1900. Curiously, many years later, a descendant of the owners of the Soler Torra Bank would play a prominent role in the company's environment, but more on that later.

Antoni Piera Jané's management of FOCSA during his more than three decades at the helm was marked by his character as a discreet, quiet, tough, and, above all, determined and ambitious man. Those around him knew little about his private life, his childhood, or the business he managed. Even when he decided to take up a summer residence, he fled the typical bourgeois haunts and went to Martorelles, intending to avoid meeting anyone.

Construction of the Muelle de España

But their approach proved highly productive, and during those years the company would eventually experience significant expansion. For example, shortly after its founding, they were awarded the contract to build the Muelle de España in the Port of Barcelona; before 1910, they were already involved in the construction of the Girona-Olot railway; and in the urban development of Diagonal. In 1911, they won the garbage contract for the city of Barcelona (which they still hold) and later were responsible for much of the work for the 1929 International Exposition.

During the years of the gangsterism, Piera chose to leave his home in Sants—a distinctly working-class neighborhood—and settled in the center of Barcelona, ​​first in a hotel on La Rambla and later in the Casa Garriga Nogués (now the headquarters of the Godia Foundation). In 1933, Piera was attacked in his company office by an armed worker. He managed to repel the attack, but a few days later he died from a ruptured artery, perhaps due to the high blood pressure caused by the incident.

Incidentally, between 1976 and 1990, the top executive of Construcciones y Contratas was Alberto Alcocer Torra, a descendant of the owners of the Soler Torra bank we mentioned earlier. He was also married to Ester Koplowitz, the company's main shareholder.